Metropolis Comparison

In the late 1920s, Germany produced a silent film with captions called “Metropolis”. The movie is about a futuristic city that contains two social classes. The first class would be the rich people who live in the city, enjoying all of the modern luxuries, and making a lot of money. Down below exist a highly controlled working class that keep the city running. These people know nothing but work and what is preached to them. The two classes do not know much about each other. One of the working class people, named Maria, is the heroin of the story. Toward the middle of the movie, a robotic female who is made to look like Maria is created. The robotic evil version of Maria is the antagonist of the movie.
Maria, one of the protagonists of the movie, preached God’s word. She spoke of kindness and love. She was a beautiful girl with a spiritual soul that seemed to reach out to everyone around her. She was loving and caring. After the machine was destroyed in the movie, she helped save all of the children from the flooding city below. She was in love with Freder, the other protagonist in the story. The two of them worked to set things right in metropolis. They worked to reunite the two social classes, and they tried to stop Rotwag and the evil robot made to look like Maria.
Hel (Rotwag’s name for the robot made to look like Maria) was created by Rotwag, a crazy scientist who wanted to destroy metropolis and Freder. By creating Hel, Rotwag could infiltrate the lower worker’s city and cause the workers to rise against, and turn the rich people against each other via Hel’s seductive looks. Hel looked just like Maria. The only difference between the two was that Hel was an evil robot that preached the devil’s word, and tried to destroy Metropolis. Hel used her good looks to hypnotize the wealthy men of metropolis. They turned against each other, and fought over her.
No one fought over Maria though. She may have been equally beautiful, but she was kind, and not evilly seductive. Maria was placed in the story to guide the working people away from the devil and into God’s path that was set for them. She was a beacon of light for some. The workers had a rough life, and after a long day of work, they could relax and listen to Maria preach about love and life. To Freder, Maria was the one that influenced him to help the less fortunate people who worked under the city. Freder was a wealthy man who lived above. He saw his “brothers and sisters” working underground, and was convinced that he must help them. He never would have found them if it wasn’t for Maria. She started the bond between the two social classes.
Hel tried to do the exact opposite. Rotwag had captured Maria and put Hel in place of her. The workers believed that Hel was Maria, and listened to her when she preached of uprising and destroying the machines that supported Metropolis. Maria was the Devil’s hands. The tiered workers listened to her and destroyed the machines that supported the city. Hel spread the seven sins across the city like butter over toast. In the movie, there was a room that had seven statues, each one representing one of the seven sins.
Hel and Maria were like black and white. They were both key figures in the film in the sense that they lead the people. Hel led them to Hell, and Maria led them on God’s path. In the end, Hel was defeated, and Freder and Maria were reunited. The two social classes met eye to eye, and forgiveness was given. Freder’s father (the leader and creator of Metropolis) shook hands with the leader of the underground leader of the workers. Good had triumphed over evil, and the sins that had clouded the eyes of the people were removed. Thanks to the work of Freder and is lover Maria.

Essay #2, Compare and Contrast Two Items used in “Metropolis”
By: Erik Doering