Blade Runner and Metropolis: The non too distant future?

The set design in the films Metropolis (Lang, 1926) and Blade Runner (Lang, 1926) helps set a dreary hopeless view of t

The acting in both Metropolis(1926) and Blade Runner(1982) only furthered their themes and the director’s visions of the future. For example, in Metropolis(1926), all of the actors in the opening are workers, their movement is indicative of their position in life as well as how they feel. In this scene they all have their heads hanging low and they are walking in perfect practically automated rhythm, this shows how low they are in society and how they are treated like a worthless machine. In addition to this, this was symbolizing how human life and work ethics are beginning to be disregarded. Another example of the acting, is the facial expressions of the workers as they walk to and from their work shifts. All of the workers have stale looking pale faces, this shows how pale life was for them and how the only thing they have to look forward to is more work and the death, so much so that they wouldn’t even lift their heads to look ahead of them. Both of these examples, make a point about how machine like and patterned these people’s life were, (e.g. birth-work-death). In contrast, in the film Blade Runner(1982) , the overall acting by the actors was very realistic and humanistic. For example, in the scene between the replicate and Holden, the replicant was very fidgety and was asking a lot of questions just as many humans do when they are undergoing a test of any kind. This suggests how these replicants were just as human as anyone else and wanted to be human just as anyone else, but were hunted and “retired” just like an animal. Another point about the acting is tension in the opening scene, in the same scene as noted above, both actors are acting on a very tense “on-edge” level, they are doing so by interrupting and treating each other like they are a child. This acting shows how totalitarian this society really was, everyone is at everyone else’s throat, and everyone feels like they have no privacy. This is even more true by the fact that there is a mandatory governmental test being administered. In conclusion, both of these acting styles, although different relay the same type of feeling; that the future does not look promising for humans or even humanistic things.

Costumes and Make-up also play a key part in presenting both film’s views of the future. For example, in Metropolis(1926), the make-up on the workers is very white or gray colored, and makes the workers look almost dead pale. This makes a point on how inside these people were dead and in their lives, they were only “going through the motions” until their inevitable death. In their costuming, the workers are covered in all black, with even black shoes and black hats. This contrast helps accentuate the pale white faces of the workers, as well as making a a point about their dark, death-filed lives. Another observation would be the analogy to slavery, being as most slaves in the world are of darker colors, this would make a point about how, in the future, workers are treated like slaves, and that it looks bad for everyone, not just minorities. In Blade Runner(1982), the costumes of both characters in the opening are used more to comment on their positions in life. For example, the replicant is in plain white worker clothes, this helps cement his lower class pos

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