Marxism in Metropolis

Metropolis is a silent movie by Fritz Lang made in 1927 Germany. The movie has multiple themes and implies many things about modern day theories and views. The movie entails many views on Marxism, capitalism, Industrialism, and organized religion, mostly. Marxism is supported in the movie, capitalism is not supported in the movie, Industrialism is partially supported, and Organized Religion is not supported. Marxism is shown is supported in Metropolis by showing the horrid results of what could have been prevented if Marxism had been used. Marxism is the theory that the working class deserves respect, because without them, nothing would be possible. It is essentially sympathy for the working class. Johann Frederson, the leader of Metropolis, doesn’t care at all about his workers. He cares more about the business than the health and welfare of his workers. For example, when the “M-Machine” explodes in the movie, the employers bring in new workers to keep the machine running before taking care of the men wounded or killed in the accident. Another example is the scene in which a worker faints. He later awakens to find that no one had even noticed that he fainted and is forced to return to work. Marxism is portrayed as good in these situations because later in the movie, the working class and the workers revolt because of the conditions they live in everyday. If Marxism had been applied, and the workers were treated well, they wouldn’t have revolted, thus showing Marxism is good. Capitalism is opposed in Metropolis. It is represented through Frederson, Freder’s father, who tries to bend his workers for his own self-benefits as if they are simply assets that he owns. The movie portrays capitalism as a overall bad force that takes advantage of the workers. Capitalism itself is the exact opposite of Marxism as shown in the movie. Capitalism as already explained harms the workers and exploits them whereas Marxism helps the workers and works in their favor.