Reading Practice: Film Metropolis

…being the science-fiction film that is steadily becoming a fact

A

When Fritz Lang, a German director, first visited the United States in 1924, he experienced a night-time view of the New York skyline from the deck of an ocean liner. This sight later inspired what is still arguably the most innovative and influential science-fiction film ever made – Metropolis.

B

Metropolis is a bleak vision of the early twenty-first century that is at once both chilling and exhilarating. This spectacular city of the future is a technological marvel of high-rise buildings connected by elevated railways and airships. It’s also a world of extreme inequality and social division. The workers live below ground and exist as machines working in an endless routine of mind-numbing 10-hour shifts while the city’s elite lead lives of luxury high above. Presiding over them all is the Master of Metropolis, John Fredersen, whose sole satisfaction seems to lie in the exercise of power.

C

Lang's futuristic portrayal is conceived in almost entirely abstract terms. The specific functions of individual machines are never explicitly defined. Instead, this array of dials, levers, and gauges symbolically represents all machines and industries, with workers as live extensions enslaved by the equipment they operate. Lang underscores this concept in the famous sequence depicting a shift change at the beginning of the film, where workers walk in zombie-like geometric formations, all dressed uniformly in dark overalls and sporting identical bowed heads and lifeless gazes. An extraordinary fantasy sequence depicts a machine transforming into a massive statue with an open jaw, which proceeds to metaphorically engulf them.

D

On one level, the machines and exploited workers merely generate the wealth and services that enable the elite to lead lives of leisure. However, on a deeper level, this frenzied industry exists to perpetuate itself. Power, control, and the relentless continuation of the system from one 10-hour shift to the next are paramount. The city consumes people and their labor, transforming into a distorted parody of a living organism.

E

I find it enlightening to draw parallels between the film and the modern global economy, where multinational corporations routinely close factories on one continent to exploit cheap labor elsewhere. Similar to the industry in Metropolis, these corporations prioritize efficiency and profit, often neglecting the welfare of their employees and broader society. Instead, their focus is on sustaining their own growth and enriching a select few – their executives and shareholders. Fredersen epitomizes the corporate magnate: Rupert Murdoch would likely feel at home in his towering office overlooking the city below. Notably, government is conspicuously absent in Metropolis – the entire concept is implied to be obsolete. Power resides solely with the supreme industrialist, Fredersen, and his magician-scientist ally Rotwang.

F

The film excels in its symbolism and cynicism when the imagery speaks for itself. However, Metropolis falters due to its sentimental storyline, where Freder, Fredersen's son, instantly falls in love with the visionary Maria. Maria leads an underground pseudo-religious movement advocating patience rather than rebellion among workers, awaiting a 'Mediator' between 'Head' (capital) and 'Hands' (labor). This 'Mediator' is 'Heart' – love, embodied through Freder's love for Maria and his father's love for him.

G

Lang co-wrote the screenplay with his then-wife Thea von Harbou. Fleeing from the Nazis in 1933, Lang continued his highly successful career in Hollywood, whereas von Harbou remained in Germany, continuing to produce films under the Hitler regime. The film constantly juxtaposes von Harbou's script's overly neat platitudes with Lang's uncompromisingly caustic visual imagery.

H

To my mind, both in Metropolis and in the real world, it’s not so much that the ‘Head’ and ‘Hands’ require a ‘Heart’ to mediate between them but that the ‘Hands’ need to develop their own ‘Head’, their own political consciousness, and act accordingly – through the ballot box, through buying power and through a sceptical resistance to the materialistic fantasies of the Fredersens.

I

All the same, Metropolis is probably more accurate now as a representation of industrial and social relations than it has been at any time since its original release. And Fredersen is certainly still the most potent movie symbol of the handful of elusive corporate figureheads who increasingly treat the world as a Metropolis-like global village.

Questions 1-4

Do the following statements align with the assertions of the author in Reading Passage?

In boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet, write

YES              if the statement is true

NO               if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN    if the information is not given in the passage

1 The inspiration of the movie-Metropolis-comes from the director’s visit in the USA in 1924.

2 The Master of Metropolis, John Fredersen, is portrayed from an industrialist that the director met in the US.

3 The start of the movie exhibits the workers working in full energy.

4 The director and his wife got divorced because his wife decided to stay in Germany.

Questions 5-10

Fill in the summary provided below.

Using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.

The director depicts a world of inequality and 5… . In the future, the mindless masses of workers living underground are treated as 6… . And the master of them is 7… , who is in charge of the whole city. The writer claims that the director, Fritz Lang, presents the movie in an 8…  term, where the 9… of the individual machines is not defined. Besides the writer compares the film to the modern global economy in which multinational corporations concern more about the growing 10…  and money.

Questions 11-14

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

11. The first sentence in paragraph B indicates

• A. The author’s fear about technology
• B. The inspiration of the director
• C. The contradictory feelings towards future
• D. The city elite’s well management of the workers

12. Why the function of the individual machines is not defined?

• A. Because Lang sticks to theme in a symbolic way.
• B. Because workers are more important to exploit.
• C. Because the fantasy sequence is difficult to take.
• D. Because the focus of the movie is not about machines.

13. The writer’s purpose in paragraph five is to

• A. Emphasize the multinational corporations’ profit-oriented goal.
• B. Compare the movie with the reality in the modern global economy
• C. Exploit the difference between fantasy and reality
• D. Enlighten the undeveloped industry

14. What is the writer’s opinion about the movie?

• A. The movie’s story-line is excellent.
• B. The movie has a poor implication in symbolism.
• C. The movie is perfect in all aspects.
• D. The movie is good but could be better.

Answers:

1. YES (Đoạn A, “When German director Fritz Lang visited the United States in 1924, his first glimpse of the country was a night-time view of the New York skyline from the deck of an ocean liner.”)

2. NOT GIVEN (Không có thông tin)

3. NO (Đoạn C, “Lang emphasizes this idea in the famous shift-change sequence at the start of the movie when the workers walk in zombie-like geometric ranks, all dressed in the same dark overalls and all exhibiting the same bowed head and dead-eyed stare.”)

4. NOT GIVEN (Không có thông tin)

5. Social division (Đoạn B, “ It’s also a world of extreme inequality and social division.”)

6. Machines (Đoạn B, “The workers live below ground and exist as machines working in an endless routine of mind-numbing 10-hour shifts while the city’s elite lead lives of luxury high above.”)

7. John Frederse (Đoạn B, “Presiding over them all is the Master of Metropolis, John Fredersen, whose sole satisfaction seems to lie in the exercise of power.”)

8. Abstract (Đoạn C, “Lang’s graphic depiction of the future is conceived in almost totally abstract terms.’)

9. Function (Đoạn C, “The function of the individual machines is never defined.”)

10. Efficiency (Đoạn E, “Like the industry in Metropolis, these corporations’ goals of increased efficiency and profits have little to do with the welfare of the majority of their employees or that of the population at large.”)

11. C

12. A

13. B