Fritz Langs expressionist film, Metropolis (1927) and George Orwells Swiftian

satire Nineteen Eighty Four (1949) dramatise the impact of repressive

governments upon the individual. Lang reflects the anxieties of the Weimar
Republic of Germany, under the stresses following the First World War,
highlighting the consequences of rapid industrialisation and the subsequent
disunity between the working and upper classes. Orwell conversely reflects upon
the rise of Communism and Fascism in Europe, warning against despotic
governments. While Lang uses the medium of film to deliver his message, a
cinematic spectacle communicated to a global audience using the latest
technology, Orwells didactic message is communicated through the satires
demotic voice, a voice and a vision that exposed the political manipulation of
language of his time. Through exploring the ways ideas are appropriated across
juxtaposing contexts, responders are able to gain a deeper understanding of the
salient and enduring values of freedom, conformity and individuality as a result
of their contextual experiences.

The values of the Weimar Republic set the doctrine of the film in which visual
forms reveal the ironic mastery of machine and industrialisation over man. Lang
uses a montage of machines cross cut with the symbol of a mechanical clock
ticking to midnight to emphasise the political and social chaos in his society.
Additional cuts of steam vents signify the underlying pressures that plagued the
Weimar Republic by in the interwar period, but also the ideological tensions that
characterized the period. Tension leads to revolution in Metropolis. The workers
revolution is a reflection of the attitudes within Germany as it struggled to repay
its debts to foreign nations, under the Treaty of Versailles. The necessity of
industrialisation is represented by the verbally ironic appeal of the foreman, If
the heart machine perishes the entire workers city will be laid to waste. Lang
conveys that although life is miserable in Metropolis, it is dependent on the co-
existence of workers and the Heart-Machine. The machines are indeed the
source of the workers subordination and repression, but the source of their
livelihood as well. Hence, Lang examines his era in which the solution for their
debt is to sacrifice the freedom of the individual for rapid industrialisation.

However, as a result of their differences in textual form, Orwell analyses the

manipulation of language to control its society by destroying their
consciousness to resistance, reflecting his subversive, contextual attitudes
towards Fascism and Communism. Opposing the social unification sought by
Lang, Orwells totalitarian regime seeks the absolute subjugation of the
individual. Orwell signifies the partys perpetual ambition for power over the
human psyche through the verbal irony Freedom is Slavery. Has it ever occurred
to you that it is reversible? Slavery is freedom. The manipulation of language
reinforces Orwells paradoxical observations of the totalitarian societies of his
time, in which criticism of the government would become linguistically
controlled. Human rights are exchanged for state stability and security,
represented through the breaking down of Winstons psychological perception of
his morals and identity. He confessed He confessed It was easier to confess
everything The accumulation of Winston confessions to crimes murders
sexual pervert identifies the numerous ways the individual subconscious is
eroded by torture, capturing the subversive terror of regimes such as the Nazis,
and the cult of personality created by Stalin in his dictatorship. While Langs film
constructs the need for co-existence and harmony, Orwells satire reflects the
political turmoil of his time in which governments prioritise authority over
individual freedom.

Both Lang and Orwells texts convey societies that restrict the freedom of its
citizens through political, social and economic oppression. Whilst Langs film
illustrates socialist aspects of the Weimar Republic in creating a workers utopia,
Orwell portrays a dystopia in which civil rights are abolished, a reflection of
Stalinism and Nazism. Lang dehumanises the workers underground, segregated
from the upper class through a series of high angle shots accompanied by
accelerando non diegetic music. The uniformity of the workers choreography
juxtaposed with the montage of machinery represent how the workers
themselves have been integrated into parts of the machine, losing their
humanity and reflecting the hardships of Germany after the First World War.
Conflict between the exploited individual and controlling society results in
confusion and violence. Lang draws upon a resolution that is reflective of the
Dawes Plan in 1924 resulting in a subsequent political and social establishment
in Weimar Germany. This is visually represented through a mis-en-scene, in
which Grot shakes Fredersens hand through Freder, completing the extended
metaphor that the mediator between the heads and hands must be the heart.
Therefore, Lang draws the importance of the socialist republic in which the
intellectual and working class compromise through social syncretism.

Orwell warns his audience against a government which abolishes civil rights and
manipulates the individual through perpetual propaganda. The satire critiques
the principles of Stalinism and Nazism, forms of totalitarianism that flourished
across Europe in the 30s and 40s. In order to maintain power, the government
exploits its citizens through the two minute hate advocated by the party against
Emmanuel Goldstein. Winstons observation of his co-worker repeating Swine!
Swine! Swine! demonstrates a loss of personal conviction in creating a
dangerous orthodox for oppressive tyranny. The upper class allow such tyrants to
assume power in which the rest of society are thus constrained to conform to. In
contrast to Metropolis, whose socialist message advocates the concession of the
individual and society through revolution, Orwell demands the absolute love for
Big Brother and connotes the inability for the individual to accomplish change
against tyrannous governments. This is observed through the verbal irony in the
apathetic reactions between Winston and Julia after torture. I betrayed you / All
you care about is yourself is repeated verbatim to reflect the individuals death
of resistance. Hence, both 1984 and Metropolis analyse the contextual
perceptions between societys demands for social conformity, and the role of its
citizens in advocating change.

Through the comparison of these texts, the responder is able to achieve a deeper
understanding of the influences of textual form as well as context in shaping
meaning between texts. Metropolis and Nineteen Eighty-Four depict the
overwhelming tension between the desire of individuality and totalitarian
societies. By analysing how textual form conveys similar ideologies across
juxtaposing contexts, responders gain a deeper knowledge on the role of the
individual to freedom or conformity.