Metropolis: Will Mankind Destroy Itself?

Metropolis - An Anime Review

Hi Everyone! 

Today we decided to look at another anime classic that further helped Japanese animation gain a foothold here in the West. We’re of course talking about the 2001 animated sci-fi film Metropolis by studio Madhouse, which was directed by anime veteran Rintaro (Galaxy Express 999), and written by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira). Not too shabby.   

The film was based on the manga Metropolis, which was created by none other than the Godfather of Manga himself, Osamu Tezuka, who most will associate with the Astro Boy series. When creating his manga, Tezuka was in turn influenced by a still image of Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent film also titled Metropolis, which he saw in an article as a teen. This image sparked Tezuka’s curiosity as to what the future would look like should both humans and robots co-exist. Spoiler the fact that Osamu Tezuka ended his Metropolis manga with the line “Perhaps, might the day not come when humans also become too advanced and, in actuality, as a result of their science, wipe themselves out?”, makes us believe that Tezuka was actually quite apprehensive about such a future. Or maybe just a little bit lacking in faith towards humanity and its ability to handle such a future well. Not that he’s alone in this it seems, since a lot of the sci-fi genre in general likes to explore this idea. Just look at the movies Blade Runner, I, Robot, Terminator, The Matrix…and on and on it goes.     

Of course, this doesn’t mean one should skip out on the animated film Metropolis; because it’s much more than simply a film about how humanity’s obsession with progress will be its own downfall. This is mainly because Osamu Tezuka, along with Rintaro and Katsuhiro Otomo, decided to present their audience with a different take on Frankenstein and his monster, or in this case humans and their robots. And even though the 2001 Metropolis film is an adaptation of Tezuka’s manga, both Rintaro and Otomo, also decided to include elements from Lang’s film into their own retelling.     

Now Metropolis may have come out 20 years ago, but there are still many themes and points that continue to be relevant even now in the year 2021. We talk about some of them over in our anime review video, which you can check out below, but as always feel free to continue reading as we’ll be covering some extra points here.     

SUBPLOTS: 

In our video review, we mention how Katsuhiro Otomo included various subplots throughout the film Metropolis such as the French Revolution of the 1700s, along with perhaps the abolishment of the Kaibatsu in Japan at the end of WW2. But many of you may have also noticed the multiple posters and pictures of Che Guevara hidden in the background of most scenes found specifically in Zone-1, where most of the poorer citizens of Metropolis live. Why is that? Well here’s what we think.   

We all know that the main level of Metropolis is renowned for its innovation and luxurious art deco architecture, but many of its lower levels weren’t given the same attention. Actually, anything below the surface of Metropolis is basically a pure dystopia. And many of the citizens have been forced to live in these dystopian-like conditions; after losing their jobs due to being replaced by robots. That’s right, Robots stole their jobs! Well not really… Metropolis is run as a plutocracy, where a wealthy minority of the population gets to govern the rest of society and in their eyes, it’s much more efficient and cheaper to have a robot do the work than instead, let’s say a human. But let’s just look past all that and blame the robots, cause they’re easier targets. Seriously anyone else seeing the similarities to real-life here?     

So surely being forced to live in such dire circumstances, while their upstairs neighbours enjoy their decadent lives, it's really only a matter of time before people get so desperate for change that they’ll start a revolution. This is why we believe Che Guevara’s image can be seen all throughout these lower levels, either on posters or in the newspapers. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Che Guevara, he was a major figure of the Cuban Revolution, which pushed the US out of Cuba and helped Fidel Castro become Prime Minister. He’s also known as a guerilla leader and Marxist revolutionary, and over the years he’s become a popular symbol for rebellion and counterculture, as well as becoming a symbol for the underdog. So it’s not really surprising then that the activists in the Metropolis film, especially their leader Atlas, would have admired Che and used his likeness as a symbol for change and revolution.  

THEMES: 

In the video, we talk about how Tima has an identity crisis, not really knowing who she is, let alone if she’s meant to be a human or a robot, but she also struggles to identify what her purpose is. Is she really only meant to be a tool used as a weapon for someone else’s gain? And does she even have a say in the matter? Well according to her father/designer, Duke Red, the answer is yes to the former, and no to the latter. In his mind, she may be a super-robot designed to look like a human, specifically his deceased daughter - the original Tima, but she’s still a robot, who was created to sit on the Ziggurat throne and help him make Metropolis a superpower that no other nation could go against. The main reason for his insensitivity towards Tima is because Duke Red believes that robots don’t have emotions the way humans do and therefore don’t share the same level of self-awareness. But throughout the film, we see that Tima does in fact feel rage, happiness, and sadness, which implies that she does have feelings and consciousness. When she tells Duke Red this, she’s again brushed aside and told that what she’s experiencing is just a malfunction due to not being fully programmed when activated, completely missing the contradiction to his words. When she asks if she’s merely a robot then, he’s taken aback and states that she’s better than all those other robots who are just hunks of metal, that she’s special… Just what exactly did Duke Red want to design when creating Tima? She’s a robot, but she looks human, and she has human emotions, but she has no rights like other robots, and she was created to be the most powerful being, and yet she has no power over her own person and destiny. Really you can’t blame the girl for being confused.   

Like we mentioned earlier, in Metropolis robots are considered second citizens, since they were created by humans. And are therefore treated as being lesser than. A subtle demonstration of this point comes to the viewers' attention when Kenichi and his detective uncle Shunsuka Ban meet their Metropolis investigator robot guide, Model 803-D-RP-DM-497-3-C. Quite the mouthful… and though Kenichi is perfectly able to remember his name flawlessly, we can’t blame his uncle for asking him if he has a nickname. This is where things get slightly problematic though. As Model 803-D-RP-DM-497-3-C informs them that robots aren’t allowed to have human names as it might infringe on human rights. (Again Duke Red - how is Tima not supposed to be confused?) This prompts Ban to suggest the name “Pero”. Surprised Kenichi says, “That’s a dog’s name!”, to which his uncle nonchalantly replies “That’s right. I used to have a dog named Pero. He was a great dog.” Like we said slightly problematic. Robots = Second rate citizens = okay to give them dog names. So even the well-intentioned, Ban, who has been shown to respect and even care for Pero in the film, still gives him a name that implies a certain level of superiority. We see this with another robot, this one of the cleaning model class Albert.II, who’s nicknamed “Fifi”… which is also a dog's name. 

We will point out though that the name Pero, is a famous name from Greek mythology, originally being a female name. The name could also have been inspired by studio Toei’s “Cat Who Wore Boots” protagonist Pero, who was in turn named after Charles Perrault, the French author of the fairytale “Puss in Boots”. 

It’s also possible that the name Pero has become more associated with dogs because it sounds like the Spanish word for “dog” being “perro”? This of course is just our etymological speculation and if anyone has any insight feel free to leave us a comment.  

RANDOM BONUS FACTS

A short study of Fashion in Metropolis:  

The Meiji period is the first time we see the influence of westernized fashion among the uniformed workers of Japan, such as policemen and postal carriers. This was seen out in public, but the Kimono and other traditional Japanese garb were still used in the comfort of ones' own home. We actually see this depicted by Kenichi’s Uncle when he wears the typical western dress while out working, and wears a kimono while in his hotel room. It was only later during the Showa period that western clothing became the norm in all parts of life for all citizens including women and children. Which explains why 1930’s western fashion would have been prevalent since that’s when fashion changed for everyone in Japan. 

So that's it for now. As always, stay safe out there, and 

~ Stay Obsessed