On Thu, May 02, 2002 at 12:43:22PM +0100, Odeluga, Ken wrote:
> The feeble grasp of Marxism (in the 1920s for God's sake!)
> >is bad enough, never mind the saccharine "love conquers all" resolution. Oh
> >dear.
>
> Naaah - you're ommitting a vital fact Jonny! This is 1930s America, happy
> endings and easily-comprehensible plots were virtually compulsory. Think
> studio system and remember political interfence/patronage (....hmmm... that
> sounds very contemporary, 'Black Hawk Down' anyone?)
Well, actually...
When _Metropolis_ was made, Lang was still a part of the _German_
studio system, and if you've seen any of his other Weimar-era movies
(_M_, _Dr Mabuse_, _Frau im Mond_), you know that there's more
happening in his movies than is immediately apparent. In _Metropolis_,
for instance, isn't it striking the way that the supposedly cool,
rational leaders of the City of Science that is the Metropolis rely so
heavily upon the occultist Rottwang? And aren't the workers
_purposefully_ portrayed as easily-duped sheep? It seems to me that
the ending is a lot more ambiguous than it portrays itself. The
Expressionists loved to use broad strokes to hide all sorts of
disturbing stuff under the surface. It's hard to see some of the
themes in edited versions -- I saw a "full" cut of _Metropolis_ once,
a long time ago, and was struck by how much more the movie is about
than its surface story. It's a different rhythm, sure, but there's a
lot to reward your time if you can adapt to it. Something that can be
said about Mills' music as well.
I think it's great that he chose a movie that so perfectly captures
the ambiguities implicit in Detroit's history, as well as techno
itself, for his first score project. I really really want to see it
myself.
F
--
. . . the self-reflecting image of a narcotized mind . . .
ozymandias G desiderata [EMAIL PROTECTED] desperate, deathless
(415)823-6356 http://www.pushby.com/forrest/ ::AOAIOXXYSZ::
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