In this paper, we are going to discuss such films as Alphaville, directed by Jean Luc Godard, and Metropolis by Fritz Lang. In particular, it is necessary to examine the image of a dystopian city, presented in these movies. Overall, this theme has always attracted many writers and cinematographers and there are various versions of the future community. Our task is to analyze the techniques, employed by the filmmakers in order to portray dystopian life. Furthermore, it is of crucial importance to examine the philosophical and literary basis for these films, because many philosophers have dedicated a great number of works to the development of human society, and to a certain extent, their predictions bear striking resemblance to those urban visions, described in Alphaville and Metropolis.
In addition to that, we need to pay extra attention to the symbols, explored in these movies. They may not necessarily contribute to plot development, but they vividly render the ideas of the authors. In fact, this aspect is arguably the most important one because both these works are often considered as prominent examples of symbolism in cinematography, which means that the directors place special emphasis on some subtle details that can be interpreted from various perspectives and they act as a background to the story, but without them our understanding of the film is incomplete.
Prior to analyzing Alphaville and Metropolis, we should point out that they immensely influenced other science-fiction films, like for instance, Dark City, Equilibrium, Matrix, I, Robot, and many others. The ideas, images, themes, special effects that seem to modern viewers as unprecedented and unique, often stem from these two movies, though the connection is not always obvious.
As far as Alphaville is concerned, it is quite possible for us to say that its setting is not typical of science-fiction cinematography. This work can be classified as a film noir or if we translate this expression from French a black film. Traditionally, such technique is employed for crime movies, mostly to portray urban environment, which is often hostile to the main character. The most distinctive characteristic of such films is the dominance of deep shadows and the atmosphere of suspense that they produce (Silver et al, 22).
However, in this case, we are speaking about a science-fiction movie. Perhaps, Jean Luc Godard decided to make Alphaville in this style in order to show from the very beginning that this city is dystopian. The exact time, when the action takes place, is not specified, allegedly in the distant future and it is not even located on the Earth, but there is no futuristic setting or some conventional special effects. On the contrary, one can easily presume that the city of Alphaville can be easily located somewhere in Europe or the United States. In point of fact, the movie was shot in Paris (Mennel, 77).
Yet, it is impermissible for us to label Alphaville only as film noir; such an approach does not reflect all the complexity of this work. The authors tried to incorporate a futuristic society in a modern day city. It would not be an exaggeration to say that there is a sharp contrast between the storyline and the setting. The present-day viewer is likely to expect some extraordinary special effects, the evidence, suggesting that technology has undergone dramatic change in the future but there are practically no clues, indicating it. We can see a very curious paradox: film explores the impact of new technologies on human beings, but it is just the façade, which is designed to mislead the viewer because Alphaville should not be regarded as some location, it also represents the inner world of a highly rational person and the relations between people in a rational society (Darke, 33).
It should be taken into consideration that the city is practically governed by artificial intelligence, particularly by a computer system, called Alpha. The fact that that city is named after the computer is also very telling. It indicates that this machine is probably playing a very important role in the life of the inhabitants. As the story progresses, it becomes evident that people are in fact, enslaved by this machine. In this case, we may speak about the enslavement of the mind, because every person is forced to suppress his or her emotions and every deviation from this rule is punished by death.
Everything that cannot be explained by means of logic immediately arouses suspicions. Partly, Alphaville is a model of supervision society. We may even draw parallels between this film and such novels as Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury or George Orwells 1984. It stands to reason that occasionally Godards work is very reminiscent of these novels, But there are some features, which do not fall into the traditional framework.
As it has been noted before Alpha 60 suppresses every manifestation of human emotions, either positive or negative. Love, hate, boredom, merriment are treated in the same way, they are strictly forbidden. But we should not overlook the fact that this machine idolizes pure reason, logic. In its opinion, logic is the most effective way of thinking.
Now, it is necessary for us to trace the origins of such philosophy, because the city of Alphaville has already been depicted before, namely in Platos Republic, in which the famous thinker attempted to construct a society, governed by reason. The major difference is that Plato considered such community as the most optimal form of human interactions. He believed that passions or emotions only ruin a person because they awake the darkest sides of his or her soul.
Certainly, we cannot claim that Alphaville is the direct criticism of Platos Republic, such argument would have been slightly far-fetched but in this movie Jean Luc Godard tried to prove that a human being who is driven only by logic, is almost bound to turn into a robot or machine. Moreover, the directors intention was to construct a community, whose members form their judgment only according to pure reason. The protagonist of the movie, Lemmy Caution, is surprised to see that the inhabitants of the city hardly communicate with others. It appears that that such community is eventually doomed to extinction. In this respect, we should say that Godard even satirizes people who attach primary importance to reason and ignore feelings and emotions. The powerful computer Alpha 60, the machine, capable to perform thousand operations per second is inept to understand poetry, because it cannot get beyond bounds of rational thinking.
Nonetheless, the most important aspect of this film is that the lack of individualism, the citizens of Alphaville merge into a single monotonous entity, they just perform their professional functions. Anything else is of no relevance to them. It is not explicitly stated by the narrators, but the whole tragedy of the situation lies in the following: humankind created a monster and eventually became enslaved by it. The thing is that Alpha 60 was not constructed by some aliens, whom one may consider as inhuman on the contrary of it wade by men. This machine is the embodiment of human intelligence and the token of its downfall.
As regards the symbolism of this film, we may mark out several rather prominent images; we have mentioned some of them before, for instance, the city, itself, which estranges people from one another. In part, Godard explores such issues as urban culture, and the way it affects a person and deprives him or her of individuality. Another symbol is the computer Alpha 60; it has multiple layers of meaning. On the one hand, it shows that the development of modern technologies may have rather detrimental effects on society. Moreover, it is an example of perfect logic, pure reason, and the drawbacks of such a philosophy. Nevertheless, the most recurrent symbol in the film is the mathematical formula that looks in the following way: E=mc2. In fact, it was devised by Albert Einstein, and it denotes mass-energy relation. But in this particular context, it represents logical society, which focuses only on reason and does not validate any of human emotions (Darke, 110).
If we try to compare this vision of a dystopian city with the film Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, we can observe certain points of contact, some similarities between this works. Both these movies examine the impact of new technologies on human society and create a dystopian community, but Metropolis explores this issue from a different perspective. It is worth noting that this movie was released at the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1924 to be more exact. That period was marked by rapid industrialization and urbanization. In many Western European countries, such form of community as the village began to disappear; it was virtually run over by cities with fuming plants and factories. Furthermore, this process of industrialization brought dramatic changes in the stratification of the community (Minden et al, 88).
We need to provide some background information concerning the issue. The thing is that at that moment, the working class could be subdivided into two categories: 2) brain workers, or those employees who were engaged in some mental activities, and manual workers, people who usually performed some routine jobs. At that moment, this division was not very palpable, but Fritz Lang eloquently proved that it might have very adverse consequences. In part, Metropolis is reminiscent of the novel by Herbert Wells, the Time Machine, in which the famous writer describes the society that is strictly divided into social classes.
Unlike Alphaville, Metropolis is a striking example of a futuristic city with many huge and almost majestic buildings that act as a monument to human vanity. The city is technologically advanced; the buildings are interconnected with one another, there are various means of transportation and communication, and to crown it all, we may see construction that reminds the notorious Tower of Babel, the embodiment of human pride and ruin. This image became a prototype, a great number of science fiction movies use it as a model creating their own versions of a futuristic city.
The most prominent symbol in this film is the so-called M-machine. In contrast with Alpha 60, it has no intelligence of its own, but the filmmakers portray it as an animate being. It is not quite clear, what functions this mechanism performs but it requires the hard labor of many people. The scene of explosion is probably the most astounding in Metropolis, when the machine explodes; injured workers are immediately substituted by the new ones. Besides, newcomers take up the duties, while the dead bodies remain lying nearby.
At this moment, the filmmakers employ a technique, which is characteristic of Gothic movies: for a second, the machine is transformed into an ugly face and there is an inscription Moloch above. It should be borne in mind that Moloch is one of the ancient deities, mostly in the Middle East. It is occasionally mentioned in the Holy Scripture, and it is believed that Molochs priests made human sacrifices. Just for a second, M-machine turns into this monster, but the main character, Freder is so frightened by this hallucination that he flees this scene immediately. We can only deduce the feelings of the protagonist from his mimics and his gestures, since Metropolis is a silent film. It seems that he feels somewhat guilty for the death of the workers and cannot stand it any longer.
In this regard, we should try to compare Alphaville and Metropolis. Naturally, technology exercises a negative influence in both these films. In Alphaville, it represents all the dangers and soullessness of pure reason, and Alpha 60 is some kind of tyrant or enslaver, which subdues peoples will, while in Metropolis, M-Machine, embodies the negative sides of an industrialized community. It is described as a deity that demands sacrifice. Additionally, the new technology divides and even makes people hostile to one another.
Another distinctive feature of Metropolis is that this film depicts the city as some form of mechanism, or probably, it is better to say as a living organism. The layers of society act as various parts of this body. We may single out intellectuals, planners, or brain workers, who monitor the functioning of this organism. Apart from that, we may speak about manual or hand workers. This idea is mostly derived from Herbert Spensers works, who also believed that any society was like a living body. One of the main ideas that Fritz Lang wants to convey to the viewer is that there should not be this estrangement between social classes, because parts of the body may perform different functions but they always work for the benefit of the organism. Such strict division of people into brain and manual workers will only result in another totalitarian regime or a revolution. It turns out that Metropolis was in some way extremely prophetic: especially if we remember the events which took place in Germany in the thirties.
It is very difficult to say what the major difference between Metropolis and Alphaville is. On the one hand, we should speak about the approach that Jean Luc Godard and Fritz Lang take to the problem of new technologies. Godard mostly analyzes it within a philosophical framework, in the majority of cases, he focuses on the follies of a highly rational society, and the threats it poses to people. The director is disinclined to touch upon the question of social classes and stratification. In comparison with him, Fritz Lang makes this problem the most recurrent theme in his film. The only aspect that both directors agree upon is dehumanizing impact of technology. In both works, it turns people into soulless slaves, who are willingly resigning themselves to the will of newly-created deity or dictator.
In order to substantiate this statement, we should take a closer look at the scene of the explosion in Metropolis; in particular, we need to pay special attention to the behavior of the workers. All of them are perfectly aware of the fact that M-machine is about to explode, but they dare not leave this place. There is a look of docility and despair in their eyes. The same conduct can be observed in Alphaville, people are not willing to deliver themselves from this servitude: while actually, there is no one who can prevent them from doing. Perhaps, technology should not be perceived literally, because Alpha 60 and M-Machine are just various manifestations of a totalitarian society.
What these two films have in common is the theme of love, conquering any limits, and breaking any rules, imposed by a totalitarian society. In Alphaville, this feeling helps Natasha to regain her individuality. Even the regime, established by Alpha 60 did not succeed in eradicating this feeling. Similarly, in Metropolis, the main character falls in love with a young girl, named Maria, who belonged to the working class. Despite the fact, that these movies are regarded as dystopian, they end rather optimistically, because the main characters are able to withstand their love, though they are fighting against insuperable odds to do it. Alphaville and Metropolis place emphasis on the belief, that there is no such force, which can deprive people of the ability to love.
Therefore, we can arrive at the conclusion that these films present different models of a dystopian city. As regards Alphaville, we should mostly speak about supervision society, which monitors every kind of human activity. In contrast, Metropolis is an example of a highly industrialized and stratified community, subdivided into two major groups, workers and planners, who are almost bound to come into conflict with one another. In these movies, new technology performs slightly different functions: Alphaville depicts as a tyrant that controls peoples inner world, while in Metropolis, the M-machine is the means of enslavement. The common theme in these films is the all-conquering power of love that is able to overthrow every dictatorial regime. This feeling cannot be eradicated by any form of threat or control.
Bibliography
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Barbara Mennel. “Cities and Cinema” Routledge, 2008.
Chris Darke. “Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)”. I.B.Tauris, 2005.
Michael Minden, Holger Bachmann. “Fritz Lang’s Metropolis: Cinematic Visions of Technology and Fear”. Boydell & Brewer, 2002.
Murray Pomerance. “Cinema and modernity”. Rutgers University Press, 2006.
Steven Sanders. “The philosophy of science fiction film”. University Press of Kentucky, 2007.