Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis
Directed by: Walter Ruttmann
1927
Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis serves as a documentation of the everyday life in Berlin. The editing and pacing of Ruttmann’s film reflects the structured and fleeting nature of the average worker’s day in the rising urban center that is Berlin in this inter-war period. The industrialization of the city dictates the individual’s day.
Metropolis: Morgendämmerung (Metropolis: Dawn)
Erich Kettellhut
Oil and gouache on cardboard
1925
This drawing reflects the overcrowding of a skyline due to the rise of urbanization in Berlin. The overlapping of the shadows and walls of the buildings helps evoke the sense of over sensation found in the city. The drawing itself is greatly representative of the city depicted in Lang’s Metropolis as Kettellhut was the set designer for the film.
Metropolis
George Grosz
Oil on canvas
1916-17
The overlapping shapes and figures and oversaturation of color in this painting of the city reflects the sentiments of the dystopic nature of the modern city that is depicted in Lang’s Metropolis and Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis.
Metropolis
Directed by: Fritz Lang
1926
Metropolis presents viewers with a dystopian representation of the urban city in the future. The laborious imprisonment of the workers for long shifts to their repetitive and mechanic tasks to keep the machine heart of the city running reveals fears of dominance of industrialization that in the film, result in near-apocalyptic social revolt.
People on Sunday
Directed by: Robert Siodmak
1930
People on Sunday provides an alternative view on the theme of the city’s representation in film. This film represents a break from the hectic city life as a group of young workers spend a Sunday away at a suburban park. A great variety of people from all occupations, social classes, and ages are seen taking this similar weekend escape from the city.
Wannsee Bahnhof (Wannsee Train Station)
Ludwig Meidner
Black ink on wove paper
1913
The distressed movement created by the scratchy line work in Meridner’s drawing reflects the hectic and fleeting sensations of Berlin as an industrial center.