RESEARCH: Deconstruction #3

Title: Metropolis
Director: Fritz Lang
Year: 1927
Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction
BBFC Age Rating: PG
Starring: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Frolich

The establishing shot of the film is a landscape shot of the upper, aristocrat parts of the Metropolis with lights moving across them. These lights quickly become whirring machinery and cogs. As the higher buildings have to be divided before becoming the machinery, this suggests that there is a great gulf between the workers and the nobility, establishing Metropolis as a Science Fiction film with a Dystopian theme. 

The next few shots show more futuristic moving machinery, showing that the film will have a lot of emphasis on technology, a staple of the science-fiction genre. A lot of the machinery features many cogs in its' design. The nature of the machinery may be a reflection of the workers of the city- they are all just cogs in a much bigger machine. This concept is one of the conventions of a dystopian Science-Fiction film, and is used prominently in the first few shots. Interspersed within this machinery is a shot of a clock ticking toward 10 O'clock. The clock only features ten hours on it. This suggests that this society has decimalised its' time. Decimalisation is seen as a form of logic, suggesting that this society is one of few Romantic values. This coldness toward life and society is an established convention of Science Fiction, keeping Metropolis in line with its' genre.

As the clock reaches ten, a focused shot of a whistle blowing is shown, followed by the words "The day shift.". This suggests that the workers have a very long shift, as the shifts seem to be simply divided into "the day shift", and "the night shift". This suggests that the workers are being exploited by the upper classes, further adding to the dystopian science fiction theme of the film.

After the whistle blows, the final scene of the first two minutes- a massive line of workers are shown standing outside of an entrance, blocked by a huge gate. As the gate opens, another massive line of workers are shown on the other side of the gate. The workers shuffle subserviently into and out of the factory, all still in order. This subservient nature is reminiscent of an ant colony, as the workers go about their tasks without question. This further develops the Dystopian genre theme of exploited workers.

Metropolis is a classic example of dystopian film. The great, imposing architecture shown in the establishing shot suggests that this city is incredibly vast (possibly continent spanning), and ruled a single group of people. The workers are all exploited and are completely subservient, and the systems of time measurement are different to our own, suggesting that this society is incredibly different to our own. All of these concepts are conventions of a Dystopian Science Fiction film.