Extension 1

The scholars rock symbolises Ki-Woo’s

aspiration for wealth, which is proved to be fake and is a misnomer.  These aspirations drive the working class to work harder. Ki-woo becomes attached, illustrating the strength of his capitalist aspirations. Bong employs dramatic irony as the rock floats to convey the facade of capitalist aspirations within the working class. Bong directly commentates the capitalist aspirations of the lower classes in capitalist societies

Bong defamiliarises the Kim family's pursuit by

“exaggerating the job completion… in the form of violence” as stated by Jordan F.  Bong detaches the desire for a job and exaggerates it to actually kill someone for the sake of the job.

Bong subtly conveys Marxist understanding of class consciousness through a semiotic understanding of class through

the smell. The youngest Park bluntly announces the Kim’s “Smell the same…Jessica smells like that too”, establishing the motif of the Kim's lower class smell, to which the Kims assume that it's their laundry. the sun is skillfully placed to illustrate how unattainable the elite class is because it closely resembles the heavens.  In this scene the family descends from the Park house to the Kim's house, but also to their class. This wide-frame-shot demonstrates the rigidity of social mobility

 Bong employs silence to illustrate how the father-son reunification

was a dream and irony to convey how the advancement of the working class isn’t simple. This irony is displayed as Ki-woo narrates “Dad, today I made a plan.” contrasting his fathers statement “You know what plan never fails?No plan at all.” The irony and silence function as a critique on how unstable capitalist aspirations are within the working class, reflecting the rigid nature of poverty within South Korea where few are given the opportunity to exit it.

Maria enters, surrounded by waif-like children. In stark contrast with the 1920s-styled and highly-sexualised ‘flapper’ women, Maria is plainly dressed and has minimal makeup. The use of clouding around the lens (vignetting) signals her salience in her introductory shot, and her overall significance in the narrative to come. → techniques

• Characterisation

• Symbolism

• Contrast

• Vignette

• Salience

• Costuming and makeup

Maria enters, surrounded by waif-like children. In stark contrast with the 1920s-styled and highly-sexualised ‘flapper’ women, Maria is plainly dressed and has minimal makeup. The use of clouding around the lens (vignetting) signals her salience in her introductory shot, and her overall significance in the narrative to come. → analysis

Great contrast to the incredibly sexualised women in contrast to her modest traditional look

Positioned in the middle and front of a large group of children, fitting the caregiver, mother position

Her light coloured clothing juxtaposed against the dark clothing serve to portray her innocence and purity, symbolic of her preaching and leadership role seen later on in the movie

The maternal figure, a bearer of children – this image exalted her overall meaning to an angelic figure. Although economically she is belowbelow the bourgeoises 

Being placed in the middle and front of a a large group of children also symbolises how she serves the exploited proletariats later on and how she is their saviour as she brings them out of subjugation and exploitation in times where no one could overthrow the oppressive government 

Her most clothing, different to the bourgeois fashion, also presents her as a pure individual, presents her as the Virgin Mary, biblical image here

Maria is the preacher for equality and the bearer of children – allusions to Saint Mary (catholicism) – the vignette creates the biblical image

Rotwang has created a robotic version of Hel. The Man-Machine represents industrialisation taken to its utmost extreme – with men creating mechanical life (in contrast with women, who create biological life. The complete antithesis to the masculine capitalist characters). Upside- down pentagrams feature throughout Rotwang’s house. The pentagram was once considered to represent healing and mathematical perfection... as these pentagrams are inverted, this represents Rotwang’s corruption of these ideals. → analysis

Rotwang's original intention for the Man machine was to replace his lost love “Hel”, reflecting a subjective, personal, and tragic narrative. However,  Joh Frederson tells him to make the machine a duplicate of Maria to control the workforce. Lang’s metanarrative of the struggles of the working class.

On Rotwang's door was the pentagram – a pagan symbol for the intersection of magic and science. Lang alludes to the experimental science of resurrection and the occult. Additionally, the symbol of the pentagram goes against Christianity, which is prevalent throughout the film. Lang critiques the practices of scientific rationalism by making it synonymous with satanic rituals – commonly explored in neo-Romanticism.

Rotwang has created a robotic version of Hel. The Man-Machine represents industrialisation taken to its utmost extreme – with men creating mechanical life (in contrast with women, who create biological life. The complete antithesis to the masculine capitalist characters). Upside- down pentagrams feature throughout Rotwang’s house. The pentagram was once considered to represent healing and mathematical perfection... as these pentagrams are inverted, this represents Rotwang’s corruption of these ideals. → techniques

Metanarrative

Symbolism

Historical Allusion (pentagram)

Characterisation

Time-jump to ten days later (revealed in dialogue from Josaphat). Josaphat reveals to Freder that the erotic dancing of ‘Maria’ has corrupted the City, with the rich fighting amongst themselves over her affections. The eruption of the Seven Deadly Sins amongst the people means that men no longer frequent the Eternal Gardens and instead go to the Yoshiwara nightclub where ‘Maria’ entertains them. A montage of flashbacks shows two friends duelling – one dies by sword, the other shoots himself. → techniques

Non-linear storytelling

Flashbacks

Montage

Narration

Marxist Ideology (corruption of the upper classes)

Time-jump to ten days later (revealed in dialogue from Josaphat). Josaphat reveals to Freder that the erotic dancing of ‘Maria’ has corrupted the City, with the rich fighting amongst themselves over her affections. The eruption of the Seven Deadly Sins amongst the people means that men no longer frequent the Eternal Gardens and instead go to the Yoshiwara nightclub where ‘Maria’ entertains them. A montage of flashbacks shows two friends duelling – one dies by sword, the other shoots himself. → analysis

Robo-Maria’s dance is a visceral portrayal of the male gaze, her initial costuming, skimpy and scandalous clothing, tantalises the men. Emerging in a long, black gown, she lures the men into a crowd, her hypnotising aura seeping violence into the mass.

A montage of fast paced clips depict the men, once close confidants, resolving to violently attack the other, determined to win her affections. While the men continue fighting, the scene rapidly cuts between their escalating desires, brief clips of the whore of Babylon hiding behind the stage curtains, and flashbacks of Freder having a moment of confusion, unable to fathom that the once saint has now turned the men on each other in sexual jealousy.

Lang utilises non-linear storytelling here to reflect the resulting chaos where robo Maria has successfully manipulated the elite male mass, further reflecting the psychological and social breakdown caused by her.

The corruption of the upper classes in this scene is embodied through employing robo Maria as a mechanism of social manipulation, reflecting the Marxist ideology that the bourgeoisie maintain hegemonic control by fostering division and disorder among the proletariat. Thus, Lang illustrates how periods of systemic instability expose the fragility of social hierarchies, where both ideological control and moral order collapse under the tension of desire and power.

The workers rise up from the Depths to destroy the city’s machines. Allusions are made to a new equality of sexes, with

a line of dialogue delivered by one of the workers’ wives, “Not one man – not woman has stayed behind”. A shot is then shown of two children staying behind in the city as all the adults leave in the elevators, foreshadowing he jeopardy that will soon face all of their children as a result of their actions.

Metanarrative/Marxist ideology: Lang illustrates the foundation of Marxist ideology, that is a revolution among the proletariat. Robot Maria persuades the workers to follow her, enticing them to begin a revolution. Robot-Maria fosters unrest and the man follows her in a hypnotic trance.  Additionally, the line  “Not one man – not woman has stayed behind” conveys a core part of marxist ideology, gender equality.

Irony: The revolution is quite Ironic. A revolution against machines is led by a robot. The workers strongly believe that the robot Maria is the real Maria, even though the real Maria preached against violence. The proletariat create a belief that Robot-Maria is their heart and they are the mediator. But that understanding of a revolting working class being a mediator is ironic. Additionally, Robot Maria wants to betray the men who created her, inciting a violent revolution.

Metanarrative/Symbolism/Foreshadowing: The foreshadowing in revolution is created through the irony as the workers, who believed in Maria’s notions of peace, ensue a violent uprising that creates destruction and abandons their children. The abandonment of children foreshadows the destruction of the working class city. Furthermore, the revolutionaries' abandonment of their children creates a metanarrative of child sacrifice. Lang utilises the story of Moloch and child sacrifice, the working class sacrifice their children to achieve a proper revolution.

“a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth who might make the very existence of … man … full of terror”

propagated upon the earth who might make the very existence of … man … full of terror”

“a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth who might make the very existence of … man … full of terror”

• Hyperbole: The phrase "very existence" exaggerates the total destruction of humanity.

• Demonic Imagery: Labeling the potential offspring as "devils" frames scientific failure as spiritual damnation.

“a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth who might make the very existence of … man … full of terror” → connection to module

• Anxiety of Unchecked Progress: The module explores eras of rapid change. This quote reflects Romantic-era fears that blind scientific ambition destroys natural order.

• Loss of Agency: Upheaval shifts power dynamics. Victor fears humanity will lose its societal dominance to a new, uncontrollable force.

• Rebellion and Multiplication: The word "propagated" mirrors fears of political revolution. It channels the ruling-class dread of an unstoppable mass uprising by the oppressed.

• The Monstrous "Other": Upheaval creates deep social divisions. The quote highlights the fear of marginal groups multiplying and subverting established civilization

“It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn…the physical secrets of the world”

and earth that I desired to learn…the physical secrets of the world”

“It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn…the physical secrets of the world”

Antithesis: Pairing "heaven and earth" creates a contrast that shows his ambition spans both spiritual and physical realms.

Hubristic Tone: His desire to "learn" the ultimate laws of nature reveals an arrogant belief that he is worthy of god-like knowledge

“It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn…the physical secrets of the world”

• massive societal change. This quote represents the intellectual curiosity that triggers catastrophic upheaval.

• Defying Traditional Boundaries: Upheaval often involves breaking old rules. Victor refuses to accept human limits, mirroring how Enlightenment science challenged traditional religious boundaries.

• The Romantic Backlash: The quote captures the Romantic-era anxiety regarding the Scientific Revolution. It shows how industrial and scientific progress threatened to strip the magic and mystery from the natural world.

• Shift in Power Dynamics: By wanting to learn the secrets of the world, Victor seeks total control over nature. This desire to conquer the natural order threatens to flip the balance of power between humanity and the environment. [1, 2]

Elizabeth “and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other’s blood”

• Metaphor / Zoomorphism: Elizabeth strips humanity of its civility by directly equating "men" to bloodthirsty "monsters."

• Visceral Imagery: The phrase "thirsting for each other's blood" creates a violent, predatory image that highlights raw savagery.

• Irony: The ultimate injustice is exposed—the creature who committed the crime is "free," while Victor, the true intellectual culprit, is "respected" by society.

• Juxtaposition: Placing "murderer" and "respected" in the same sentence highlights the complete moral bankruptcy of the social order.

I, like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, am chained in an eternal hell."

"I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?