Metropolis - Thomas Elsaesser

Notes from/about the book Metropolis by Elsaesser.

• Changing views (in intro, so not fully developed points).

- Perception of Maria "The metallic figure of the robot Maria now takes on features of 'girl power' where its original audience might only have sensed misogynist projections of malevolence." (p 8)
Links to Gendered Gaze, check camera angles etc in film.

• Changing perceptions 

 -"Generally recognised as the fetish-image of all city and cyborg futures, the once dystopian Metropolis now speaks of vitality and the body electric, fusing human and machine energy, its sleek figures animated more by high-voltage fluorescence than Expressionism's dark demonic urges." (p7)
- bright future? Argues it's full of "vitality", not negative.
Structuralism/ Post-structuralism.

• Changing ideals

-"The main thesis was Thea von Harbou's, but I'm at least 50% responsible, because I directed the film. At the time, I wasn't as political as I am now. One cannot make a politically conscious film by claiming that the heart mediates between the hand and the brain - that's a fairy tale, really. I was more interested in machines..." Peter Bogdanovich, Fritz Lang in America (London: Studio Vista, 1967, p. 124. (p76)
-Idealised view before 'awakening'.
 Lang fled Germany, while "von Harbou joined the Nazi party" (p15)
Political: Marxism
Structuralism/ Post-structuralism.

• Lack of message

-"Overwhelmingly, the answer was that Metropolis had nothing to say on either, being far too cautious to show its hand other than by vapid symbolism and a pious motto." (p42) (See reviews of: Siemsen, Ickes, Haas, Jhering and Heuss)
-Communist or otherwise, doesn't agree/ not strong enough for a real comment. No one's happy with the outcome as it's not asking the right questions.
Political: Marxism

• Political leanings and making

 -Otto Kriegk's 'The German Cinema in the Mirror of Ufa' (1943)

-Different interpretations in different times.
Cultural: Risk of homogenity
Political

Possible essay direction:
Relate Metropolis to modern/ changing historical times? From Moroder musical version to his influence on Daft Punk.