The relationship between man and machine has long been a fearful one. From the dawn of industry there have been visions of the machines rising, one day, to destroy us all. For Lang, this was a core philosophical argument. Within the stifling confines of the city, the urban landscape itself is machine-like, and thus the entire world becomes nothing but a man-controlled environment the sole purpose of which is to provide for the luxuries and lives of the owners at the absolute cost of the workers. The underground world of Metropolis serves several significant purposes. First, it provides a level of unfamiliar mystery: who are these people? Why do they work like this? How did they get there? The psychological effect is to create a sense of the fantastic but with an absolute belief of the possible. Because they are below ground, we experience a seemingly irrevocable distancing between the workers and the owners. The viewing screens maintained by the foreman and Herr Frederson become the only way to view the rebellion that eventually takes place. The machines separate man from life. This theme of separation is incredibly important not only then, but now as well. Hobbes wrote that a community without God cannot be sustained, that in order for man to achieve his most basic drive - that of community - he must be allowed to access the deeper spirituality within (Thomas). We live in a society of increasing social separation between people. Email, instant messaging, and cell phones have reduced the necessity for face-to-face contact. Without the ability to socialize, we lose our humanity - is the message then and now in relation to technology.

Is, then, Lang's vision of a technocratic society that destroys individuality and makes slaves of the populace either fair or accurate? As with many doom-sayers, in that mood, Lang was making the equivalent of his own allegorical tale. Maria's first appearance has deep...

She comes to represent the purity of humanity - the hope. In Metropolis, we see that when man is stripped of his ability to worship a genuine God, when he cannot live out his life on his own terms, he eventually rebels. Of course most rebellions fail because of a lack of organization and adequate materiels with which to fight. but, when it comes to workers, the strike is the only method that truly gets the attention of the bosses. The worker's rebellion in Metropolis, is a metaphorical strike - it is Lang's way of saying to the proletariat that they must take ownership of their lives, stop living without purpose.
Metropolis, is one of the most significant films of the twentieth century. Man cannot survive in a social vacuum. Without contact with others, without being able to directly be involved in your own life, it is impossible to retain that sense of individuality and community that marks what it is to be human. There can be no doubt that Lang intended his film to stir up people's emotions in relation to the central themes. Clearly, the idea that machines and technology separate man from his humanity continues to be of concern even now. What Lang accomplished then, and now, was a sense of distrust, of fear, and provided us with a reason to be concerned about the consolidation of political, social, religious, and economic power in the hands of a very few. Metropolis, teaches us that what we do need to ensure that there is a connection between the "head" and "hands" such that our society progresses, but does not leave the workers behind.

Bibliography

Marx, Karl. "Estranged Labor." 12-11 2006. Marxists.org. 13-02 2008 http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htm#05.

Thomas, Preston. Thomas Hobbes: Critical Assessment. New York: Routledge, 1993.