Similarities Between 1984 And Metropolis

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“Technology Facilitates Dictatorship” To what extent does your comparative study of the intertextual perspectives of Metropolis and Nineteen Eighty-Four reflect this statement? The intertextual perspectives of Metropolis, a silent film directed by Fritz Lang and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), a novel written by George Orwell acknowledge the potential of technology to facilitate dictatorship. Dictatorship is regarded to be having complete control and requiring complete subservience towards the leader. Both texts are a deep reflection of their context, paralleling the social concerns and issues of their times. Metropolis echoes the mounting tension in Germany during the Weimar and Industrial age commenting on the political and economic concerns…show more content…
The end of WWI marked a period of devastation in Germany as they were faced with heavy war reparations which led to the industrialisation of Germany perceived to help reconstruct their economy. The manipulation of technology in order to exert power and dominance is depicted when Lang introduces, through a full shot, a 10-hour clock. Fredersen’s ability to manipulate time against the laws of nature elucidate the great extent to which individuals are able to deploy their oppression totalitarian regime as a dictator. The altering of natural circumstances is also reflected upon in 1984 through a simile where “sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema.” This intention of the party to use science and technology to “eradicate” the “sex instinct” demonstrates the great extent in which technology can be used to modify and change even the laws of nature in order to gain complete authority and dictatorship. The concept of time parallels with that of the working ideas of German industrialist Hugo Stinnes. Hugo Stinnes was an influential man with monopolistic power over the industrial sector in Germany after WWI. With his technological power and knowledge, he gained influence and tried to enforce his ideology that it was essential to…show more content…
1984 is also a reflection of its societal context in which the many personalities such as Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Frances Franco and Bennito Mussolini claimed to fight for the working class and restore Germany only in reality the only concern was to establish and perpetuate their own power. Like Metropolis, Frederson is only concerned about his power and affluence shown through multiple close up shots of his cold hard gazes and lack of care for anything but his empire. Whilst these texts share intertextual perspectives on the concerns of technology, Orwell depicts this situation to that of an extreme extent. The metaphor coupled with high modality “The party could thrust its hand into the past and say this or than even, it never happened” is an expression of Orwell’s concerns of propaganda through mass media, the use of technology, to fool people a method used constantly by those such as Stalin and Hitler. The digitalised nature created in 1984 in order for The Party to gain complete control is further emphasised through the repetition of the paradox “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” These paradoxical statements intertwine with the social context under Adolf Hitler’s reign in which war was perceived to be for the greater good as it would

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