A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action Please

            After watching the film Metropolis, I feel absolutely blessed to be able to live in a world where movies have spoken words. When I “watch” movies, I really don’t even have to be watching to know what is going on. I can infer by the tones of the characters’ voices and the background noises what is going on in the film and what it is trying to convey. Therefore, films are convenient for today’s generations because there is no need to actually watch the film in order to understand what is going on…this is the joy of the “talkies”. In silent films, however, lazy viewers are not so lucky. There are no voices, tones, or expressions, just background music that often does match the feel of the scene. In such cases, viewers are not only forced to watch the movie in its entirety (no multitasking allowed), but also must put in the extra effort to identify the moods and tones of the characters and plot without knowing what they are saying to one another, but rather by observing their body language within each scene.

Although far from an incentive to view the film, it is interesting to note how the characters gesture and overreact in order to convey their emotions. Again, not being able to speak may have been a detriment to both the audience and the character. Take Freder for example. In the scene where he had to show that he was disgusted and horrified by the death of the workers in the machine room, his facial expressions are overtly forced and teetering on obnoxious. He juts his body from side to side and then writhers in pain. Granted, as ridiculous as he looks, it is necessary that he convey his actions in this way. If he were to act this scene as a more common actor would, there wouldn’t be as much expression in his performance. There would most likely be a lot of screaming or yelling, but probably a minimized amount of syncopated body movements, as was seen by Freder in Metropolis.

Another interesting use of body language, although slightly unbelievable, was that of the workers in the factory. No matter what they were doing, the workers were always moving rhythmically throughout their scenes. When they entered the underground city to go to work, they walk in sequence with one another, same foot moving forward, same distance travelled, same hunched body shape. Again, this is how the viewer knows that they dread their jobs and are much like minions, slaves to the man. Another reference to the workers and their movements is seen through their work on the machines (what I termed earlier as unbelievable knowing that machines probably don’t work like that). A poetic piece, I think it is used to show the workers synchronized in a dance of sorts, going through the motions of their work. It is an eye-catching scene undoubtedly, making a slave-like comparison, but again you are forced to watch the body language of the film rather than just hear it. Not necessarily a bad thing, but ultimately, these observations led me to believe that I really REALLY like my movies to have conversation.