Wednesday 23 October 2013

Film review:Metropolis

Metropolis, made in 1927, directed by Fritz Lang, was an art form in its self, it's dramatic symbolism of society and 'new age' sci-fi "The biggest-budgeted movie ever produced at Germany's UFA, Fritz Lang's gargantuan Metropolis consumed resources that would have yielded upwards of 20 conventional features, more than half the studio's entire annual production budget." (Rotten Tomatoes) 

{Fig 1}

The storyline is about the rich living luxury while the poor work to make the wealthy live comfortably, "It is the future, and humans are divided into two groups: the thinkers, who make plans (but don't know how anything works), and the workers, who achieve goals (but don't have the vision). Completely separate, neither group is complete, but together they make a whole." (IMDB) Being controlled by Maria, working like robots, slaves, to Metropolis.

{Fig 2}

The results of such a high budgeted film was a phenomenon, "The result was astonishing for its time. Without all of the digital tricks of today, “Metropolis” fills the imagination. Today the effects look like effects, but that's their appeal."(Rogerebert) 


{Fig 3}



Bibliography

(1) http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1013775-metropolis/?nopopup=true

(2) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/plotsummary

(3) http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927

Images

{1} http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/Metropolisposter.jpg
{2} http://cdn.blu-raydefinition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/BDDefinition-MetropolisUK-15-1080.jpg
{3} http://kennethmarkhoover.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/metropolis6-maria-human.jpg

1 comment:

  1. Hi Lisa,
    Sorry, I seem to have missed this review!

    Again, you have the bare bones of a review here, but you really need to start fleshing it out a bit now; at the moment, apart from the quotes, this is your actual content -

    'Metropolis, made in 1927, directed by Fritz Lang, was an art form in its self, it's dramatic symbolism of society and 'new age' sci-fi.
    The storyline is about the rich living luxury while the poor work to make the wealthy live comfortably.Being controlled by Maria, working like robots, slaves, to Metropolis.The results of such a high budgeted film was a phenomenon.'

    You could have, for example, gone into more depth on the symbolism of the city, with the workers being like cogs in machine, or the symbolism of the Tower of Babel-like structure where the upper classes live. Or maybe you could have talked about this film has influenced so many others since; the robot, for example is referenced in Star Wars' C-3PO character.
    Don't just use the quotes for padding; when you put a quote in there, make it do some work for you!

    You still have some issues with your referencing- take your quote by Roger Ebert. In the text, this should be referenced (Ebert, 1998). Then in the bibliography, it should look like this -

    Ebert, R. (1998) Metropolis (in italics) At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927 (Accessed on....)

    The 'Metropolis' part is the title of the article etc.

    Your image list is also missing crucial information - you need details of the film the image came from, whether it is a film still, the studio it was produced in etc... here is a breakdown of what you need to include.

    Figure number: (Fig.1. etc)
    Title of image (in italics:)
    Year of creation in round brackets:
    From: Title of film in italics:
    Directed by (if known):
    Medium in square brackets: [Film still, or poster for example]
    Place of Production:
    Studio or production company:
    At: URL (if relevant):
    (Accessed on date) if relevant:

    One other point - Maria was actually on the side of the workers; she was trying to get justice for them. It was the robot that was stirring up trouble! :)

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