The Machine-Whore of Babylon: Metropolis (1927)
By Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast ( bio - articles - email ) | Dec 09, 2020 | In Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
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Almost one hundred years ago, the great German director Fritz Lang offered us a beautiful yet nightmarish vision of a world strangely similar to our present. Society is unimaginably prosperous yet produces mass misery. There is a sense of an end coming for Babel.
Amidst growing class resentment, the Whore of Babylon appears in the form of a machine invented by society’s elites. This wonder of technology parodies and destroys womanhood, manipulating men’s lust and anger, tempting them away from compassion for their fellow man and the patient expectation of a redeemer.
Scott Hambrick and Karl Schudt from OnlineGreatBooks.com join the show for an entertaining, thought-provoking discussion of the one work of sci-fi on the Vatican film list—not only of its Biblical, political and technological themes, but also its unforgettable imagery and evocative aesthetic, a combination of Art Deco with German expressionism.
Next on Criteria is a Christmas episode on It’s a Wonderful Life, with special guest Patrick Coffin.
Links
Watch Metropolis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvtWDIZtrAE
Online Great Books’s latest enrollment period has just begun. Use discount code “catholicculture” or use this referral link for 25% off your first three months! https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
Catholic Culture Podcast Episode 27 with Scott Hambrick https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/
Online Great Books and Music and Ideas podcasts (not always family-friendly) https://onlinegreatbooks.com/onlinegreatbooks-podcast/
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Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/
Criteria is hosted by Thomas V. Mirus and James T. Majewski.
Thomas is Director of Podcasts for CatholicCulture.org and hosts the Catholic Culture Podcast. See full bio.
James is the Director of Customer Relations for CatholicCulture.org as well as the host and narrator for Catholic Culture Audiobooks. See full bio.
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