MOVIE DISCUSSION

Participation #2 on Metropolis (Due: 2/1)Due:

• 2/1 (Sun) at 11:59 p.m.
• Late submission is accepted until 2/8 (Sun) at 11:59 p.m. This date is the final cut-off date for this assignment.
• All late submissions are graded up to 80% of the original score.

Tasks

1. Follow the page for the viewing information, and watch Metropolis (1927)
2. In a new post, use the Reply button at the bottom of this page to respond to the following questions:

• Discussion question 1… How differently did Lang (director) depict two characters, Maria and Machine Man (Machine Maria)? What was the female essence that this film represents?
• Discussion question 2… Ultimately, what kind of message does this film send out about women/females?

1. Read and reply to the posts of at least two of your classmates. In your two reply posts, make sure to:

• Ask for clarification by asking questions.
• Answer another student’s question.
• Comment on the value of the research or readings cited by your classmates.

To begin your initial post, use the Reply button at the bottom of this page.

Feb 1 9:02pm

| Last edited Feb 1 9:08pm

| Last reply Feb 1 10:59pm

Reply from Ana Cotom

Fritz Lang, director of Metropolis (1927) depicts his two Maria characters quite differently from each other and the purpose of that could be his deterministic point of view in the film such as making one character good and the other one evil. For instance, Lang made Maria character gentle, caring for her community (the workers), peaceful, and gave her a maternal instinct which comes afloat when she hugs and cares for the workers children who are in danger due to water flooding the underground city (1:56:51 2:3:55). On the other hand, Lang creates Machine Maria (Machine Man) the femme fatale in the film who is heartless, cold, and chaotic as she seems happy when the men fight for her at the mens club (1:30:37 1:32:44). Also, the female essence in this film is that there are women who self-sacrifice themselves for others while others want to be independent which was hard at the time because women were under men authority.

This film gives a glimpse that women can be leaders such as Maria giving her discourses to the workers making them listening to her. However, her role as a female is to care for children which is the female essence at the time, 1927. On the other hand, Lang created Machine Maria who is to obey orders as women were under men’s authority.

Feb 1 10:45pm

Reply from Kenneth Jet Robinson

From the screening of Metropolis, I saw that Director Lang made an effort to depict both Maria and Machine Maria in two opposite ways. Put simply, Maria is depicted as a pure being and that of a caregiver or a mother of sorts. In this depiction It can also be seen that the “female essence” this film tries to represent is that of Purity, which is the complete opposite of the depiction of the character of Machine Maria. Machine maria sexualised and seductive in nature, practically cold and devoid of human emotion.

The film sends a confusing message to women; the most apparent takeaway that I could gather was that of keeping purity and avoiding impurity. This message, while simple, is extremely misogynistic as it tells women that they should submit themselves to one or the other and, depending on that choice, determines their “value and worth” to society.

https://tubitv.com/movies/666318/metropolis