Deep Dive: Metropolis

“The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart” With its myriad manifestations of choreography through the body and filmic form as well as themes surrounding the mechanization of the human body that almost resonate more strongly today than they did almost a century ago, Fritz Lang’s seminal Metropolis easily has a place in the dance film canon. This week, the Frameform team takes a deep dive into Metropolis (1927) and assesses it through a screendance/dance film lens. They contextualize the work with other film (City Symphonies, early avant-garde) and dance (cabaret, expressionist movement) movements of the time and examine how the film works not only as a time capsule of its moment, but also as an eerie foreshadowing of the evolution of film, the body and society as a whole. -- FILMS Metropolis (1927) Dir. Fritz Lang Youtube Link -- Got a question? Email us at [email protected] -- Rixey Instagram