Image #1: Fredersen, Rotwang and robot Maria/Hel (Metropolis, 1926)
As seen in Metropolis, Forbidden Planet, and The Stepford Wives, fears of the technological are often expressed as an anxiety surrounding gender identity and sexual difference. Referring to our class screenings and reading assignments, answer the following:
According to J.P. Telotte ("The Seductive Text of Metropolis") what is the film's paradoxical relation to technology, both presented in the film as spectacle (the futuristic city, the robot), and used to create the spectacle (cinema)? How is this paradox represented in the robot Maria/Hel? For Telotte, why is the film's ending an insufficient resolution to the anxieties raised by the film?
For Mary Ann Doane in her essay, "Technophilia: Technology, Representation and the Feminine," how does the robot Maria/Hel (referred to as "machine-man") embody both the allure and potential danger associated with technological advance? How does the film resolve the "unnatural" desire on the part of the male inventor (Rotwang in this instance) to reproduce, or to appropriate the maternal function?
What does the gender conformity represented by the transformation of the Stepford wives suggest about attitudes towards technology in the second half of the 20th century?
Friday, September 12, 2008
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18 comments:
"Metropolis" did a great job of showing a pro/con world of technology, that people even see today. The whole idea of the city being this marvelous place for some and hellish for others is interesting. In a sense the film is more con than pro, because the people depicted as lovers of the technology either A) Switch over when they see that some people are not benefited by it or B) They are the evil power hungry villains.
The robot is also a great example of this. She is based off of someone who created our hero (and now looks like the hero's love interest) but is used as a destroyer. To Rotwang, she represents someone who had a great effect on his life. A sort of obsession. Hel to me represents the seducer. An infatuation that really isn't what it seems to act like.
"The Stepford Wives" is very anti-technology. How technology is used as a tool used to make 'perfect' something that shouldn't be considered 'imperfect' in the first place. I kind of think Metropolis's Rotwang is kind of like this. I do however find it interesting how a movie that supports feminism deals with technology in such a matter. Without the technology doesn't the gender roles of women become more apparent and "needed"? Granted, the idea of a stepford wife is sick and twisted in the sexuality of it, but as a tool for women to get out of any "gender bondage" they may feel a stepford wife would be considered a blessing.
After viewing the film "Metropolis," it was pretty clear that technology played a major role in the film. The whole city was a place representing the frontier of science, a place where technology was at its height. It also showed how people were affected by it, some positively(the wealthy, above ground) and some negatively, (those below ground).
Hel, the robot woman, was another representation of technology in the movie. Her role had a lot to do with gender, how she was seen as a leader and how she influenced them with her looks in a way.
Hel also shows the fear that is associated with robots and a.i. She was a robot made by man, programmed to be under control, who then develops free will and becomes out of control.
When Rotwang invented his robot, he made her into a woman. A specific woman in fact, that he had feelings for and in doing so revealed his desire to bring a deceased friend back to life, even though it was just a machine.
The "Stepford Wives" showed that society in that time was putting a lot of thought into technology, not just making it, but the reasons behind it. The movie sent a message that technology isn't always the right answer, "there is such a thing as too perfect."
Ryan Bender
“Metropolis” paradox comes from the advancement of technology. The consequence of society succumbing to technology is that survival becomes dependent on its ability to perform accurately. However, we are mystified by this futuristic world and want to experience more. A similar paradox is presented in Hel / Maria. Telotte discusses how both are able to seduce and persuade. Maria is the motherly figure; she perches the dangers of technology, which will ultimately destroy, and the time when they will work and enjoy life concurrently. Hel encourages destruction of machines and rising to the surface to enjoy in fruits of their labor. This makes the workers forget about their children below and leave them to the floodwaters. In the end, though Freder mediates between workers and his father, the workers return underground to work. Communities stay separate, leaving no resolution to the original problem. The allure and danger of Hel / Maria as technology comes from the representation of Hel as Maria. Maria is a maternal figure for the workers. Hel is programmed for destruction and uses Maria’s appearance to manipulate. As technology, Hel becomes a weapon without the blatant image of being so. Hel’s creator produced a machine with the likeness of a being that can cerate life naturally, with the intent for the machine to destroy life. Stepford Wives suggests that as technology advances, the women’s movement will become obsolete. Technology will take over and women will be forced back into the home, only for the purpose of reproduction.
Telotte says, “Metropolis seems self-conscious about how these images can make us desire the very technological developments whose dangers it so clearly details.” This film allows the viewer to contrast the pros and cons of technology. On one side there is the idea that technology will take over society, and another view of it being the allure of a complex and futuristic world. By contrasting the natural world above and machine world below, Lang creates a connection between destruction and seduction by showing the dependency humans and machines have on one another. This seduction/destruction connection is also found in the Maria/Hel character(s). Maria is good and Hel is evil. A paradox is created when these traits are combined. This worker of the future is a blessing and a threat to society because human work will be done by machines, but there will be no need for humans. The contradiction found in the robot “becomes a metaphor for the seductive play of technological power,” writes Telotte. He finds the resolution insufficient because of its open-endedness. He says the film tries to “lift the veil on the seductive images of the technological” but by doing this raises more questions than it answers that other films will need to address.
Doane thinks the machine-man becoming a woman is due to the anxiety in men about the female reproduction process and “womb envy” The allure and fear come from the female sexuality and, in Freudian terms, male’s castration anxiety. The film solves this unnatural reproduction desire by having the inventor create a “human” without a mother.
Doane suggests that The Stepford Wives shows there shouldn’t be fear over a woman/machine controversy and the feminist movement outside of fiction is unnecessary. This suggests that technology in the second half of the 20th century is still being used as a tool for social propaganda.
Desten Johnson
“Metropolis” represents the good and evil of technology at least in its association with humans. Initially the humans find distain for the city and all the technology because it imprisons them. They became part of a machine that they cannot escape because it’s their livelihood as well as their home. However, at the end of the film when they destroy the machine, they realize its necessity. It is their job and their home; without those things how are they expected to survive. The people of Metropolis have yet to find the balance between technology and their natural world. The same goes for Maria/Hel. Maria is the leader of the natural people mostly through spirituality. She represents the good of the world even with technology. She, as almost a mother to all people, wants to work with the machines to make life better. The out of control Hel manifests Rotwang’s obsession with control and the wrongs that obsession can lead to. Hel is the evil side of manipulation that a woman can also represent. “The Stepford Wives” shows the want of control of women and therefore man’s inherent want to control technology. In the years before “The Stepford Wives”, women were objects to be control. The movie is a great commentary on women/machines both trying to be control and become one so that man may control both at the same time. However in these instances, humanity is lost because all are conformed to roles of the machine and its controller. -Julianna
Metropolis shows many of the good parts of technology, and many bad parts of it. The technology used in the film displayed how people take power of their advantages. This was displayed because some of the population was almost in slavery, and the other part of the population was living a perfect life. This could be related to The Stepford Wives because many times women were put to work doing things they might not necessarily want to take part in. Telotte dislikes the ending of the film because it does not answer the question about technology completely. Mary Ann Doane says the machine wife is dangerous because it conflicts with artificial intelligence, and free will.
Rotwang still had an attachment for a woman that he loved so he made a machine woman to try to get her back, but it was nothing more than a machine. Gender roles in the second half of the 20th century were not as specific as they were 50 years ago. They evolved just like technology. Both technology and gender roles went through much skepticism before being more accepted.
Metropolis presents a paradoxical relationship to technology by first showing the colossal size of the city, the technological wonders that inhabit the city, and the carefree ways that Freder spends his days. Soon, Freder discovers the price for these luxuries: Men and women working, even sacrificing themselves, for the benefit of the people above ground. As Telotte writes, “An elaborate display of technology that promises human satisfaction, while it carefully cloaks the secrets of its operation, the source of its power” (Telotte, 60). This is an interesting idea, especially when Telotte compares it to the way Melies creates his film with “tricks” of the camera. With these “tricks” in place, the audience witnesses the “potential of artifice…inevitably comes the limit of the artifice as well, the awareness that this is not really the world we know and inhabit, just film after all” (Telotte, 55). This paradox is also represented in the robot as it dances in front of the men who work below the city. The men are unable to look past this seduction to see that they are being led by a robot, much in the way that Freder was at one time unable to see past the seduction of the city to discover its underbelly.
Telotte argues that the ending is somewhat insufficient, as it does not have the characters eliminate the mask of seduction presented by the city. He writes, “Instead of removing the veil from those seductive forces, the people have simply lifted it and let it fall back” (Telotte, 67).
I found the Doane essay to be extremely interesting, specifically her ideas about the desire of man to create life without a mother. This idea that progression (either by the women or because of reproduction) and transmission of knowledge lies heavily on women, even more so than technology, is an explanation for why the robot is able to embody both allure and danger. The following sentences make this case: “Reproduction is the guarantee of a history – both human and biological reproduction and mechanical reproduction. Knowledge is anchored to both” (Doane, 188).
Finally, the gender conformity of the Stepford wives seems to simply suggest the fear and (in the film) possibility of being completely replaced.
Telotte says that the relationship is backwards because in the film, they make technology out to be such a good thing, a savior, but at the same time it can destroy us. The city, the robot, and the cinema all rise from technology and it makes less sense because the filmmakers are trying to make a statement about technology while uses technology to make it. Maria is trying to help the people that are repressed as a result of the cities needs, and in the end, Hel is too; they just try to accomplish those goals through different means. Maria is trying to save everyone through peace and Hel ends up hurting more people through violence. It doesn't help when her master is killed and no one can control her. Telotte says the ending is insufficient because it tries to make the lure of technology less alluring, but instead just leaves it open to anything.
Doane talks about the the allure that creation has and the power that it gives someone. I think that putting so much power into something that you depend on and can lose control over can be a mistake. This also relates to the desire of the male inventor, which lends itself to Freudian theory of creation or womb envy. Men can't create life so they have to fake it using technology in the form of the robot, which they eventually cover in a human form.
The transformation of the female to robot or cyborg makes it seem like people think that technology is eventually going to take over the human form and replace all of us eventually. It is just a matter of time until it gets out of control like in Metropolis if it keeps up that way.
"Metropolis" was a great demonstration of the pros and cons of the world of technology. It was incredibly interesting to see how technology was a burden for some (ex. the lower class slaves sent to work in what appeared to be the depths of a hell like world) and a heavenly bliss for some (mostly the upper class and there garden of Eden like surrounding). I also think that the machine man or Hel as she was called was another perfect example of how technology was great for some however very horrible for others. Hel was great for Rotwang who lost someone he cared about then suddenly had a likeness of her back in his life, but it was horrible for Maria's lover who could not prove to the lower class that she was not who she said she was. I think the "Stepford Wives" could also be used as an example as good for some bad for others idea of technology. The idea of having complete control over their spouse was great for the men in the movie, but quite obviously horrific for the woman in the movie.
"Metropolis" did an interesting job of portraying both the pros and cons of technology, and how dependent the human being had become on it. The film depicted the city to be a fully functioning location, where technology was rampant and dominant. This only seemed to be appealing when the technology was functioning. As an example, in the beginning when the machine malfunctions and workers being to fall, the machine was depicted as being a monster, devil, animal. It seemed to be eating the workers alive.
There was this paradox, however, in the depiction of Hel. This was a machine, a robot, that was designed to be a comforting appearance of a woman who its creator once loved. She was seen as a leader to many, even though she was programmed for destruction.
Telotte sees the film's ending as insufficient because of its open endedness. It seemed to raise more questions that give answers to the questions that we already had prior to the ending. It gave a little, and then took it away again.
Mary Ann Doane's essay refers to an earlier mention. Hel was designed to be a comforting leader with the image of familiarity. However, she was programmed for destruction. This shows both the allure and the danger associated with technological advance. The "unnatural" desire of the male inventor to reproduce is resolved by having man build the machine. Being unable to reproduce on their own, creating technology is in itself reproduction.
The gender conformity represented by the transformation of the Stepford wives suggests that some may be scarred towards technology, and the imminent conformity in the second half of the 20th century.
In "Metropolis," the paradoxical relationship is the marriage of humanity and science/technology. In the film, technology has advanced to create a bustling, beautiful city full of flying cars and skyscrapers. However, a more human element lies at the bottom, keeping this world of new technology and brilliance afloat. Technology is shown in this film to benefit humanity in the beautiful creations and advancements it allows, and also step on the lower class of humanity, who are now forced to work brutally on the machines to keep them in line for the elite. It is like when machines begin to take people's jobs in factories, in grocery stores, and elsewhere throughout the world. Yes, they make life more convenient, but they definitely do take jobs away and force blue collar workers to train for more difficult work.
The same thing happens with the robot. Yes, it is terrific to create. However, it is so glorious that it ends up deceiving everyone into believing that it knows the way to their deliverance. She is made to be beautiful and be a blessing, but she becomes a curse.
Rotwang has an unrealistic vision of this future. Twisted by his own desire to create, he tries to improve upon something that is already unique and beautiful: humanity. And by doing so he creates a monster.
That same idea is brought forth in the Stepford Wives. Women do not need to be improved on. Nor do men. But people are going to continue to try; they will do so with robots, steroids, implants, etc. Just because it isn't robotic doesn't mean it isn't part of the same problem.
Most interesting about the movie “Metropolis,” is not only the paradox that exists within the movie, but also the relation that movie plays to the present day. It almost seemed as if technology gave men all of the power – especially since there was really only one female character. Men were depicted as the leaders, the inventors, the saviors in “Metropolis,” while women were docile, peaceful, corrupted, or obedient within the film. Just as with the movie, “The Stepford Wives,” this idea of machines being feminine or female is extremely present. With the character Hel/Maria, the woman image is represented in the multiple roles I had mentioned before. Unfortunately, the ending of the movie simply represents the conquest over machine (I would assume, since we did not finish it completely), this ending does not represent any gender role resolution.
The part that grabbed my attention was simply the time period. I really enjoyed seeing work that had come from a time that had no image of or even idea of a jet engine – as the planes that flew around the city were propeller based much less the actual future; a future so different from what had been created in this film. However, I do find a parallel between the modern day concepts of naming objects, such as cars, planes, boats, most of the time they are given female names. Even if the owner happens to be female, they often give a female name as well. This role of the female and the machine are changing, and together are no longer being viewed as a negative meaning.
-Matteo Garcia
In all three films that we were shown, mainly represented in “Metropolis” shows the fear of technology. In “Forbidden Planet” you could say that the robot was almost taking over the role of a human mother, which could be feared by some people in the sense that robots could take over the roles of humans. In “The Stepford Wives” that also seems to be the case. Robots replaced all of the women in the town. The fear of technology is shown the most however in the film “Metropolis” because it basically took over the city. It took many people to run the machinery and at one time at the beginning of the film. There was even an accident in one of these factories towards the beginning of the film, which lead to injuries and they seemed to have been killed by the people in charge. There is also the dangers from the robot Hal who caused rebellion over the working class of the city which caused them to destroy the cities technology. The problem with this is the fact that the technology is what was keeping them alive. This means the robot caused death to the humans.
Another key concept from these films, which was discussed, was the labeling of gender to the robots. Despite the labeling of the gender of the robots they all seemed to pick up a women type of form. This is shown in the robot in the film “Forbidden Planet”. Although it was labeled a man it took the form of a mother figure. The robots in the other movies were also made as females.
-Logan Lovett
From viewing the movie Metropolis, it was clear that technology played an important role in the lives of both of the different classes that were shown in the film. Firstly, the upper class that lived above ground benefited from it because it provided their power and livelihood. Secondly, the working class were negatively impacted by it because they had to work difficult, dangerous jobs with little to no benefits.
The robot creates a paradoxical effect in its usage because they both employ different types of allure on the crowd, and embody the appearance of the same person. The human inspires the people to wait for help to lead them through the times peacefully and to help them out. The robot, on the other hand, causes chaos and riots that end up destroying the entire workers town.
The transformation in the Stepford Wives in one in which the women were made to be perfect technology, which as the times of the late 20th century came to pass, became the goals of society. As a whole, people tried to improve upon technology to a point in which it would become everything that a person would need. In the Stepford Wives, the women are turned into perfect creatures, but this perception caused many problems, which shows that technology doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be functionable
Cameron Sproul
According to Telotte, the film "Metropolis""examines both the seductive lure of the technological and the anxieties that play just beneath the surface of that lure." This film show you this futuristic, fantasized world but below it are the people keeping that world together. The people above ground have no idea what goes on below until Freder travels down there and listens to Maria's stories. When Rotwang creates the robot Maria, it shows more of the seduction Telotte speaks about. Before Rotwang creates her, his robot is descrbed "a machine in the image of a man, that never tires or makes a mistake." This can be said for the Stepford Wives as well. These machines can be programmed to do whatever the programmer wishes. It is something that can still be seen today. Men are all powerful where women are inferior to men. However, robot Maria is able to seduce the workers and their families to rebel.
Robot Maria leads the workers on a rebellion to destroy the machines which creates chaos but then the film ends with robot Maria being essentially burned at the stake and Frederson and the Foreman shaking hands (according to Telotte.) Hardly seems like is should end so calmly. Telotte says that the conclusion "pays little attention to the power and real source of the seductions at work here."
According to Doane's article, she says "robot Maria is symptomatic of the fears associated with a technology perceived as threatening and demonic." She compares this to a Freudian account when men fear women's sexuality. It comes down to being a gender issue. Robot Maria lures people in but she leads them to destruction.
Not only did 'technology', both in the form of the life systems of the city and the robot Hel, benefit the city, it in turn, to a degree, destroyed it. What I appreciated the most in Metropolis was that the human element was needed, even though the boss of the city, sold on the perfection and good of the 'system', resorted to using technology to do an evil deed. What disturbed me was that the mechanized, overlording governmental side seemingly won the end battle, not the little man, which essentially was what carried the premise of the film.
In Metropolis, Rotwang used the model of a woman as the destroyer, when so often we see the woman as the life giver. Maria first shows up in the film looking as a goddess, creating a safe haven for the children, and essentially seducing Freder to find the evil in his dad's empire. But that same physical model played as the harbinger of 'death', the bringer of destruction. But as Ryan mentions, she was programmed to do so by who else, man. Thus brings on the Stepford Wives discussion. Having only seen the short clip and reading the Doane article on the movie, the Stepford Wives appears to be the ultimate culmination of man in charge of the world, man in charge of technology, man using technology to manipulate the world around him to his liking. This is genderization to the extreme, but is it derived from two sources, both spread from the ends of civilization. The male gendered human has, to a degree, controlled the world and all its history to this moment. Not until recent centuries has the female gendered human gained ground on the male, placing themselves into the history books. Even an advanced society such as the Romans, while remaining strong behind their husbands, effectively stifled any chance of female progression within the tanks of their society. Stepford Wives takes a disturbing stance on the males attempting to regain ground, programming their wives to be what they believe they should be, not what the women want to be.
One last point in reference to the Doane article. She mentions the "articulation of the three terms-'woman', 'machine', 'cinema'- and the corresponding fantasy of the artificial woman recur as the privileged content of a wide variety of cinematic narratives." As in all aspects of technology (and bringing in the fact that we're dealing with a female human) I believe there is only one word to describe what was seen and what was written about in regards to this question: control. Talk amongst yourselves...
The movie “Metropolis” wasn't the first science fiction narrative to touch on technology, robots and the struggle between these and humans, however, it is one of the few that shows its views so well in its “double voices.” “Metropolis” creates “double voices” (Telotte) by “showing consequences of a society given over to the forces of technology and production” (Telotte) while also showing the seduction we have with those forces. It is also represented in Maria and the robot version of Maria. Maria is a beacon of hope for the workers while the robot, using seductive qualities, works to destroy the workers. We desire the technology but also fear it. It is interesting to read Doanes opinions about Rotwang and the creation of the robot version of Maria. She points out the male allure to creation. This is interesting to think about given the footage shown of “The Stepford Wives.” The “perfect” wife is created by a man. The ending scene we saw of the real female being killed quite literally shows fear of losing self and the ability to be unique.
-Jay Schweitzer
The futuristic city and the robot Maria in Metropolis are very alluring and they both help to create a world of seduction. The city with all it's big and shiny buildings is a perfect setting for the evil Maria to use her seductive appeal to gain power. J.P. Telotte describes that the film was very ahead of its time with the exceptional use of techniques in making reality appear fantastical. Maria is a beautiful person who first appears in the movie as a positive light until the double, robot-Maria surfaces. She takes the feminine sexuality and exposes all to the men in the film. This creates not only a chaos but a craving and blindness to the reality of who she really is. Telotte feels that the film is an insufficient resolution to the anxieties raised in the film because the the ending of the story basically states that the real problem all stems from the fact that there was a "lack of compassion and cooperation." he finds this hard to believe because even if Maria was initially presented as a sleek robot, she would still have been alluring, seductive and thus powerful in persuasion.
Mary Ann Doane in her essay explains that the robot Maria/Hel demonstrates a strength in creating an image that draws in people based on her beautiful looks and the shallow people that are seduced by her wicked games. The fact that she is so beautiful means that she basically fools and can inturn make people do what she years for even if it means danger to others. The film esentially resolves the "unnatural" desire of Rootwang because he is the mad scientist that actually builds, creates or brings to life the robot Maria. He was able create "life" without a mother. He in this case was the "mother".
The women in the Stepford Wives all conformed to a specific type of person with similar personalities, characteristics and outward appearances. these women started out as "normal" living women born of a mother and grew into lovely women. The husbands of these women were unsatisfied and thus took life into their own hands by essentially killing the soul of their wives and sandwiching a body with robotic like thoughts on the inside and superficial movements and clothing on the outside. This in turn suggests that there were many attitudes towards technology in the second half of the 20th century being that women were not respected and given credit for being individuals and instead would better be used as caretakers for the children and the cooks and maids of the home!
-Monica Salazar
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