Fritz Lang's 1927 science fiction epic Metropolis recalls the Christian creation and apotheosis narrative through a dystopian lens. The main characters of Metropolis personify Jesus and his apostles and close associates in a postmodern society. The city of Metropolis itself represents the relationship between humanity as God, as reflected in Christian tradition. The film also uses key characters and myths from the Bible that help make Metropolis a symbol of the bond between God and humanity, as well as the chaos and torment that can characterize that relationship. Metropolis grapples with a dystopian, futuristic interpretation of the Christian founding myth and the theology of mission and the gospel of Jesus. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayThe figure of Maria can be analyzed through a Christian theological perspective. Maria is first characterized as an angelic, virginal figure representing fertility and redemption. She appears in the Jardins de Métropole surrounded by children. These children represented the youthful innocence and latent fertility of the Virgin Mary. Maria also appears to Freder following a controversial tryst in which he engages with a whore. This other woman helps solidify Maria's innocence and faith, and perhaps also embodies Mary Magdalene, who was originally thought to threaten Jesus with her questionable and immoral past in prostitution. Maria's speech about the Tower of Babel is perhaps the most explicit religious reference in Metropolis. In her sermon, Maria preaches the Old Testament biblical story of the Tower of Babel. In the story, the people of the world come together after the flood and build a tower in an effort to unite humanity and reach God. However, God is threatened, and He destroys the Tower and scatters the people, dividing them by language, and thus by ethnic, cultural, national, and class divisions. Maria argues that Metropolis can act as a modern Tower of Babel and that the working class simply needs unity and leadership to conglomerate and come together to build a new society and reach God by transcending division. Maria can also be understood as Jean's representative. the Baptist. John was the essential Christian apologist and preacher who articulated the importance of Jesus' life and message. John proselytized to the masses for the mission of Jesus. Maria, similarly, preaches the need for a messiah in Metropolis, and later describes Freder's compassion and unique position in improving the social condition of Metropolis' lower-level workers. Maria preaches the “gospel” of messianism in the same way that John the Baptist spread and defended the teachings of Jesus. Maria argues that Metropolis needs a figure to unite "head and hands." In other words, the town needs a messiah to bring together the divinity of Fredersen and the working class as a whole. The robot Maria symbolizes the demonic and secularized opposite of Maria herself. While Maria symbolizes the divine innocence and youth of the Virgin Mary, her robotic clone embodies the diametric opposites of these virtues. Rotwang, the mad scientist and inventor living in the middle level of Metropolis, created Robot Maria. Rotwang represents the unbridled secular science of the modern era. By Lang's time, German thought had largely migrated from the Christian theological tradition toward secular and Darwinist accounts. This climate contributed to the rise of Nazi fascism. The virtues of Christianity have little hererole, whether in actual German society as a whole or in Rotwang's actions and creations in Metropolis. Rotwang does not care about Freder or Fredersen and creates the Robot Maria to exercise his scientific knowledge, instead of legitimizing any moral authority. The Robot Maria symbolizes the opposite of Adam. The traditional first man, Adam, was created by God through direct divine intervention. The notion of “coast” and land used to compose Adam and Eve is also described in Genesis. God using Adam's rib to create Eve, physically extrapolating a piece of the temporal world to complete humanity, is still directly divine. However, the story of Adam and Eve's creation, inspired by God, stands in stark contrast to Rotwang's making of the Robot Maria. In his creation of Robot Maria, Rotwang also loses his hand, a physical part of the human body, essentially as a sacrifice to create new life. The loss of Rotwang, however, represents a sacrifice of human creation as opposed to divine inspiration. The notion of secular, scientific innovation versus divine, pious inspiration represents a conflict of virtue versus the unbridled secular knowledge of Lang's Germany. Robot Maria embodies this binary, which presents a hellish vision of science and secularism. The composition and symbolism of Robot Maria highlight the notion of science and secularism as representative of a less honorable perspective and moral vision. The Robot Maria appears composed of the pentagram symbol. The pentagram, the five-pointed star, symbolizes paganism. In Christianity, the pentagram symbol is also often interpreted to represent the devil. This association with paganism is often extrapolated to the largely exaggerated negative connotations of devil worship. The Robot Maria also represents the Whore of Babylon. In the Book of Revelation, the whore of Babylon evokes the apocalypse and encapsulates the traditional theme of the femme fatale. In historical times, partly because of the story of Eve, the femme fatale archetype often reflected religious terms. In the modern era, the femme fatale is better highlighted in cinema. Robot Maria represents a unity of these two cultural forms and archetypes. The structure of Metropolis also reflects biblical and religious motifs. The eternal gardens of the wealthy elite on the upper level symbolize the biblical Garden of Eden. It is in these Metropolis gardens that Maria first meets Freder, illustrating the religious overtones of their characterizations. Maria describes the Eternal Gardens as being "high in the heavens", representative of the divine nature of space. On the other hand, the machine that powers the upper city of Metropolis is called Moloch, after the evil Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice and fire. In Metropolis, the working class often perish in their attempts to operate and maintain the machines. Additionally, Robot Maria threatens an apocalyptic flood in which all the children of Metropolis perish, reflecting the ancient, biblical tale of the flood. Freder's vision of demons feeding the workers to Moloch and calling the working class his "brothers" after the apocalypse reflects the mission and teachings of Jesus. The overseer of Metropolis, Fredersen, is presented as God, while his son Freder represents Chris. Fredersen argues that workers should stay “where they belong.” This vision reflects the merciless biblical God of the Old Testament. Freder, the son, represents Christ. Freder, as the son of the God of Metropolis, serves as a "mediator" bringing God and humanity together. Toward the end of the film, Freder takes the place of another worker, like Jesus, suffering for others...