Metropolis

I found the silent film Metropolis to be very interesting, and several parts stood out to me as relating to religion. The first was that the upper class of the society had no real religion, but was more technologically advanced than the lower class. Earlier this term, we discussed the origins of the human belief process and discovered that religion evolved in more technologically advanced civilizations, not because of the technology, but because of the higher brain capacity that occurred in these types of societies. In the civilization from the film, the upper class was clearly more advanced; however, due to the social status, it appeared as though the lower class had the greater brain capacity for religion. There were several indications of religious symbolism above ground (upper class), but they were all broken down and abandoned. Oppositely, the catacombs below ground were alive with religious symbolism such as crosses and stars. While I am not saying that the upper classes did not have the brain capacity for religion overall, it appears as though social status and society in general have influenced where religion has taken hold in this civilization.

Another religious connection of this film was the connecting of the head and hands by the heart. I believe that this might represent God, the people, and Jesus. In the anecdote explaining this, Maria states that there were people who had great plans for the city, but they could not build it themselves. Then, there were people who had the strength to build the city, but they did not have the same vision as the others. They needed a mediator to help bridge the two together. Therefore, the visionaries could represent God (head), the workers could represent the people (hands), and the mediator, Freder, could represent Jesus (heart). Another proof for this comparison is the fact that Freder is the only son of the leader of the city, and he is acting as and working for the workers, just as, historically, Jesus did.

Finally, the last connection to religion that this film made is the many random Biblical allusions. One of them is the obvious allusion to the Tower of Babel. Another is the flood at the end of the film. I think that the flood could be alluding to the Biblical flood and the story of Noah. The characters were also representative of Biblical characters. Maria could represent Moses because she had heard the call of God and led the followers to freedom. The robot-Maria could represent Satan because she was tricking the citizens into a life of sin and lust. Previously mentioned, Freder and his father, Joh Fredersen probably represented Jesus and God because of their major roles in the city and the actions they performed throughout the film.