Monday, September 9, 2013

Metropolis 1927




Metropolis was not what I was expecting. The whole concept of these two separate societies is well known. Its always the upper class and the lower class. This whole movie's plot is just that it's the lower class, the workers, trying to rebel against the upper classes' utopian society it hasn't been able to be a part of. The working class operates the machines and everything that makes Metropolis go round. When Freder Fredersen goes looking for his mysterious girl, Maria, in the beginning of the movie he ends up in the belly of the beast. He decides to join them against his father’s wishes and joins the rebellion. Now this concept has been going on for so long now. A more recent example I can think of for this idea is from the Newest Bioshock game that recently came out. You have the lower class who maintain the city of Colombia rebelling against the wealthy folk and taking the city for themselves. Then you have someone who may have fit in to the wealthy class fighting for the workers and essentially becoming the hero. I find this to be pretty boring and dull unless it’s executed marvelously, like Bioshock: Infinite, and Metropolis was executed wonderfully. It just wasn't my thing.
            For being of its time period it was a great film the scenes where the workers are running the machines is well choreographed and it was enthralling, but I just couldn't get into the movie. I would have to pause it every other minute in order to read the actual story. It was off putting. Some of the clothes that the wealthy wore I would just sit there and laugh. I couldn't take most of it seriously. What I did find pretty fantastic about it was the imagery they portrayed. There was a scene where the workers are burned by the steam and end up walking up stairs or something and the all end up jumping into the giant machine. It was such a thought-provoking scene. I found that it represented the workers working all there life for nothing. They literally give their life to Metropolis to keep it running. Another thing I found really cool was that in order for this rebellion to be fruitful in its endeavors they needed someone who was part of both worlds and knew how things were run. That's where they get their hero.
            In conclusion it was a really good movie but I wouldn't watch it again. Like I said before I found it really hard to keep focused since I had to read. Plus the font they used wasn't the best. This movie has great imagery though, so I might watch it for that again.

Frankenstein 1931




Frankenstein is always a classic. When you think of classic horror movie monsters the top three you think of might be Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. It was such a pleasure being able to watch this movie, and reading more in depth into it. Frankenstein is the stereotypical scientist movie. It's the movie or story line that all others derived from. You have your crazy scientist who invents something that ends up reeking havoc on the city or town, and then the rest of the story is them trying to kill it or stop it. Like I said it's a classic.

While watching I observed many things. The first being, that Frankenstein, the scientist, has a God complex. It wasn't a recurring theme or anything but Frankenstein even mentions it when his creation came to life. He stated that he was god because he could create life. He had had this idea of creating life, or more like reanimating it, since he was a professor at the university. This ties in to the overall theme that I believe stems from religion. In the beginning of the movie it starts off by warning the viewer of the horrors that are about to be shown. Now back in that time period they were certainly more conservative about a lot of things and more religious than many today. When the story of a man who practically became god came up it may have threw a few people off. Not only that, but Frankenstein rejects his creation and gives it to Dr. Waldman to be disposed of. If we are relating Frankenstein to God does that mean that God has left us to destroy ourselves? That was a pretty big concept I was thinking about. Secondly if we are comparing religion, Christianity to be exact, to the movie the idea of our total downfall and termination is touched on. Frankenstein’s monster was burned on the windmill at the end of the movie. Many people believe that the world will end in flames since God promised he wouldn't do that with water again.

The characters themselves were pretty entertaining in my opinion. The first character I’m going to speak of is Frankenstein’s monster. He wasn't the best Frankenstein I have seen but he essentially encompasses what I thought he would be. He was naive and new to the world. It didn't matter if he had the body parts of preexisting people. For him the world was brand new. He found pleasure in the little things such as throwing flowers into the lake. He also realized that throwing the little girl into the river wasn't such a good idea, and that's why he ran. I believe the only reason he became violent was because of this giant mob that was chasing him. Think about it if someone was trying to kill you wouldn't you do everything in your power to live? Frankenstein was by far my favorite, mostly due to the fact that I love the idea of mad scientists. They bring such an amazing story line to any plot. Frankenstein though was different and refreshing. He wasn't the stereotypical scientist trying to end the world or anything. He was on the pursuit of one goal. Which was to create life. Why he couldn't grow a plant is beyond me. He had two sides to him. Whenever he was addressing his fiancĂ© Elizabeth he was always kind and gentle, always asking nicely. Whenever he addressed anyone else he was always curt and rude. Elizabeth brought out the good in him. Now Elizabeth I think was the ‘good’ of the story. She was the innocent victim and the beauty of the film. That's all I really got from it. She kept Frankenstein sane.

In conclusion Frankenstein is probably a new favorite of mine. I would recommend it to others. Also if you’re looking for a more philosophical meaning to a classic horror film I think this might be the right movie for that kind of thing.