Upload
mac-tyler
View
34
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Metropolis movie poster paper discussing it from an art history perspective.
Citation preview
1
Analyzing Graphic Design Artifacts from a Socio-Cultural Perspective
William M. Tyler
A History of Communication Design
Michael Gibson
02/21/12
2
01. William M. Tyler
02.
Metropolis, UFA Films poster, Designer - Jósef Bottlik, Berlin, 1927. Designed for the release of
the film in Hungary in 1928.
03.
AEAH 4842/AEAH 5842 | A History of Communication Design | spring 2012, UNT CVAD | Michael Gibson, InstructorAssignment 01: Analyzing Graphic Design Artifacts from a Socio-Cultural Perspective
3
4
04. The general state of Hungary in 1927 was a dark one filled with uncertainty and political strife. In
1920 the Treaty of Trianon required Hungary to surrender more than two-thirds of its land based
on the territorial provisions before the treaty. This placed over three million Magyars, the
formerly native hungarians, outside of the new territorial bounds and disconnected them from
their homeland. The current prime minister of Hungary, Bethlen, tried to restore order to the
country by making political deals with extremist parties to end their hateful campaigns against
the Jews and leftists. Many landowners were forced out of work by political changes whose
process they were never involved in. Hungary, after Russia and Poland, was the third country in
which an Intelligentsia developed though the nobility’s influence on the growing middle class.
This furthered the social stratification of the Magyars and partially is responsible for creating the
temporary emancipation of the Jews at the time.
This would not last though, as the political mood shifted more towards the right extremist
while the standard of living continued to drop. Labor laws were non-existent and minimum wage
was only influenced by how small of a compensation someone was willing to work for continued
to plummet. Peasants and the working class were both in terrible shape, even worse than they had
been before World War 1. Peasants also had no political influence and as such their political voice
was restrained and nonexistent. Magyars saw themselves as abandoned and failed by the social
and political leaders of their time and extreme dissatisfaction was very common. From a country
currently in turmoil, a better future would always be a welcome, although uncertain ideal. The
design of the Metropolis poster specifically communicated with these common and middle class
people. The figure is a man, although strong and determined, buckling under the pressure from
the weight he is carrying. This clear struggle of man versus society and the future ideals would
specifically apply to the concerns of the working class in that time.
05.
The spatial arrangement of the forms mostly revolve around a central vertical axis. This was
distinctly done to enforce the main visual message that the poster conveys. With the
geographically scattered Magnars, the powerful and centered word “Metropolis” was a very
contrasting ideal for people to see and consider. The distinct serif typeface Metropolis is set in,
was Fritz Lang’s idea to use design of the future, the art-deco movement instead of traditional and
more common typography in Hungary at the time. The limited range of colors, dark background,
and mostly bright orange and red figures also serve to reinforce the aspects of the piece that
should have the most emphasis. The clear vertical hierarchy of the metropolis city on top and the
hard working “people” underneath connected and resonated with the people who felt powerless
and almost enslaved by the sociopolitical issues they dealt with in their life. The figure who is
strong and muscular is seen facing or possibly even walking towards the left edge of the poster.
The main light source of the piece also seems to be coming from the left, although off the spatial
plane, as alluded to by the highlights on the left side of the city towers and the underside of the
AEAH 4842/AEAH 5842 | A History of Communication Design | spring 2012, UNT CVAD | Michael Gibson, InstructorAssignment 01: Analyzing Graphic Design Artifacts from a Socio-Cultural Perspective
5
man facing in that direction. The distinct lighting reinforce how the working class will have to
carry the weight of society into a hopefully brighter future. The idea of a brighter future would
have been one to resonate well amongst the uncertainty of the people in Hungary, but the
concerns that this route would take were also very important. This poster presents a positive idea,
but based on the form and color it is also very indicative of something else involved slightly
beneath the surface. Uneasy concepts and warning signs presented under a shroud of progress
and combined achievement. Society moves forward and “up” to and at the cost of whom? One
people group will always be stratified to the bottom and at this point in time, these were the
people of Hungary.
06.In 1929 Hungary, jobs were scarce and the working class in addition to peasants flocked toward
cities like Budapest to look for work, competing for almost any wage they could get. This poster
was an advertisement that was most likely placed in crowded streets and market areas for people
to see. It seems to have been either printed or applied with a wooden backing in some situations
and was to stir interest in viewers minds about the topics further contained within the movie. The
people in these settings, the peasants and working class, would have taken a distinct interest
based on the feelings that resonated in themselves with the figure on the poster. It could have
empowered people in the sense that they, being the working class were the ones carrying the
future utopian society so reliant on them, but in other aspects they were enslaved to the very idea.
The poster demonstrates a division and distinction between the people it empowers and those
that it does not. As the tallest tower on the poster suggests, the light or “enlightenment” as the city
increases in height, continues to become unobtainable by those on the bottom.
The serves as a metaphor for the social stratification at the time between the noble class and the
peasants. It connected with the cultural aspirations at least within regards to cities in general, a
deep sense of real estate and land meant everything to the Magyars whose own land had been
taken away. Even the concept of a future in general, albeit possibly uncertain was an intriguing
concept at the time. With so much political unrest and opposing schools of thought, wondering
about how the future would unravel, even who might perhaps be crushed underneath along the
way, were all pertinent to the feelings of the people that walked the very streets gazing up at the
poster.
07.A very strong example of a technological and economic phenomena were addressed in this work is
that of rationalization as a manifestation of modernity. Something that would become
increasingly relevant over the next twenty years or so, but was just starting to find a distinct
concern in society at the time. In 1919 Károlyi, after having failed to deal with the rampant
discontent, resigned as the leader of the people’s republic of Hungary. This allowed the
Communist Party of Hungary, with their leader Béla Kun, to come into power and instate the
6
Hungarian Soviet Republic. This new power carried out the “Red Terror” which was a series of
atrocities committed against opposing political parties and led to the death of nearly six-hundred
scientists and intellectuals. They promised to return Hungary to its “former glory” and increase
the territorial provisions back to the way they were before the Treaty of Trianon.
This directly aligned with many of the goals of the Nazi party coming into power before
World War II. Hungary passed laws restricting the number of Jews that could participate in
specific jobs and this eventually later on led to the full deportation and death of thousands of
Jewish Magyars. The poster addresses the Nazi ideal of a perfect society and a perfect future. It
directly relates in that in order to achieve this “perfect” end result, morals and rationality are
thrown aside and instead pure efficiency is given prominence. This rationalization referred to a
determined outlook towards goals that eventually could function to the detriment of society as a
whole into a dystopian society instead of the envisioned utopia. In this way the movie poster
directly foreshadows these concerns and would become increasingly relevant as time went on
with Hungary's alignment with Germany and the Nazi leadership.
08.
The imagery of the cityscape on the poster is taken directly from the movie scenes and set itself.
So to understand the architectural references involved, the inspiration for the movie’s set must be
taken into direct consideration. The silent-film Metropolis itself takes place in the distant future,
the year 2026, amongst a science-fiction and semi-plausible imagery of a futuristic urban
dystopia. In order to depict this future, Fritz Lang, the director of Metropolis, used the most
modern thing that existed at the time and then overly exaggerated this to create his “basis” for the
future. This is a common/obvious mistake for people who are attempting to imagine the future,
purely because their only main option is to take the current concerns of their day and then
amplify them to their extremes. Fritz Lang took a trip to New York in 1924 and was fascinated by
the Manhattan skyline, most distinctly the art-deco Chrysler building which was being built at
that time. It was the tallest building in the world and the most advanced depiction of a society that
Fritz had seen. He used this as his spark of inspiration for the building and city design in
Metropolis and as a result this carried the distinct art-deco architecture from the chrysler building
and other parts from the Manhattan skyline and implanted itself as a core aspect of the style of
metropolis and coincidentally the poster. The other distinct visual reference that has greatly
influenced this poster is that of the Atlas Myth. As a part of Greek Mythology, Atlas was one of the
titans and carried the entire earth on his shoulders. This task of holding the earth was a
punishment for atlas in taking the side of the Titans in a war with the gods on Mt. Olympus. The
name “Atlas”, is supposedly derived from the Greek root “tel” meaning “to uphold”, or “support
others”. This is a direct correlation to the premise of the movie and the visual of the man on the
poster upholding the “new” society to his own detriment.
AEAH 4842/AEAH 5842 | A History of Communication Design | spring 2012, UNT CVAD | Michael Gibson, InstructorAssignment 01: Analyzing Graphic Design Artifacts from a Socio-Cultural Perspective