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Comparing Metropolis And George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

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Fritz Lang's German expressionistic film Metropolis (1927) and George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) portrays psychological manipulation to emphasise the loss of individuality induced by the power and control that totalitarian systems hold. Metropolis shows the loss of individuality and freedom from the division of labour in Weimar Germany, a socially corrupt capitalist society. 1984 conveys the dangers associated with absolute political authority in an age of advanced technology. Both texts explore contextual fears of the loss of human values due to the influence of state control. Both Metropolis and 1984 illustrate the clear power divide between two classes and the use of rebellious mindsets to illustrate the future of contextual societies. Fritz Lang employs film techniques to illustrate the clear power divide between the workers and the rich. The workers are introduced as faceless, their heads hung down and walking in a uniform line in the bleak underground city, symbolising their lack of freedom and individuality. …show more content…

By getting rid all emotion and purpose, the Party is the one 'who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past’. By creating a past that was a time of slavery and misery through the manipulation of media, citizens have no purpose to rebel as they do not want to return to those times. Therefore, by controlling the history of the past, the Party has ultimate control over what happens in the future. Winston is aware of the manipulation of media and his desire to deviate from conformity gives him a rebellious mindset. However, his encounter with Room 101 eradicates his rebellious mindset and he starts to ‘love’ Big Brother. Therefore, unlike Metropolis, Orwell portrays only the inability to change the future through rebellion in the rise of totalitarian

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Throughout the novel, the Party systematically destroys and information they say is not correct and replaces it with information they say is. For example, the Party claims they invented the airplane, but the reader knows they were created by the Wright brothers. Winston himself has a job in the Ministry of Truth “rectifying” Times articles. By controlling the past, the Party is able to justify the wrongs they do in the present. This creates the mentality in denizens that the Party can do no wrong because there is no proof of their wrongs.

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As examples of dystopian fiction, metropolis and 1984 share some common concerns and conventions. In a comparative essay, analyse and evaluate each text as an artistic response to the political, social and cultural climates of their respective contexts: Texts are inherently responses which represents composers concerns of their political, social and cultural climates. Both Fritz Lang’s German Expressionist Film Metropolis (1927) and George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948) portray the subjugation of the individual and the divide between social classes. Lang’s focus is on the consequences to society due to loss of values such as compassion in Weimar Germany following WWI.

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Manipulation of people and oppressive governments are two strong themes and warning signs that these three thought-provoking pieces of dystopian literature, 1984, V for Vendetta and “Harrison Bergeron,” synopsize in their plots. In all three schemes there are totalitarian leaders, meaning each government not only says how the society should run but also depicts the lives of the individuals in it. Although varying with their degree of control, each leader uses perplex tactics to negatively influence and control their community. All three governing bodies including George Orwell’s 1984, James McTeigue’s film V for Vendetta and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” control their citizens using manipulation through intimidation, law enforcement and media.

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Winston also had a secret notebook that he would write down his thoughts in which was not allowed by the party. Those who were younger than Winston had no memory of what life was like prior to the Party. The party's role on their people may be seen as irrational authority. Fromm gives an example of irrational authority when he writes, “The interest of a slave and master are antagonistic, because what is advantageous to one is detrimental to the other” ( Fromm 577). This is exactly what is happening between the party and the people.

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In Winston’s believes, liberation is an entity hidden behind a mist of futility, an endless cycle of failed uprisings caused by the insolence of the general masses. The cycle also represents the situation that Winston finds himself within, regardless of his awareness he is still paralyzed by the irrational animalistic instinct to cower in fear of the party’s promised punishment. Resulting in his apathy towards revolution which causes him to abstain from any true revolutionary undertaking; as a result, the cycle of despair continues infinitely. Moreover, the paradox may highlight the extent of Winston’s indoctrination by the party. Winston views the revolution as fantastical due to the Proles oblivious nature, which is an assumption that is made by Winson as a result of party propaganda, which states that all “proles and animals are free”.

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The historical context and textual form of Metropolis enrich the responders understanding of the dangers of total state control over the individual through propaganda, panoptical surveillance and loss of creativity in 1984. The devastating impact of industrialisation and its effect on the erosion of liberty and compassion is effectively explored in both Metropolis and 1984. Lang specifically examines the negative consequences of technological advancement with no due consideration for the welfare of the individual. This is clearly represented through the paradoxical heart machine and Maria’s doppelganger Maschinenmensch.

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However the montage of apocalyptic shots of burst water pipes draws on the chaos caused by the German worker’s revolution in 1919 to criticise irrational and destructive forms of rebellion. Lang advocates moderate change, using Frederson’s transformation, depicted clutching his head in his hands, to indicate his regret about the exploitation of the workers. It results in mediation, contrasting Orwell's more confronting portrayal of control, to imply that compassion can become a feature of the political system. Lang values a hierarchical system

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Diverging contextual influences shape the way in which dystopian texts portray worlds in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of utopia is maintained through propaganda and indoctrination at the expense of altruistic human values. Fritz Lang’s expressionist 1927 film Metropolis and George Orwell’s 1949 dystopic novel 1984 critique the imposition of conformity due to unbridled authority in society, as well as convey the importance of human connections for a harmonious, progressive society. Through the comparative study of these texts, responders attain an enhanced understanding of the context’s influence on the representation of these multifaceted societal concerns. Excessive authorial power in society deny individuals personal

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Dystopian texts espouse a variety of didactic messages that depend significantly upon both the context and zeitgeist of the time in which they were created. Differences can be found when comparing the techniques and perspectives the authors have chosen to represent their contextual concerns to audiences. Together both Fritz Lang’s silent black and white film ‘Metropolis’ 1927 and George Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (*referred to as 1984) 1948, confront and provoke audiences to consider the impact that (abusive power + unquestionable control= insert question statement) can have not only on the characters in these two texts, but also on the cultural and political lives of the reader and viewer. By subjugating & dehumanising the lower classes, dictators are

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The setting of the movie looks very dystopian like because the streets are dark, gloomy and deserted. There also seems to be a lack of human life on the streets as all the people lock themselves up in their houses. Also through the movie, the government goes through a lot of problems that leads them towards a scandalous state. The scandalous state of the government tells us that the government is about to come to end and be defeated by the one who claims himself to be the hero known as V. The qualities of totalitarianism depicted in the movie are secret police, fear, violence, lack of trust, dictatorship and propaganda. Secret police is shown to us in movie when Evey leaves her apartment after curfew.

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This is the Ministry that Winston works at, and his job is to correct and edit documents. "This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, soundtracks, cartoons, photographs to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance" (Orwell 40). This passage refers to the process of changing the past, which is Winston's job. By controlling the past, the Party is able to manipulate the minds of the citizens. This is an example of how the party lies to the people.

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In this book they talk about some capabilities of Big Brother. “Winston kept his back to the telescreen … it was over though , as he well knew even a back can be revealing.” They surveillance members of the organization 24/7, so Any little move they made was known. Winston’s job was to change the past. “Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past”.

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3. Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) Metropolis is an important example of German Expressionism and of early science fiction. A great inquiry on future of humanity, a critique of society, a prominent dystopian film. Fritz Lang’s remarkable work has dazzlingly designed sets, costumes and unpredictable characters.

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Viewers inevitably become enraged with a “hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness” (16). The slogans of the Party, in their contradictory nature, are the central tenets of doublethink. The final slogan of the Party, “Ignorance is Strength” (18), postulates the inability of the people to recognize contradictions affixes the power of the authoritarian regime. Winston observes a Party mantra which states “who controls the past, […] controls the future” and “who controls the present, controls the past” (37). The prevalence of propaganda instilled by the government inculcates the pedagogy of the party to enforce a fervent

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Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.

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