Metropolis Analysis - Loss of Humanity Conveyed Through Color Contrast & Shot Composition

An analysis by:
John Jankowski
Austin Khong
Eric Morrison
Brandon Narayan

[@davidyoung5114]

As the events of METROPOLIS take place during the year 2026, I am really hoping that the restored version gets a theatrical re-release during its' 100th-anniversary year. Cinephiles like me would go (RADIO!) GA-GA over seeing this ground-breaking classic movie on a big screen. Let us hope!

[@thekrazyhatter5063]

Eyyyyy you a Queen Fan I just went (RADIO!) GA-GA over this comment alone

[@felipehoyos3338]

Metropolis doesn't take place in any specific year, 2026 was only used for the American release when the film was first premiered. Fritz Lang himself said so in an interview in the late 1960s

[@TVDandTrueBlood]

In Berlin it is played regularly (like every month or so) in the original 1930s Babylon cinema, with a live orchestra!

[@TLabsLLC-AI-Development]

​@@felipehoyos3338 lol k

[@felipehoyos3338]

@@TLabsLLC-AI-Development just sayin.

[@orlandofurioso7329]

YES! This is the real meaning of Metropolis, loss of humanity, which affects burned out workers and also rich people who live only in pleasure and hedonism.

[@mikes6961]

The professor closing his eyes and having a moment to decide if what he was doing was right, before stealing himself and throwing the switch in Maria's transformation was something that really shows how much thought of humanity was put into this

[@Roadghost88]

Even today the film is a freaking masterpiece. A timely social commentary for its age, but also a commentary on human nature, our ability to detach ourselves into psychopathy, which has not changed.

[@patrickm5217]

strange isnt it? a lot of psychopaths dont kill people with knives and bullets; they chip away at people with economic weapons

[@rickmcdonald1557]

It is Erie that the theme of Metropolis holds true today and we are, more than ever, Slaves to our Machines~!! Society is crumbling right before our eyes and yet we chose to look the other way and ignore where we are heading. I have watched this movie so many times and never tire of the message without hearing a single word spoken. Thanks for your review as it was very interesting and moving~!

[@oahts5906]

Where do you watch it?

[@rickmcdonald1557]

@@oahts5906 I have it on a DVD and Tape but if you Google it you will find many places to see it and a lot of scenes that are free also. ✌

[@Mooseman327]

Excellent job. Some wonderful insights here. And Lang, himself, told us that he was a visual person. So, focusing on the visual elements like this brings great reward. A couple of things, though. The machine Maria, when she appears to the men at the club appears as "The Whore of Babylon." And Lang mentions this in his film. Lang re-creates the classic (and Biblical) image of this, with the seven serpents. Very specific. Be good to mention this. Also, when the black slaves morph into statues, those statues are the Seven Deadly Sins that we see earlier. They are NOT merely the "workers" as you suggest. Lang and Harbou, the screenwriter, are telling us that The Whore of Babylon sits on a foundation of The Seven Deadly Sins. That's why one of the men, seized with passion, says "For her, all seven deadly sins." Again, this is very specific and should be mentioned in this way. I very much like your comparison of dark and light contrast here. It's spot on, so to speak. Harbou seems to have absorbed lots of the elements of Theosophy and Anthroposophy which were big in Germany at the time, especially the latter. Rudolf Steiner died in 1924, after all. She may have attended his lectures in Berlin and elsewhere. Your comparison of light and dark bring out the Anthroposophical understanding that the "mission" of human beings is to walk the middle path (Harbou's Heart, the Mediator) between the supersensible beings of Lucifer (the light) and Ahriman (the dark). Individual humans are naturally drawn more to one or the other of these spiritual poles but the mission is to walk a fine line between the two, which can also be seen as contrasts of expansion and contraction, freedom and limitation, Yin and Yang, Mind and Body, Heaven and Earth, or even Pride and Despair. If you fail to stay in the middle, you end up serving one of these beings to your soul's detriment. "Metropolis," especially seen through your focus on the visual light and dark elements, can be seen as a depiction of Anthroposophical understandings. The film was criticized from BOTH the political right and the left. From the right for bringing in the "class struggle" elements and the idea that the workers are being suppressed and used by an elite upper class and from the left for portraying the masses as incapable of thinking through their dilemma on their own and coming up with a solution. As being easily manipulated into following strong leaders who promise them freedom and heaven on earth. Both of these criticisms fall completely flat today, knowing as we do that there IS an elite class who is committed to ruling the planet and the majority of people do seem incapable, or unwilling, of utilizing their intellects to figure out things on their own and still follow leaders and authorities blindly. That is, the film "Metropolis," set as it is in 2026 probably can be better understood today than ever before.

[@delusivecharlie]

It’s strange the film was banned by the Nazi’s, since Goebells told Lang that himself and Hitler were big fans of the movie: and that they decide who is Jewish, and who is not. They declared that Lang is not Jewish despite his ancestry.

[@Solus3D]

The uprise of people against the goverment in the film was bad for Nazi Germany and worst for the rise of fascism and the neo-slavery in USA. One can make a version of Metropolis just about Walmart, Amazon or the rail workers.

[@emilyb7867]

This was one of the best analyses I have had the luck of seeing! You are right that the workers are not alone in this complaint slavery to the machines. The elites are in a similar trap too! The heart symbolises our humanity!

[@agathascott6146]

The points you made about the movement of the camera are great. Lovely video!

[@randystone4903]

Best review ever! Reminded me of Madonna's take on Metropolis and now I want another look of her rock video with a new perspective

[@richardmattocks]

Metropolis is a masterpiece. Nice deconstruction of some of Fritz Lang’s techniques.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

More like a dungpile.

[@aboriginalalex]

This is an absolutely incredible analysis. Good job.

[@israelhernandesmonteiro4659]

Great analysis and historical contextualization. Keep up the good work.

[@philosopher1a]

This movie is prophetic

[@EQOAnostalgia]

Satanic. . . prophets of God already spoke.

[@Brando_M]

Great work, hope you at some point can produce more great insights like this

[@wulfmountainpath3719]

Bery excellent analysis and summary. Gratitude.

[@ichaffee1]

I saw this film about 20 yrs ago. now I hear that there is more footage found. I olan on see it. again, thank you for this very insightful analysis

[@RickaramaTrama-lc1ys]

You have nailed it as our current delima shows us as slaves to High Tech and as the Uni-Bomer once said "All this High Tech will be the ruination of the Human Race~!!! I'm glad I'm old and will not be on this Earth much longer and have seen all I want to of my fellow man~!!

[@kristineburbey4710]

Such a strange, amazing and weird film but a masterpiece and ahead of its time for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@AbeTheSigma007]

Or perhaps, Humanity was kept Back In “Time”...

[@EQOAnostalgia]

I tell people this is satanic, watch out, wake up... *CRICKETS* you tell people this is amazing and a masterpiece ahead of it's time, 7 upvotes lol. Yall are FAST ASLEEP at the FINAL HOUR. The same bastards who are collapsing our entire economy, about to add in a digital beast system and DESTROY YOUR LIVES... this is their legacy. The Gospel 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

[@onelove6177]

Wooow excellent translation and observation!

[@ScottTurnerformeindustrious]

I really enjoyed your review of this great classic. I have just finished making a sculpture wall hanging of the Metropolis Poster. I would like to reference your video in my comments of my You Tube video if that is ok? The video is me making the sculpture. All the best and thank you!

[@TheJunkles]

Scott Turner Sorry for the late reply. You are absolutely free to use it or reference it for your project. Good luck!

[@ScottTurnerformeindustrious]

Thank you!

[@EQOAnostalgia]

"Great" this film is Satanic...

[@ScottTurnerformeindustrious]

@@EQOAnostalgia highlights the Devil's desire for control and man's enslavement as a result. That's one of many points of view. I think it reflects our age well, and that in itself is sad.

[@johns123]

Fantastic analysis! I'd love to see more of this from you, if you ever consider it

[@BlackBerryBliss]

AWESOME!! This helped me so much with my assignment!

[@geraldbrown8711]

This is an excellent interpretation/analysis of one of my all time favorite movies

[@gray38000]

Hey junkles. I hope you make more of that stuff. Good work. There are lot of old cyberpunk movies. Especially in the 80s but also 70s for example westworld or welt am draht (world on wire) these movies made the beginning for matrix terminator and others.

[@SuperSusieBell]

I found it to be hypnotic.

[@gtg488w]

How would they have known they could basically Skype or FaceTime someone in, in the scene with Joh Fredersen talking to the guy in Heart Machine 2, written as H M 2 on his basically large iPhone or computer monitor????

[@GamerkillahBlaze]

gtg488w who knows maybe it’s because they been had the technology just waited for the world to get groomed into it and adapt.

[@olgaschegoleva8492]

They probably had the tech from Tesla’s times, but kept it hidden so oil & car barons , Ford, Edison etc could make their profits . Elon Musk is simply recycling Tesla’s inventions, as nearest example.

[@gtg488w]

Maurvern Gallard oh right wow.

[@AbeTheSigma007]

@@olgaschegoleva8492 Yes. I concur with you 100 percent on the Tesla connection. I spend a lot of time pondering this. And I knew about the free energy. The Tesla Tower. The frequency. In my estimation, just as a radio tunes to a station, so would a receiver tune to the frequency from the Tesla Tower, providing an alternate current as opposed to Edison’s deadly Direct Current. Remote controlled transfer, it’s all about Frequency. Thank you...

[@zforzorro8956]

Is called predictive programming friends

[@D_Marrenalv]

EXCELLENT review!

[@wahuigi6843]

great vid, thank you

[@AbeTheSigma007]

And the Maria machine melts down to the structural Robot in the end. Just as in T1...

[@cheshirekat8273]

There are so many relevant themes in that movie. It's insane. Like, the slaves holding up Maria's stage can represent the contrast between the workers and the machines... but they can also illustrate that the industrialized world was literally built on the back of black slaves. The movie also illustrates the "triumph" of the Patriarchal system, where women are nowhere to be found, in the movie, save for: - Hel, Freder's mother who died in childbirth, representing how hostile the capitalist, industrialized world is to motherhood, even the wealthy ones (mentionned, but not seen); - Maria, the only "real" woman of the movie, representing the average woman, who has no place in the industrialized world (showed by her neutral/grey clothing) and rebels against the system, trying to save the children (though none are her own); - The Eternal Garden's "prostitutes" who are somewhat safe from the workers' city, but who's only value is their physical beauty and ability to entertain the sons of the wealthy. They are always 1 step away from doom. This is illustrated in the garden scene, when horror covers the face of Freder's companion, as he instantly becomes enthralled with Maria and completely forgets his assigned companion; - And, last, but not least, "Fake Maria", a machine designed to imitate and replace human females for the pleasure of men as well as to control them, making the garden's prostitutes obsolete, leading to the death of Humanity.

[@tombombadill22]

Wonderful analysis

[@finisterfoul]

Excellent essay

[@WithASideOfFries]

Well done!

[@GoldGoneWired]

Great video! Please do other old movies!!

[@germaniatv1870]

100 years ahead of its time.

[@maximilianjankowski]

i dont know how i get here but, i thnik i will watch it

[@AbeTheSigma007]

Did you watch it???

[@chaoselemental6759]

Loved it, only wish your analysis was longer. The message of this movie is relevant to life after the events of 2020, and looking at 2021, and what the government has planned for us this year.

[@nakedrobot20]

great reiew

[@liamhe5040]

Ok but the “Sound familiar” frightens me

[@theastralarchive9594]

Seven headed beast, the beast and the harlot. Love this movie XD

[@EQOAnostalgia]

Why? It's satanic garbage.

[@MeVsTheWorld01]

Great movie! It's ironic that the time setting of this movie takes place only 6 or 7 years from now, despite that this movie was made more than a hundred years ago. I wonder if a remake of this film would be a success or not....

[@creativewriter3887]

It hits TOO close to home ....wherein the greatest Advertising mediums (Facebook, Google, etc) essentially control the masses via their own devices, the Government is in the pocket of Corporations and Globalization has not really raised the floor of the masses as expected--- since more and more companies outsourced to foreign countries for cheap, unlimited and desperate foreign labor! In short, the Industrial Beast. Meanwhile in America, the divide between the have and the have nots has now turned into a canyon.. who knew that Metropolis is a cautionary tale for the Modern Age.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

This is not a great movie, this is how satanic elite laugh in your face.

[@erichartke4331]

I really feel a remake shouldn't be done in my opinion. This movie must have been shocking and astonishing in 1927 given the impact it still has today!

[@jaythanchew14]

nice video

[@french2572]

Get ready for the future guys

[@NateGPT]

nice!

[@kristineburbey4710]

So true now

[@Blahbevava]

The Great Machine with the workers = Essentially The Borg Collective years later in Star Trek.

[@ronkozlowski8169]

Utopia storys have been around forever. Always a dystopian society but i think the world is heading that way. Hope they like it.

[@bryanshort9638]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@teresacoplin9409]

Sure does look familiar

[@brightphoebus]

When I was 16... in 1992... I was in LOVE with Fredder.

[@no_peace]

people don't lose their humanity. they lose the privilege of being seen and treated as human

[@NgJackal1990]

Were these kind of movies made back then for upper class well educated people to watch? Because it is so artistic and confusing!

[@Magnetron33]

Inspiration for the Universal Frankenstein 4 years later?

[@french2572]

Why are they trying to do this to us? I mean what is the point? I hate people who can't just let things be the way that they are. Some idiot is always trying to control.

[@opheliarolle8360]

It's more then just about control. It's about world domination. Religion, money, people, resources, and power.

[@charleswilson2134]

Remember, It's "National Socialism" and the difference between it and "International Socialism" is "I-N-T-E-R". The Soviets were not too thrilled with the movie either... Nice Study. Thnx.

[@PeachPlastic]

Good point, actually!

[@KevinJohnson-cv2no]

The Soviets weren't too thrilled about anything, they were losers; much like most people who ascribe to communism.

[@GuilhermeTobal5150]

National Socialism is just as socialist as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is democratic. This kinda of oversimplification is not just childish but also harmful to healthy discussion of ideas.

[@davidthedeaf]

@@GuilhermeTobal5150 does it bother you that socialists can do bad as well as good? Hitler was a vegetarian, anti tobacco smoking, and for lots of healthy food and exercise. What if you erased all the evil that he and the Nazis did, what would it have looked like? Socialism?

[@onlyforwatchingvids2086]

Fact: Did you noticed that scene between 0:40-0:56? You can see similer scene in Jibaro/❤☠️🤖

[@tomcullen3295]

Nothing changes

[@hassandoukkali3611]

Notre seigneur et maitre le Dieu d'Abraham...

[@tombombadill22]

Joh Fredersen was Henry Ford

[@hassandoukkali3611]

les 7 péchés capitaux

[@hassandoukkali3611]

le grave péché rechercher le secret de l'âme...

[@willrobinson1229]

Excellent analysis and as far as I can tell, spot on. The world now teeters at the edge of an abyss, (climate change, ecosystem destruction, vast loss of non-human species, overpopulation), all of which have been caused in a great part by our so-called great technological inventions. We live in a time of Moloch, no doubt about it. Moloch devours everything until there is nothing left. Chris Hedges gave a speech last month in which he seems a lot like the preacher who appeared before Freder when he's delirious in bed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWqwn3pte7mipac

[@fookusamatube]

You need to revise your review as we are in 2023 giving birth to AI - Mech Maria -

[@normdeplume4082]

The tower os Babylon. She is the woman who rides the beast in revelarion

[@hassandoukkali3611]

le vrai croyant désapprouve cela il n'en veut pas ...

[@claudiapank9762]

00:30 reminds me of CERN opening scenery

[@ronwade2206]

Yikes!

[@skyjuiceification]

.................

[@TheDancingRomeo]

Narrated by Captain Obvious lol Especially with the "light and dark" commentary lol

[@-Katastrophe]

Germans losing their minds on film in the 1920s. This is what we in the business refer to as foreshadowing.

[@okuyasuniijimura]

Mf that guy on the right in the thumbnail is jeremy elbertson

[@hassandoukkali3611]

le dragon nommée bête , la prostituée , la bête écarlate, la coupe emplie de choses mauvaises...l'apocalypse ...

[@hassandoukkali3611]

les abominations dans la coupe de la femme...

[@cumulusterraticus3446]

☝🥸👍👉Anne Clarks SONG SLEEPER IN METROPOLIS IN COMMON MAD POPULIS🎶🎶FITS ! ANNE CLARK SONG SLEEPER IN METROPOLIS And SCIENCE IS AS OFTEN as Steven Koonin 📖 UNSETTLED SAYS ! TOLD TO BE RELATIVE!

[@thewickedwitchofse8998]

Read Marx and you'll get it. Your analysis is way off.

[@brianjcavanaugh]

The Fair Use disclaimer is totally unnecessary.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

Typical to see people still don't understand this is NOT a warning but a confession of their plans and them reveling in their own filth but okay... stay blind or wake up, your call. But i gave plenty of you ample warning. Lord as my witness. The Gospel 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

[@richardalan3204]

I don't want to hear your religious bull$hit.

[@Vmartin70EZ]

To ignore the direct references to the Prophetic Scriptures this commentary fails to understand what the message of the Movie is.

[@camerontaylor7471]

Your analysis was basically completely wrong... but that’s not your fault the symbols are not meant to be decoded by common educated slaves.. only the ones who have been ‘initiated’ or the ones who have ‘the eye’ are supposed to be able to ‘see’ the hidden symbols(images) that is being communicated...Maria is the MOST important figure of the whole movie... if you pause ANY scene in the film and take that picture and compare it to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, free Masonic art, and rosicrucian art you’ll be better prepared to go down the rabbit hole... also flipping pictures and viewing them upside down and at different angles you can better See hidden symbols..

[@theALTF4]

TF you talking about, dawg?

[@clocko2700]

theALTF4 he thinks he is part of something special

[@clocko2700]

theALTF4 lol im so tired of seeing this “maçonic” people all over the internet pretending they are changing the world You know what maconic churches do? They gather new members so they can PAY to participate the church and PAY for maconic classes This money circulates all over the world once it is a brotherhood That’s why politicians are part of it, they earn money from these dummies paying to be “initiated” You can study occultism on your own Don’t worry.

[@YUcommie]

The fact that you claim to discredit his argument without deconstructing it, and thereafter assume some type of argumentative superiority, leads me to believe that you are not someone who is difficult to convince. Just forceful words, a lot of hubris, and an extremely weak rhetorical backing is all that’s necessary. and then, after you’ve fallen for someone else’s bs, you self project those same attitudes when you encounter new beliefs. Go diversify your perception before speaking from a narrow lens.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

Lol, you clowns, you make my father in heaven chuckle.

[@-.Whiteness-.Witch-.]

2020