Fritz lang's 'Metropolis' and the United States

Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) has often been analysed in context of the We imar Republic and in relation to National Socialism. This essay, while ackn owledging the importance of those contexts, seeks to take a fresh look at t he film in the context of the effects upon it of the United States. The fil ms production, distribution and theme are all bound up in one way or anothe r with the influence of the United States and these circumstances, the essa y argues, have a significant bearing upon the kind of images created in the film. In productively exploiting the historically actual cultural and econ omic tussle between the German and the U.S. film industries, this essay arg ues that with Metropolis Lang produced a unique mise-en-scene of the ambiva lence of technology in the culture of modernity, which helps to explain the enduring fascination exerted by some of the films images, especially that of the robot.