The 1927 Film Metropolis Created a Dystopian Vision of What the World Would Look Like in 2026–and It Hits Close to Home

Ultra-high against the dark sky. A big distance between the rich and the poor. A robber baron at the helm of a large-scale industrial work that turns humans into machines. A machine that has become intelligent enough to replace humans. All of these are standard elements of a dystopian vision, so we couldn’t imagine a tough future without having at least a few people in it. We’ve all seen these elements have been used before, and they borrow a lot of their persistence power to the influence they first had in the Fritzlang film sights. Big cityIt premiered 98 years ago. Many imitations have since passed through popular culture, most of whom have not mastered the techniques that empowered the original.

“Set in a futuristic urban dystopia, the film depicts a divided society in which the oppressed working class struggles underground while wealthy elites live in luxury skyscrapers.” I’m writing Pruethicheth lert-udomruksa on the IAAC blog. “The film explores themes of class struggle, social inequality, and the inhuman influence of industrialization.”

One of the strongest icons of those themes is the Tower of Babel, an looming skyscraper that “symbolizes the harsh division between privilege and the oppressed.” As Paul Butts writes Silver Screen Classic Blog“Jigrat of Ur, like the pyramids and temples of Egypt,” the buildings and other elements realized by the film’s groundbreaking visual design will become “the city that rules over humanity.” ”

The loss of humanity is a major concern Junkie Video essay at the top of the postLang and his collaborators explain several ways in which they communicate the phenomenon through light, shadow and perspective. Light, shadow, and perspective are the main tools available in black and white silent film. 100 Years of Movies Video essays immediately above It covers more aspects of the construction of the photograph and its historical context. “In Europe in the 1920s, a fundamental form of nationalism called fascism became prominent, and six years after the film’s release, Lang refused to join the Nazi Party and was banished to America.”

For quite a long time, version Big city What people could see was a censored or otherwise incomplete cut. Only in 2008 was he received a full recovery. But now, “it’s easier than ever to “make a combination of camera shots and angles, lighting contrast, and winning shot compositions really work to portray humanity as technology-dependent.” When I see poor workers in Metropolis become part of the machine they work in, its idol rich “become a part of the machine by submitting.” [to] Joy, we may look back at the acumen of the choice to set the film’s narrative in 2026.

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Based in Seoul Colin marshall Write and broadcasting stationTS about cities, languages, and culture. His projects include the Substack Newsletter Books about cities And the book The Stateless City: Walking through 21st century Los Angeles. Follow him on social networks previously known as Twitter @colinmarshall.