Extension English essay: Frankenstein and Metropolis.

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein (1818) and Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis (1927)
use their texts to show pathways in worlds of upheaval that lead to opportunities for
restoration through peace and unity whilst reflecting their contextual world of
upheaval. The expressionistic technique of Fritz Lang's film to communicate
industrialization and mass production of technology-consuming reality contrasts
with the romantic gothic novel by Mary Shelley revealing shifting societal values
and moral decline. Observing how their own social and political upheaval inflicts
underlying morals within both of their texts directs hidden values to the audiences.

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein (1818) is a science fiction novel based in the
1700s. Frankenstein reflects aspects of Shelley's contextual upheaval. Aspects in
Shelley's own life, like the French Revolution and transition into the Enlightenment
period. The French Revolution was influential in the development of Shelley's
literary world. These were key ideas with the advancements of science, and
traditional metaphysical and theological understandings of ‘the meaning of life’
were replaced by more profane and materialistic ideologies. Shelley distinguished
the difference between a ‘mad scientist’ from the ‘scholar-scientist’ who sought only
to understand, this heightens Shelley's theme of the power of knowledge can be as
deadly as good to society. We can see this in Victor Frankenstein. Through this
character, Shelley not only explores the scientific possibilities suggested by
contemporary theories but also self-awareness, the nature of man, and the meaning
of life and pushes the pursuit of power too far with his knowledge.

Shelley reflects on the advancements of science and uses her protagonist to reflect
a moral decline in society. Victor Frankenstein reflects the romantic era of optimism
and strong belief in the importance of the individual. In contrast, Victor creates a
“creature” who reflects the Enlightenment period, emphasizing reason, rational
thinking and logic as well as the extension of math and sciences. This creature
whose inhumane appearance is to quote “His yellow skin scarcely covered the work
of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his
teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuries only formed a more horrid contrast
with his watery eyes.” is deliberate and essential to the character itself. The
creature's appearance is extremely important as it is what distances Victor to
empathize with it, similar to how society rejects and alienates the creature
foreboding it to be equal with them denying any chance of equality and unity
between humans and the creature. Shelley demonstrates to the readers how
members of a normative society despise those who occupy the lowest social strata.
Through an intertextual allusion to Milton's Paradise Lost, Shelley further develops
her remark on unbridled ambition. This tale tells the Genesis narrative from the
Bible. The creature's "hellish" characteristics and frequent comparisons to the devil
were hinted at in these biblical allusions, illustrating the moral wrong and imbalance
the creature feels as he relates to more of a fallen angel.

This is what creates the Creature as morally ambiguous through Shelley's use of
identity, we can interpret the creature as being a modern Prometheus, warning the
tragedy of playing god. The monster desires love and acceptance yet when that is
denied by society the creature turns to revenge on his creator. Literary Critic Anne
Mellor even drew the parallel that Shelley’s monster may be read as an emblem of
the French Revolution itself. “originally a desire to benefit all mankind but so
abandoned and abused that it is driven to uncontrollable rage”. The absence of
peace and unity in Frankenstein serves a cautionary purpose highlighting the
importance of empathy, compassion and understanding in maintaining harmony.
Within the novel, there is an emphasis on the danger of neglecting these qualities,
as a lack of connection leads to isolation, violence and the breakdown of societal
bonds.

Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis (1927) is a futuristic, scientific, expressionist film
that can be viewed from a Marxist perspective. Their world of upheaval is provoked
by the oppressed working class’s rebellion against the higher social class above
which highlights the communist and fascist aspects of Metropolis. Lang’s post-WW1
German context motivated him to create a film where a capitalist tyrant, intent on
technological progress, ignored the needs of a working underclass. This pre-WW2
context also caused Lang to optimistically advocate for social unity and empathy
amongst the classes as a possible solution to the problems in his world. Fritz’s
choice of making an expressionistic film heightens the dystopian disconnect
between the natural world and reality and conveys the anxieties in society present
at the time (post-WW1). This allows the film to project these fears onto its audience,
aiding its purpose as a cautionary tale of a possible metaphorical future. The way
the metropolis depicts the working class individuality is dehumanizing as the
deliberate costume choice stripped away any individuality as they are all
indistinguishable. This can be represented when Freder goes down into the working
class as his white clothes juxtaposed with the dirty grey and dark tone outfits of the
working class. We understand all these semiotic symbols through the techniques
Fritz uses: Chiaroscuro lighting, gigantism and symbolism, static camera
movements, hallucinations and distortion, non-diegetic sounds and exaggerated
body language.

Fritz uses biblical allusions like the tower of Babylon, and Moloch and sets like the
biblical garden of Eden. This eventually shifts values with the character of Maria, a
character who's devoted to the idea of reconciliation between the two classes and
strives for harmony. When we observe her with the children she is the symbol of
purity, dressed in white, with pure eyes, and put in dramatic lighting to symbolize
her being angelic, we can see to the worker she symbolizes hope. Unlike Rotwang's
robot Maria who in Fredersons eyes was a crafter to form a rebellion to make him
the most powerful and reliant totalitarian leader. The robot Maria’s dramatic
costume change to dark eyeshadow and revealing clothes suggest her impurity and
links back to the biblical revelations as she brings the rebellion to be apocalyptic,
and the change of the cue card to “ The whore of Babylon ''. The moral decline in
the Metropolis shows how Lang has used the bible as an answer, referring to the
past for guidance as the bible is a foundational text of guidance to peace and unity.

The oppression of the workforce in this allegory is comparable to that of the

proletariat in the Weimar Republic in the 1920s and the working class in Metropolis.
The visual representation of a hand is produced by using a high-angle view of five
lines of marching workers assembling towards the composition's focal point. This
repeating image of the hands refers to how the proletariat in the contextual world of
the Weimar Republic's plutocracy was dehumanized because they were only
valued for their manual labour and the output they could produce. Because of their
hunched shoulders and bowed heads, the viewer is compelled to sympathize with
them and loathe the wealthy class. In the final scene of the movie, you can see the
workers walking up the church stairs in a pyramidal formation. This connects to the
intertitles' pyramidal structure that describes the bourgeoisie's way of life. The
hierarchical structure of this society, which was initially connected to the upper
classes, is symbolized by this form. The workers' rhythmic synchrony and
synchronized formation serve as a visual symbol for their defiance of the hierarchy
and the ensuing connection of equality between the classes. The son of the city's
mayor, Freder, serves as a mediator between the two societies, highlighting the
value of union and collaboration. We get a shot of Freder taking control as the
mediator and symbolically resembling the heart. Through this Grot's representation
of the working class ( the hands ) and Freiderson the totalitarian leader of the upper
class( the head) then make a deal of reconciliation and a beginning of unity through
a handshake. This handshake is one resembling empathy and understanding for a
change in desire for social change; it represents the possibility of unity and
cooperation between the classes which transcends the division previously created
by the oppressive societal structures.
In conclusion, both Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" and Fritz Lang's film
"Metropolis" serve as powerful reflections of how contextual upheaval is reflected in
literary worlds. Both films address themes of industrialization and fear of the future
projected to the audiences to get a restoration of peace and unity.
References (APA 7)
Bolger, J. (2003). Metropolis and the Silent Movie Experience (4th ed., Vol. 4). Spirit of
Progress.
Galster, G. C. (2017). The Metropolis in Black and White. Routledge.
Gordon, A. (n.d.). The Promethean Daemonic from Frankenstein’s Creature to Ridley
Scott’s Alien. University of Glasgow.
Mary Shelley — Frankenstein- An Analysis | by
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Gunning, T., & British Film Institute. (2000). The films of Fritz Lang: allegories of Vision
and modernity. British Film Institute.
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Times.
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Examining the Dark Flower That Was Weimar Culture: The Brief, Dark Flower Of
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By MEL GUSSOWSpecial to The New York Times
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The date of access is the 24th of May 2023
Mellor, "Promethean Politics" the University of
Pennsylvaniahttp://knarf.english.upenn.edu › Articles › mellor4 quote of Anne's
critic idea. Quotes in my essay

https://literariness.org/2020/07/12/analysis-of-john-miltons-paradise-lost/
Ideas came from this about paradise lost
Utopia=Dystopia And The Biblical References in MetropolisCity University of New
Yorkhttps://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu › belli-f2018-eng2420
Frankenstein: What Does The Ending Mean? -
SparkNotesSparkNoteshttps://www.sparknotes.com › lit › what-does-the-ending…
How The French Revolution Relates to Frankenstein -
Preziprezi.comhttps://prezi.com › how-the-french-revolution-relates-to-...
https://www.thinkswap.com/au/vce/english/year-12/entire-course-notes-
english-units-3-4-frankenstein
Used for ideas on the film shots and Paradise lost context. Not original ideas but
sourced from these points.