How does Fritz Lang use the devices of miss en scene to develop the characters, themes and narratives at the beginning of "Metropolis"?

Location 1

Setting

It is in a city which is deep below the surface of the earth, where the workers live and work. There are machines working to provide the power for the overground metropolis. The buildings in the underground city are all look the same. The colour is a bit blue so that it makes people feel cold and depressive. Then there is a scene of shift change. The workers travel down to this underground city by huge elevators. The buildings and the gates are like jail or cage, which suggests poor living conditions and working conditions of the underground workers.

Human figures

In the scene of shift change, the workers are walking in alignment, moving slowly in the same rhythm, with heads down and blank facial expression. They look numb and feelingless, just like slaves or machines. They transform into human robots in order to operate the cold machines. Their life is in everyday  routine and have no freedom. That is not what they want.

The workers are placed very small in the scene , and they are put together as a group of people instead of individuals, as if they don't have any feelings or personalities, they are just machines rather than humans who can talk and walk normally.

Costume

They are all wearing the same dark uniform with the same hat, so that they all look the same, which makes them more like feelingless robots rather than humans with different personalities.

Lighting

The lighting is very cold and artificial , because it is in a underground city without sunshine which can bring natural light. It creates the feeling of depression and dehumanization of the workers.

Location 2

Setting

In contrast, the upper class live in a metropolis which is high above the surface of the earth. The stadium and the garden are built for the sons of the ruling class for leisure. The stadium is vast and gorgeous, the colour is bright so that it makes people feel free and comfortable.

There is a fountain in the garden, and there are plants and flowers which make the garden look like a paradise, and there are peacocks, which symbolizes beauty and immortality. All of them create a pleasurable atmosphere.

Human figures

The people in the second location are all from upper class, we can tell from their beautiful clothes and luxury accessories. They all look happy and relaxed when they have a running competition. So that we can know that it is not a real competition but just for entertainment.

In the garden, there is a man and a woman look happily together, they are moving freely and playing around the fountain. As we can see from their face, they are smiling and laughing all the time which indicates that they don't have any worries or pressure. They enjoy their lives very much.

Costume

The people appear in this scene are all wearing beautiful clothes, men are wearing spotless shirt and tie, women are wearing delicate dress and accessories, and they are wearing make-up, suggesting they all from upper class.

Lighting

The lighting is soft and natural, which shows freedom, happiness and living in a dreamland. It makes us to believe the upper class are bathed in a comfortable natural sunlight and have no darkness to fear.

The main protagonists

In the first location, the main characters are the workers. However, they are seen as a group rather than individuals.

In the second location, the main characters are the man, and the beautiful woman with children, because they are in the foreground and the middle of the scenes which shows the importance.
The woman is a daughter of a worker, and she is wearing simple dress with no decoration on it., which suggests she is from lower class.

The man Freder and the woman are from different class. There may be stories between them as the narrative develops.

Narratives

In a future metropolis, the surface of the earth separate the two class, the underground city where the upper class live, and the underground city where the workers live and work. Freder, the son of one of the ruling elites idles away in the stadium and the eternal garden of pleasure, until one day, he saw a beautiful woman from the lower class and fell in love with her immediately . He followed her to the underground city in order to find her. In the underground city, Freder witnesses one worker failed to operate the machine and then the pressure rises and cause an explosion.

Development

Following the explosion, the image changes. The machine changes into a horrible monster face with its mouth open, the workers are led to its mouth, and there are some injures and death afterwards. Freder witnesses all of these happen and he is shocked by the scene. Then, the image changes back to normal, the machines are working again just like nothing happened. It represents that the workers are not important at all, they are treated as machines or robots, and it doesn't matter if they are dead, there will be new 'robots' replace his position, and the ruling class will show no sympathy for them. It is tragic and pathetic because nobody care about the workers. They should be very important and treated well for providing the power of the metropolis by operating the machines, but the reality is nothing like that. The machine is a monster which destroys their lives, just like the social system which imprisons their freedom and personalities. It makes me feel sad.

The new setting(Last scene)

In the last scene, we can see a picture of the overground city. There are skyscrapers everywhere, connected by highways, and numerous automobiles and airplanes are traveling around.

It reminds me of manhattan in New York where the few upper class and the elites live and work.

I think the purpose of showing this setting is showing huge difference between the two class,  the towering overground city of metropolis hints the endeavor of the underground workers, it is their work which provide the power for the overground metropolis. However, the workers are controlled by the ruling class, and they can't get rid of them because of their enslaved personalities.