Metropolis Revisited: Dialectic of Enlightenment, Modernity and Architectural Modernizm

Year 2013, Issue: 10, 59 - 70, 01.07.2013

Berrin Akgün Yüksekli

Abstract

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer asserted that the project of enlightenment which itself is already totalitarian aimed to overthrow the myths from the human mind and to install human beings as masters reverted to mythology at the end, in their master work ‘Dialectic of Enlightment: Philosophical Fragments’ (1947). As artistic products of Enlightment Project, cinema and architecture of early twentieth century affirmed Adorno and Horkheimer’s thesis. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927)’s multi-layered messages enables us to comprehend the relationships between Enlightment as a paratigmatic change, Modernity as a historical period, Architectural Modernism as an artistic style which is a product of this paradigm and this historical period. In this film, dialectics of Enlightment/mitology and Architectural Modernism/historical content entwined. In reality, the tension between utopian futuristic architecture based on machine aesthetics of Metropolis and its distopian techno-totaliterian social order reflected the tension between utopian characteristic of Modern Avant-garde in architecture who rejects to use historical styles and historical content as mitology

Keywords

Metropolis, Fritz Lang, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Futurism, Architectural Modernism, Utopia, Distopia

Metropolis Filmi: Aydınlanmanın Diyalektiği, Modernite, Mit ve Modern Mimari

Abstract

Theodor Adorno ve Max Horkheimer, ‘Aydınlanma’nın Diyalektiği: Felsefi Fragmanlar’ (1947) adlı yapıtlarında, Aydınlanma projesinin yapısı gereği totaliter olduğunu ve mitolojiyi insan düşüncesinden kovmuş olmasına rağmen kendisinin mite gerilediğini öne sürmektedirler. Aydınlanma paradigmasının ürünü olan birer sanat dalı olarak erken 20. yüzyıl sineması ve mimarlık, Adorno ve Horkheimer’in bu savlarını doğrulamaktadırlar. Fritz Lang’in Metropolis (1927) adlı filmi; bir paradigma değişimi olarak Aydınlanma’nın, tarihsel bir dönem olarak Modernite’nin ve bu tarihsel döneme özgü bir üslup olarak Modern Mimari hareketin birbirleri ile ilişkilerinin çözümlenebilmesine olanak sağlayan çok katmanlı bir anlamsal yapıya
sahiptir. Filmde Aydınlanma-mitoloji ile Modern Mimari-tarihsel içerik diyalektikleri paralel olarak işlenmiştir. Filmdeki, Metropolis’in makine estetiğine dayalı fütüristik ütopik mimarisi ile distopik tekno-totaliter toplumsal düzen arasındaki gerilim, gerçekte tarihsel üsluplardan yararlanmayı reddeden Modern Mimari hareketin ütopik karakteri ile mitoloji olarak tarihsel birikim arasındaki gerilimi yansıtmaktadır.

Keywords

Metropolis, Fritz Lang, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Fütürizm, Modern Mimari, Ütopya, Distopya

References

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• Fotoğraf 1. Walter Gropius, Monument to the March Dead, 1921. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monument_to_the_March_ dead.jpg.
• Fotoğraf 2. Metropolis filminde kalbi simgeleyen dev gong (Filmden kesit).
• Fotoğraf 3. Sol: New York Kentinden görüntü http://newyorkresidence.co.uk/default_uk.aspx Sağ: Metropolis filminde kent (Filmden kesit).
• Fotoğraf 4. Sol: Metropolis filmi afişinde kent, Orta: Giacomo Balla, Speeding-Automobile, 1913. h t t p : / /w w w. s a s . u p e n n . e d u / ~ j e n g l i s h /C o u r s e s / Spring02/104/Balla_SpeedingCar1.jpg Sağ: New York University Faculty Class Web Sites, Futurism sayfası http://www.nyu.edu/classes/reichert/sem/city/futurism. html
• Fotoğraf 5. Metropolis filminde kent (Filmden kesit).
• Fotoğraf 6. Antonio Sant’Elia, Citta Nuova, 1912-1914. http://www.nyu.edu/classes/reichert/sem/city/futurism. html
• Fotoğraf 7. Metropolis filminde M-Makine ve işçiler (Filmden kesit).
• Fotoğraf 8. Rotwang, laboratuarı ve robot Maria (Filmden kesit).
• Fotoğraf 9. Sol ve Orta: Robot Maria, Yushiwara gece klübü, erkeklerin Maria’nın dansına tepkileri (Filmden kesit). Sağ: Giacomo Balla, Velocita D’Automobile + Luci, http://www.thecityreview.com/s07simp1.html