Post #4: Metropolis is a Fine Wine

    Anyone that's had a deeply motivated and educated English or Film teacher, at least from my experience, has seen Fritz Lang's "Metropolis." 

 

 

    It is the classic tale of a dystopian future, with a seemingly utopian upper class being powered by an enslaved lower class.  However, I doubt as many have seen the remake, Metropolis, an anime from director Rintaro.  It is a great, beautifully hand-drawn adaptation that rivals its precursor in scope and storytelling. This isn't to discredit the original, it was made in the Silent Era, so it didn't have the technical advantages coupled with the progress of history and society that the new "Metropolis" does have.  Nonetheless, the new "Metropolis" is a remake that is not only better in craft, but in cultural relevance, and in such a way that will only increase as our world approaches its technology infused future.

    I've read that the creator of the "Metropolis" manga that the anime was taken from has only seen the poster of the 1927 film, but never the actual product.  No matter, the story and themes match up so closely that the two films are too similar to not be compared.  In the original, the aristocratic and lower classes were both human, only separated by intelligence, wealth, opportunity, and pride.  In the remake, the lower class are a society of self aware robots crafted to do our bidding, but they become less and less happy with the way they are treated.  It's set in future day Tokyo, which looks like a mid 20th century imagining of what the future could hold.

    There's a character named Tima, an android created in the image of the dead daughter of Duke Red, an evil dictator sort of figure, who's single created purpose is to merge computers and the human brain as one, so that the Duke can rule the city.  Naturally, things don't go according to plan, and there are huge riots and contoversies and shifts and power that start happening.  I'll stop there, i don't want to risk giving too much away.

    Now the real ethical substance in this film lies in the way it explores the rights of exploited workers, only they're in the form of robots, so this raises dilemmas in two veins of the heart of ethics.  It's every human's right to have a fair and honest work environment, at least in theory.  But, throughout the globe, this is never fully true; the richer and more powerful always find a way to sink their fangs into the starving necks of the poor in some fashion.  This is an outrage to any decent, morally upright person, after all it is our fellow man isn't it?  However, should machines get the same respect their creators do, if artificial intelligence is ever fully materialized?

    Thirty years ago, this question may have had no relevance and would've been tossed out of the mind's window with the rest of the garbage.  Maybe today there still isn't a relevance, we still have machines that do our simple labor, while the majority of the "important" work is left to the capable hands of a human.  However, the evolution of technology has been on an exponential curve for the past ten or fifteen years and shows no sign of slowing.  Neural prosthetics, nanotechnology, degrees of AI have been developed heavily as viable options for our coming years.  In the next 50 years, it's very possible that machines will do close to all our work, and will require the same sort of mind as it's creators; one with supposed moral and intellectual backbone.  Transhumanists call this the Singularity, a sort of rapture where human and technological components will bond completely and we will become one with science.  This is the idea of perfection created by an imperfect race, so the potential for problems is quite high, though many scientists would say we have the potential to improve ourselves as a unified society.  In theory, I agree, but I also feel that humans are a prideful and sporatic race, so history may be doomed to repeat itself, if in a slightly more updated version.  This film serves as a look at these sort of possibilities and problems, which may be closer than some of us would like to think.

 

     Visually, this movie is brilliant and perfectionist as they come, with huge sweeping landscape shots and flawless movement and continuity, mixed with a good sound track that at some points is quite in sync with on screen action.  All these technical elements, mixed with a broad scope and thematic prowess, as well as great storytelling, make it a lasting futuristic anti-utopian epic.

    I commented on Katherine Danoy's and Joe Gayk's blogs.

   

Comments

[Sandy Kellerhals]

The original Metropolis has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I had no idea that there had been an anime remake of the story. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I will definitely find time watch and compare these to different films. I am just now exploring manga and anime. My first experience was several years ago with Cowboy Beebop and Ghost in a Shell....things have come a long way since then and I haven't kept up (c:

[Free Movies]

Nice video. I really enjoyed the video and loved watching it again. This movie is brilliant and perfectionist as they come, with huge sweeping landscape shots and flawless movement and continuity, mixed with a good sound track that at some points is quite in sync with on screen action.

[Amy]

Brilliant movie ever watched.