Metropolis Movie Poster Paper

1

Analyzing Graphic Design Artifacts from a Socio-Cultural Perspective

William M. Tyler

A History of Communication Design

Michael Gibson

02/21/12

2

01. William M. Tyler

02.

Metropolis, UFA Films poster, Designer - Jósef Bottlik, Berlin, 1927. Designed for the release of

the film in Hungary in 1928.

03.

AEAH 4842/AEAH 5842 | A History of Communication Design | spring 2012, UNT CVAD | Michael Gibson, InstructorAssignment 01: Analyzing Graphic Design Artifacts from a Socio-Cultural Perspective

3

4

04. The general state of Hungary in 1927 was a dark one filled with uncertainty and political strife. In

1920 the Treaty of Trianon required Hungary to surrender more than two-thirds of its land based

on the territorial provisions before the treaty. This placed over three million Magyars, the

formerly native hungarians, outside of the new territorial bounds and disconnected them from

their homeland. The current prime minister of Hungary, Bethlen, tried to restore order to the

country by making political deals with extremist parties to end their hateful campaigns against

the Jews and leftists. Many landowners were forced out of work by political changes whose

process they were never involved in. Hungary, after Russia and Poland, was the third country in

which an Intelligentsia developed though the nobility’s influence on the growing middle class.

This furthered the social stratification of the Magyars and partially is responsible for creating the

temporary emancipation of the Jews at the time.

This would not last though, as the political mood shifted more towards the right extremist

while the standard of living continued to drop. Labor laws were non-existent and minimum wage

was only influenced by how small of a compensation someone was willing to work for continued

to plummet. Peasants and the working class were both in terrible shape, even worse than they had

been before World War 1. Peasants also had no political influence and as such their political voice

was restrained and nonexistent. Magyars saw themselves as abandoned and failed by the social

and political leaders of their time and extreme dissatisfaction was very common. From a country

currently in turmoil, a better future would always be a welcome, although uncertain ideal. The

design of the Metropolis poster specifically communicated with these common and middle class

people. The figure is a man, although strong and determined, buckling under the pressure from

the weight he is carrying. This clear struggle of man versus society and the future ideals would

specifically apply to the concerns of the working class in that time.

05.

The spatial arrangement of the forms mostly revolve around a central vertical axis. This was

distinctly done to enforce the main visual message that the poster conveys. With the

geographically scattered Magnars, the powerful and centered word “Metropolis” was a very

contrasting ideal for people to see and consider. The distinct serif typeface Metropolis is set in,

was Fritz Lang’s idea to use design of the future, the art-deco movement instead of traditional and

more common typography in Hungary at the time. The limited range of colors, dark background,

and mostly bright orange and red figures also serve to reinforce the aspects of the piece that

should have the most emphasis. The clear vertical hierarchy of the metropolis city on top and the

hard working “people” underneath connected and resonated with the people who felt powerless

and almost enslaved by the sociopolitical issues they dealt with in their life. The figure who is

strong and muscular is seen facing or possibly even walking towards the left edge of the poster.

The main light source of the piece also seems to be coming from the left, although off the spatial

plane, as alluded to by the highlights on the left side of the city towers and the underside of the


5

man facing in that direction. The distinct lighting reinforce how the working class will have to

carry the weight of society into a hopefully brighter future. The idea of a brighter future would

have been one to resonate well amongst the uncertainty of the people in Hungary, but the

concerns that this route would take were also very important. This poster presents a positive idea,

but based on the form and color it is also very indicative of something else involved slightly

beneath the surface. Uneasy concepts and warning signs presented under a shroud of progress

and combined achievement. Society moves forward and “up” to and at the cost of whom? One

people group will always be stratified to the bottom and at this point in time, these were the

people of Hungary.

06.In 1929 Hungary, jobs were scarce and the working class in addition to peasants flocked toward

cities like Budapest to look for work, competing for almost any wage they could get. This poster

was an advertisement that was most likely placed in crowded streets and market areas for people

to see. It seems to have been either printed or applied with a wooden backing in some situations

and was to stir interest in viewers minds about the topics further contained within the movie. The

people in these settings, the peasants and working class, would have taken a distinct interest

based on the feelings that resonated in themselves with the figure on the poster. It could have

empowered people in the sense that they, being the working class were the ones carrying the

future utopian society so reliant on them, but in other aspects they were enslaved to the very idea.

The poster demonstrates a division and distinction between the people it empowers and those

that it does not. As the tallest tower on the poster suggests, the light or “enlightenment” as the city

increases in height, continues to become unobtainable by those on the bottom.

The serves as a metaphor for the social stratification at the time between the noble class and the

peasants. It connected with the cultural aspirations at least within regards to cities in general, a

deep sense of real estate and land meant everything to the Magyars whose own land had been

taken away. Even the concept of a future in general, albeit possibly uncertain was an intriguing

concept at the time. With so much political unrest and opposing schools of thought, wondering

about how the future would unravel, even who might perhaps be crushed underneath along the

way, were all pertinent to the feelings of the people that walked the very streets gazing up at the

poster.

07.A very strong example of a technological and economic phenomena were addressed in this work is

that of rationalization as a manifestation of modernity. Something that would become

increasingly relevant over the next twenty years or so, but was just starting to find a distinct

concern in society at the time. In 1919 Károlyi, after having failed to deal with the rampant

discontent, resigned as the leader of the people’s republic of Hungary. This allowed the

Communist Party of Hungary, with their leader Béla Kun, to come into power and instate the

6

Hungarian Soviet Republic. This new power carried out the “Red Terror” which was a series of

atrocities committed against opposing political parties and led to the death of nearly six-hundred

scientists and intellectuals. They promised to return Hungary to its “former glory” and increase

the territorial provisions back to the way they were before the Treaty of Trianon.

This directly aligned with many of the goals of the Nazi party coming into power before

World War II. Hungary passed laws restricting the number of Jews that could participate in

specific jobs and this eventually later on led to the full deportation and death of thousands of

Jewish Magyars. The poster addresses the Nazi ideal of a perfect society and a perfect future. It

directly relates in that in order to achieve this “perfect” end result, morals and rationality are

thrown aside and instead pure efficiency is given prominence. This rationalization referred to a

determined outlook towards goals that eventually could function to the detriment of society as a

whole into a dystopian society instead of the envisioned utopia. In this way the movie poster

directly foreshadows these concerns and would become increasingly relevant as time went on

with Hungary's alignment with Germany and the Nazi leadership.

08.

The imagery of the cityscape on the poster is taken directly from the movie scenes and set itself.

So to understand the architectural references involved, the inspiration for the movie’s set must be

taken into direct consideration. The silent-film Metropolis itself takes place in the distant future,

the year 2026, amongst a science-fiction and semi-plausible imagery of a futuristic urban

dystopia. In order to depict this future, Fritz Lang, the director of Metropolis, used the most

modern thing that existed at the time and then overly exaggerated this to create his “basis” for the

future. This is a common/obvious mistake for people who are attempting to imagine the future,

purely because their only main option is to take the current concerns of their day and then

amplify them to their extremes. Fritz Lang took a trip to New York in 1924 and was fascinated by

the Manhattan skyline, most distinctly the art-deco Chrysler building which was being built at

that time. It was the tallest building in the world and the most advanced depiction of a society that

Fritz had seen. He used this as his spark of inspiration for the building and city design in

Metropolis and as a result this carried the distinct art-deco architecture from the chrysler building

and other parts from the Manhattan skyline and implanted itself as a core aspect of the style of

metropolis and coincidentally the poster. The other distinct visual reference that has greatly

influenced this poster is that of the Atlas Myth. As a part of Greek Mythology, Atlas was one of the

titans and carried the entire earth on his shoulders. This task of holding the earth was a

punishment for atlas in taking the side of the Titans in a war with the gods on Mt. Olympus. The

name “Atlas”, is supposedly derived from the Greek root “tel” meaning “to uphold”, or “support

others”. This is a direct correlation to the premise of the movie and the visual of the man on the

poster upholding the “new” society to his own detriment.


Documents

Metropolis Movie Poster Paper