In Fritz Lang’s German Expressionist film Metropolis (1927) and George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), both composers express the dangerous effects of tyrannical and demagogical leadership. In exploring the quote ‘If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever,’ Lang presents a perspective that both challenges and restores our faith in humanity, where an autocratic leader falls to his knees in a cry for mercy while Orwell aims to shatter it, with the subjugation of the rebellious protagonist. Both Orwell and Lang explore this through their contextual paradigms, demonstrating it through the apotheosis of human power, where both leaders’ ‘demi-god-like’ status produces an opaque view of reality and excess materialism. It is also revealed through a distorted sense of …show more content…
Orwell creates a dystopic milieu in which a recurring motif, a demi-god like figure, ‘Big Brother,’ rules as a patriarchal authoritarian presence who, with his unrestricted power, creates a haze over reality and truth. ‘Big Brother’ is a satirical allusion to Joseph Stalin, who in his reign, delved in excess materialism and lost sight of humanity, believing in his own myth and legend. Orwell presents a warning against the dangers of a demi-god-like leader and totalitarian society, criticising the likes of Marxist and communist ideologies. The Tripartite structure and journalistic 3rd person perspective further serve to amplify the limited view and the pessimistic perspective delved in by Orwell, with the dejected lifestyle of the main protagonist, Winston, showing how selfish, demi-god-like power can result in a destitution of the lower