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Social Manipulation In Fritz Lang's Novel '1984'

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Fritz Lang’s expressionist film Metropolis and George Orwell’s novel 1984 share a common narrative of social manipulation by an oligarchical collective in order to sustain and perpetuate their power. Fritz Lang reflects the paradigmatic concerns and discontents of the Weimar Republic of Germany following the First World War through the forced labour and oppression of the underprivileged to serve Metropolis’s oligarchy. On the other hand, Orwell’s 1984 was written as a plausible extension of the perverted socialism tested by Hitler and Stalin during World War 2, offering a prophecy for a future dictatorial state which practices extreme political manipulation. Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis reflects the paradigmatic concerns of his time through …show more content…

The Party manipulates Winston so “never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you”, the very definition of humanity being taken away and completely destroyed. The image of “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever’ is an Orwellian prophecy of suffering and oppression as it is denoted that the violence is infinite. His complete and utter defeat is denoted in the metaphor of death “The long-hoped-for bullet was entering his brain”, the intellectual and individually death of Winston. And it is the confronting paradox that he considers his own defeat a victory “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” as the hope for humanity is eradicated, he is the “last man” and when the last man is destroyed, there is no one left to represent the individual or the person. Thus through comparing the resolution of both texts we understand that the optimism in Metropolis is a reflection of the hope in the Weimar Republic following the First World War, conversely with the pessimism in 1984 upon the rise of Communism and manipulation. Hence through the shared novel of Metropolis and 1984 about social manipulation by an oligarchical collective in order to sustain and perpetuate their power the composers reflect the paradigmatic concerns of their

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