Film Fiction
The reference to the 1927 science fiction film Metropolis and the brief portion shown during the lecture is a reminder of our continuing fascination with predicting what the future holds for us. It seems that often humanity is depicted in these future visions as being enslaved by machines/ technology and that the morally corrupt yet privileged few rule the masses.
Films about the distant future typically depicts the urban environment as a dense jungle of dominating and menacing concrete masses. It is forever night time and the city is in various states of decay. The majority of the population is often struggling and desperate, being exploited by the powerful few.
The Metropolis sequence reminds me of one of my favourite films by Hong Kong Director, Wong Kar Wai. In this film the characters are on a mysterious never-ending journey upon a high speed train network trying to return to a place called 2046 where lost memories can be recaptured and where time stood still and nothing ever changed.
The director poses to the audience a future vision of Hong Kong where the city is a mass of steel and glass lit up by the neon glow of the streets. An extensive suspended rail super network snakes around the city connecting every place to each other. However, no one seems to ever get off or on to the trains. The city is alight but there appears to be no one in the city except for the handful of lonely characters on the train who never meet.
I find the Director's vision of the future surreal and fascinating. I interpret the film as ultimately suggesting that we tend to view the past with romantic nostalgia and no matter how fast modern life is or how technologically advanced society becomes people never let go of the desire to feel connected, be loved and to belong.
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