I was introduced to Metropolis back in my undergraduate days; it was Rintaro's Metropolis anime adaptation of the manga with the same name. A few months after this first encounter with the topic, I was lucky enough to be in a screening of Lang's Metropolis, the German silent film based on the original novel. It was with great pleasure that I found the original topic more interesting than the loose Japanese fanzine---I did like the anime.
Yesterday, I just finished reading the novel written by Thea von Harbou which was the source for the screenplay made by her and Fritz Lang, her husband at the time. I got the electronic version through feedbooks a few weeks ago. Truth be told, even after reading the novel, I can barely remember a few scenes from the silent film; but the novel is a swift good read. The writer uses repetition more than I like it but to a good effect.
Metropolis is a science fiction novel that deals with a industrialized futuristic dystopia where the gap between the rich and the poor is so large that the simile used for the labor masses is "food for the machines." The main thesis is that "the heart is the mediator between hand and brain;" promoting a non-violent mediated solution to the clash of the classes.
As expected by the main thesis, there is a good share of love, fidelity, and loyalty stories that help unfolding the main plot.
While I do not agree with the main thesis---reason and common law based on reason are there to give structure to society, not emotions---, as I said before, it is a swift read, with one of those happy endings, Gothic cathedral swashbuckling and redemption of the astray dictator included.
Other books I've read
Yesterday, I just finished reading the novel written by Thea von Harbou which was the source for the screenplay made by her and Fritz Lang, her husband at the time. I got the electronic version through feedbooks a few weeks ago. Truth be told, even after reading the novel, I can barely remember a few scenes from the silent film; but the novel is a swift good read. The writer uses repetition more than I like it but to a good effect.
Metropolis is a science fiction novel that deals with a industrialized futuristic dystopia where the gap between the rich and the poor is so large that the simile used for the labor masses is "food for the machines." The main thesis is that "the heart is the mediator between hand and brain;" promoting a non-violent mediated solution to the clash of the classes.
As expected by the main thesis, there is a good share of love, fidelity, and loyalty stories that help unfolding the main plot.
While I do not agree with the main thesis---reason and common law based on reason are there to give structure to society, not emotions---, as I said before, it is a swift read, with one of those happy endings, Gothic cathedral swashbuckling and redemption of the astray dictator included.
Other books I've read
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