To be sure, my thesis here is complicated. It’s not that any one movie has made us into double secret fascists. But in watching Metropolis and trying to understand what it was trying to say, I realized that I had spent my life watching a film that had been made to promote the election of Adolf Hitler without even realizing it. I had thought the narrative was a straightforward and silly parable about worker empowerment, but now I see some troubling things. Why are there no real women characters in a film made by a politically minded woman and her husband? What should I try to understand about the celebratory way they depict the lynching of the Evil Maria? Why are the workers so satisfied to trust the man who intentionally tried to trick them into murdering their own children?
Why did it take me so long to notice those things?
Once I would have thought that this disconnect came out of the time difference, but now I am suspicious. Because that first question feels very very relevant this year. As Trump began pivoting his campaign toward the general election, I noticed that Hillary Clinton was having to prove her womanhood, rather than being allowed to campaign on her policies. These were not direct attacks being made on her policies or abilities, but over time, the pattern was pretty clear. There were the memes that accused her of helping free a guilty child rapist. There were the memes that said she wasn’t qualified because Bill cheated on her. There were memes that tied Bill’s infidelity to her server.
https://pics.onsizzle.com/people-say-bill-clinton-cheated-on-hillary-like-hillary-is-5983921.png
Over the years, I have seen Hillary Clinton villified as sexless, unfeminine, castrating, lesbian… She has been forced to bake cookies, lower her voice, raise her heels and smile sweetly. In the end, though no one could prove that her server had been hacked or any intelligence stolen, but it was enough that we couldn’t prove it was always secure. And by the end of October, we reached peak ridiculousness, with the “Spirit Cooking” hoax.
Last year, I compared Hillary Clinton to Princess Leia, in an effort to capture what I felt was a widespread antipathy toward women wielding power. The Leia I grew up with was spunky and fierce. And when they cast Carrie Fisher in The Force Awakens, not only did the studio write her as a matronly, wistful old flame for Harrison Ford, rather than recreating the firebrand who might believably have led a revolution for 15 years, but they also made her go to fat camp again. But she still didn’t lose enough for critics who shamed her online. Maybe if they’d given her something to do besides acting sad and lonely?
That’s not all… when I made comments comparing her to Leia on social media, some people were disgusted, claiming I was “ruining Leia.” I can’t imagine a more ironic comment: do you think the average person on Tatooine saw Leia as a hero? Think it was easy to figure out who was on your side in the Empire? Maybe Darth Vader just saunters on the Galactic News Network and talks about how careless she was with classified files?
My thesis now is that our culture has spent nearly a century creating media that subtly turns us against female leadership. We have been indoctrinated to prefer male leaders who are born gifted. I can think of very few movies that center around female heroism and leadership. If I also want her to look like a believably competent leader, i.e., an older woman, the number is even lower. The youthful female warriors we now see in our media are still little more than placeholders for very old symbolic characters.
That is why I find it so curious that the false Maria is referred to as a witch. In contrast to the original Maria, she is sexy and passionate. She dances and strokes her body and tears at her clothes when she talks. Maria didn’t need any magical powers to turn the crowd’s rage into something destructive. And that’s the key: Maria and the freedom the workers dream of are something of a McGuffin. Metropolis never really spells out what any of the machines do, or how Joh Fredersen makes his money. They exist only because they are necessary for saying something about “the common man”, being trapped and ground down by elitist forces.
What Metropolis is saying is very simple: you got screwed. Powerful interests beyond your understanding have kept you down. But don’t worry, help is coming. We will take care of everything.
At its heart, what Metropolis is selling is not empowerment, but authoritarianism.
Before this election, I had thought that the United States was relatively safe from a similar movement. But as I watched the alt-right seethe and coalesce around the presidency, I grew fascinated by their use of media and symbolism. And crucially, about the way that their philosophy seemed in every way to be a perversion of modern enlightenment values. When the people creating pro-Trump memes talked about Hillary Clinton, they invoked so much misogyny, but extremely antiquated misogyny. The stories linking her to hurting children and magic spells are positively medieval.
Unfortunately, that is what makes them so effective as propaganda. And if Metropolis were made today, I know who would be who.
The easiest person to cast is Joh Fredersen.
Trump’s campaign, for all the drama and bigotry that grabbed headlines, centered on one simple selling point: Trump was a successful business man who would represent a break from the “political elites” he ran against.
It is tempting to make Rotwang into Bernie Sanders, but that would imply that Sanders had some kind of stake in destroying America. Instead, he’s also Trump.
Because that was the other part of Trump’s campaign: his ability to portray himself as a successful businessman, while also belittling and attacking the system itself. He acted like someone who had nothing to gain, but at the same time, as someone who had nothing to lose. Metropolis as it is, is very nearly a hopeful tale about life under a Trumplike industrialist, if only he had human children. Instead, he has Ivanka. And Ivanka’s function in Trump’s world is to assuage the fears of American voters by marketing optimism.
Melania, we are told, will be staying in New York with Barron. Ivanka will have an office in the wing previously used by the First Lady. Or will she?
And make no mistake, Ivanka is a princess. I don’t mean to imply anything about her ideas, or what her life must be like as Trump’s daughter. I have no idea what her genuine beliefs are, I only know how she has been marketed.
For Ivanka, what is true is that she is a young professional woman with a husband (Jared Kushner), two kids, and a big, busy, glamorous life. One of the reasons she decided to launch a brand in her own image is that The Apprentice made her famous: a 20-something real estate diva. As she herself points out, “Young professionals don’t usually have pop-culture relevance.” She started getting piles of fan mail from girls who wanted to grow up to be just like her.
- Vogue Magazine
The life she embodies is not something you can achieve, but it is sold that way. That is why we need to watch her carefully. Today, Ivanka and Jared Kushner announced that they will be divesting themselves of their business interests which may conflict with the positions they are due to take on in Washington. Vanity Fair implies this will make Donald Trump look bad if he hangs on to his.
Don’t hold your breath. You know who really loved Metropolis? Joseph Goebbels.
Update… January 9:
“The same day it was revealed that her husband would be a senior advisor to Donald Trump, a senior transition official announced that Ivanka Trump would not be taking a position at the White House.”
January 12:
“The transition team said recently that Ivanka Trump would not immediately be joining the White House.”
March 20:
“Ivanka Trump, who moved to Washington saying she would play no formal role in her father’s administration, is now officially setting up shop in the White House.
The powerful first daughter has secured her own office on the West Wing’s second floor — a space next to senior adviser Dina Powell, who was recently promoted to a position on the National Security Council. She is also in the process of obtaining a security clearance and is set to receive government-issued communications devices this week.”
