Event 1 | Metropolis

Over the course of week 3, we have learned of how robots in different areas of the world are perceived. Much of how this perception is shaped has to do with social influence in popular media. In Japan, robots and humanoids have been widely accepted, which can be attributed to the manga series Astro Boy. Because of this comic and cartoon, Astro Boy and his human-like ethics and morals have cast a positive light on the Japanese. This has led to human-like robots and humanoids being present virtually everywhere in Japan, from chefs, elderly care centers, and help centers. The western world differs greatly from this. Instead of adopting a friendly robot looking for help at every turn, the west looked to Karel Čapek’s play, Rossum’s Universal Robots, originally written in 1920. This dystopian depiction of the future of robots has squeezed itself into much of western filmmaking for more than a century. The play spawned many movies, with the first of which being Metropolis. 

Metropolis is one of the first movies of it's kind to integrate rebellion from an inhuman figure, that being the Robotic Maria, or Hel, to overthrow the human race. Although the workers are not robots, their resentment toward the upper class is created into action by the robotic Maria. This movie also represents an artistic breakthrough. This is the first time we get a glimpse at a seemingly fully metallic suit to depict a robotic appearance, and ultimately shaped how we look at robots today. In R.U.R. suits are merely given to the actors with metallic pieces, covering just the torso and the legs of the person. In Metropolis, we get the sense of the world’s first modern robot. Each part of the body is lined with (what can be assumed as) metal from head to toe, the most important part of this being the head. The sharp and smooth shape of the facial structure has potentially influenced a number of other renowned robots, including strong similarities to The Iron Giant, Robots by Dreamworks Animation, and even some iterations of RoboCop. The cultural influence this movie plays into, especially in the western world, is incalculable. From creating a new genre of dystopian movies to influence the pieces within them, Metropolis definitely lives on today. 

Hel, Robotic Maria, Metropolis 1927