Creators and Creations
Frankenstein and Rotwang are both this archetype, obsessed with creating life.
What is a mad scientist?
The time period of Frankenstein overlaps with this major revolution.
What is the Industrial Revolution?
In Metropolis, this class operates the machines underground.
Who are the workers?
The Creature reflects Victor as his ___.
What is a double or mirror?
Frankenstein was written during this period of rationalism and discovery.
What is the Enlightenment?
This flaw in Victor Frankenstein leads him to ignore the consequences of his actions.
What is hubris?
Metropolis critiques the dehumanising effects of this.
What is industrialisation or capitalism?
The creature is rejected by this group, leading to his isolation.
What is society or the De Lacey family?
Freder and Rotwang act as foils to this central figure.
Who is Joh Fredersen?
The 1927 release of Metropolis reflects tensions in this post-war country.
What is Weimar Germany?
In Metropolis, this machine is the lifeblood of the city.
What is the Heart Machine?
This cinematic technique in Metropolis represents mechanisation overtaking humanity.
What is expressionism or montage?
Maria in Metropolis serves as this symbolic figure to the workers.
What is a prophet or messiah?
This literary genre of Frankenstein uses emotional extremes and dark settings.
What is the Gothic?
Shelley’s views were influenced by this radical Romantic poet, also her husband.
Who is Percy Bysshe Shelley?
In both texts, the created being becomes this when rejected by society.
What is a monster or outcast?
Victor’s obsession with reanimating life ignores this ethical boundary.
What is moral responsibility?
Both texts reflect anxieties about this type of social collapse.
What is revolution or upheaval?
Metropolis uses the city above and below to represent this kind of structure.
What is a binary or duality?
Lang’s visual storytelling was influenced by this early German art movement.
What is German Expressionism?
The female creature and the Maschinenmensch represent this shared theme.
What is fear of female agency or reproduction?
In both texts, technology causes this rather than progress.
What is suffering or collapse?
This Marxist term applies to the conflict between Freder’s class and the workers.
What is class struggle?
Rotwang’s robotic Maria is a distorted version of this figure.
Who is the real Maria (the spiritual guide)?
Both texts respond to fears about this theme shared across their contexts.
What is unchecked progress or societal collapse?