KID M : Metropolis + Kid A
This post will describe the synchronicity that is witnessed when playing Radiohead's
KID A CD alongside the 1927 film Metropolis, directed by Fritz
Lang, based on the novel of the same name by Thea Von Harbou.
When viewing these two alongside one another I recommend the original Kid A
CD (not a burn or rip) and the below mentioned 115 minute Excelsior VHS edition
of the film Metropolis:
Hollywood Gold-Excelsior Collector's Edition Manufactured and Distributed by Madacy Entertainment
Group, Inc. 1996 Made in the USA. ISBN 056775373732. EXC-3-3707. 115 minutes.
The front and back of the VHS box are pictured.
A short History on the film:
Metropolis has had many versions since it was first conceived. The original
German release (1927) was 3 hours long. 1927 UK release 128 minutes. 1927 US
Paramount release was 75 minutes long. Munich Film Museum reconstruction was
2 and one half hours long (year?). 1984 US reconstruction and adaptation by
Girgio Moroder was 83 minutes long.) And the Paramount Pictures 2002/2003 Restored
Authorized Edition, Metropolis, 117 minutes. A more extensive list of released
video editions can be viewed here. Rumors here and on Wikipedia state
there will soon be a remake.
The 2002/2003 restored version has had some critics (see
Geno Michaelangeli from Amsterdam Netherlands' review on Amazon.com) notably
upset over how the digital transfer of this version made it possible to digitally
edit the German words within the film into English. (Makes me wonder if anything
else was "digitally" removed.) A respectable German version of this
movie is still unavailable to the world. Missing from the film is the scene
where worker 11811 visits the Yoshiwara drug house where his mind is accessed
by the ruling class via the drug Maohee, causing fellow patrons to experience
much horror when they view the pain, hate, and sorrow that is harbored in the
mind of worker 11811. (For those interested in the plight of worker 11811, I
recommend they read the book.) This footage was quite LITERALLY missing and
seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth until it was reported in July
of 2008 that the complete film had been recovered from a source in Argentina. More info here.
It is rumored to be released in 2009. On a related note, Radiohead also made a front page headline
on a fictional online newspaper for the American Smallville--based on
the young life of Superman (Clark Kent) who as an adult lives in a city called
Metropolis. (DC comics has even produced a comic book where Superman--in his
red and blue tights--has an adventure "patterned" by Fritz Lang's Metropolis.) television
program which read 'RADIOHEAD'S METROPOLIS CONCERT QUICKLY SELLS'. Though the
page has been removed from the Smallville website, an article reporting
its appearance can still be found here.
| I will reference Thea Von Harbou's Metropolis--the book which the movie is based--to clarify certain events in the film at times, but the book is not necessary to witness the Radiohead/Metropolis connection. I have provided a link at the bottom of this post where you can find a PDF of the novel. The book pictured here is the one referenced in this article. |  |
was Radiohead's intent, but quite honestly, I DO NOT KNOW THAT TO BE TRUE. So,
while my writing assumes that they did so with intent, it is only a freedom
of my imagination in which I do so. I also use the license of my imagination
to BEND the lyrics here and there--but rarely--to more accurately meet the spirit
of the film's story. (But mostly because I do not own the edition of KID
A which comes with the accompanying lyrics. Is there one?) The very fact
that Radiohead did not include the lyrics in this release forces me to believe
that it was their purpose to provide a creative license for the listener to
create their own.
BEGIN:
| As I stated above, these findings are based upon the 115 minute Excelsior VHS edition of the film. Make sure the VHS tape of the film is rewound and hit PLAY. Hit "PLAY" on the KID A CD as soon as the word "PRESENTS" stops somersaulting and positions itself into its "right" place beneath the Madacy logo. Shown here |  |
If this is done correctly, the songs on "KID A" will fall into synch
very nicely--as I will show--with songs ending and beginning according to scene
and setting changes.
As the logo fades out, "Everything in its Right Place" begins.
Best played and listened to in a VERY dark room.
1 Everything In Its Right Place
Kid M begins…
This film is not of today or of the future.
It tells of no place.
It serves no cause, party or class.
It has a moral which grows on the pillar of understanding:
"The mediator between brain and muscle must be the Heart."
-Thea Von Harbou
Then we see the stills that form:
The sun. Life....
High in the Heavens
Far away from them
The credits come and go. Lines and square images morph in and out. A crowded city-structure
forms. This is The New Tower of Babel. It is where The Master of Metropolis
rules over his aristocratic realm. The dizzying effect of vocal and instrumental
sound which mark the beginning of "Everything In Its Right Place"
overlays the indistinguishable images which only appear chaotic at the outset.
I will note that this structure resembles the Donwood/Tchock
"Prime Residential" piece found on the cover of the Radiohead
single, "Jigsaw Falling Into Place."
Similar to "Prime Residential" is the British Paperback Edition (1976) of
Robert Silverberg's classic SF novel, Tower of Glass. The story of the
Tower of Glass is similar to the film Metropolis and the story of the
Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9) which Metropolis is based on. Silverberg's
novel is set in a futuristic society where androids have created a Babel-like
tower for humankind and when their masters refuse to recognize the androids
as equals…well, its rebellion time. Karel Kapek's famous play R.U.R.
is also a derivative to this theme and could have been a direct influence on
Harbou and Lang. H. G. Wells believed Metropolis was a
forgery of his own When The Sleeper Wakes and apparently he
was no fan of the film. I also am reminded of the song "Babylon" by
the German aggro-tech band Funker Vogt which describes a "new" Babylon,
and whose song "Father" could also pull parallels between itself and
the relationship between Freder and John. The image to the far right in the
lower group of pics is a digital image of Project Triangle, a proposed Babel-like
tower planned to be built in Paris, France by 2014. Another similar structure has been
proposedfor New York. It would seem there are great plans for Babel-like projections
arriving.
Next we see cogs and wheels: Machinery. The chaotic order in which the music of "Everything
in its Right Place" is battling against this. It is the spirit versus the machine. A montage of lines, cogs, and gears begin shifting in and out of perspective on film.
As EIIRP ends, the workers (who have just finished the Night Shift) begin their
walk into the elevators that will take them down to their homes, while the Day
Shift exits another elevator, on their way to serve the machines. You will notice
that they walk in time with the music.
In this pic you will notice that there is a cross hanging upon the post dividing
the elevators. This seems to be a sort of "defiled" Christian cross,
for we will see the cross the Christians bear in the hidden caverns below is
different than this one…but that is later.
The Lyrics: "There are two colors in my head" can correspond to Black
and White, the medium in which Metropolis was filmed, but also the Day Shift
and Night Shift that enslaves the workers, plus numerous other comparisons can
be made: the left hemisphere of the brain vs. the right, ego and id, freedom
vs. slavery, etc. And, of course, right and wrong, for we will see, the characters
of Metropolis, throughout the film, have choices to make. Choices that will
decide the fate of the city.
"What was that you tried to say," is a question Yorke is directing at Thea Von
Harbou and Fritz Lang, pertaining to the message of Metropolis' story.
"Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon" is an anthem for the workers. If you have never
worked a 40+ hour a week blue collar job, well, I just can't put it into words
better than "sucking on a lemon." One's mood becomes bitter. Sometimes
I can almost hear Yorke singing, "SUCKLING A LEMON." Suckling a defective
thing. In this perspective, the defective thing is the injured system that is
doled out by those who live above (in the ritzy skyscrapers) to those who live
below--unseen by those above--so far below in fact, they are housed even below
the machines which they serve.
For technology to work, everything must quite literally "be in its right place,"
and so must the hands which direct it. That is, if technology is to function
smoothly. But man is not a machine, and that is the problem.
Here I bring to your attention an eerie section from the novel that seems to describe
the artwork inside the KID A CD-booklet:
"When the sun sank at the back of Metropolis, the houses turning to mountains and
the streets to valleys; when the stream of light, which seemed to crackle with
coldness, broke forth from all windows, from the walls of the houses, from the
rooves and from the heart of the town; when the silent quiver of electric advertisements
began; when the searchlights, in all colours of the rainbow, began to play around
the New Tower of Babel; when the omnibuses turned to chains of light-spitting
monsters, the little motor cars to scurrying, luminous fishes in a waterless
deep sea, while from the invisible harbour of the underground railway, an ever
equal, magical shimmer pressed on to be swallowed by the hurrying shadows...But
the virgin on the top of the tower seemed to have her own gentle starlight,
and hovered, set free from the blackness of the stone, on the sickle of the
silver moon, above the cathedral." (p 20-21)
2 KID A
| If you have started the CD at the correct point, the song "Kid A" should be at about :22 when the following frame comes into view > |  |
Here in the film the descending melody opening "Kid A" accompanies the
workers as they descend to their homes via an open-elevator. The speed at which
they descend is right on time with the music.
Enter the son of The Master of Metropolis, Freder, whom the title of this song pertains
to: Kid A. Or, Kid Alpha, the Savior of Metropolis. (See The Revelation of St.
John The Divine 1:8.) When we first see Freder he is frolicking with a "playmate"
in the Eternal Gardens, a room within "The Club of Sons," a private
club for the sons of Metropolis' most elite masters, where their desires are
satisfied. The "little white lie" is the world Freder has been brought
up on, believing that all the peoples of Metropolis are equal, and it is this
same lie which the workers have "slipped on" permitting their confidence
and will to sink downward. (People with low self-esteem and stricken confidence
should not work machinery.) Very soon, and for the first time, Freder will feel
discomfort, for up to this moment he has had everything he ever wished, never
being told "no" and has never desired anything outside his own clique.
| "We've got heads on sticks" describes the mixed pagan belief system which Freder has been brought up on and/or the conquering spirit the upper classes have come to possess. Note the pagan symbolism in the swans, peacocks that decorate the first scene Freder is shown in; and the cherub (or seraphim--in the left corner of the pic) who peeks out from the edge of the screen when Maria arrives with the children. |  |
Side Note: In the novel, the "Gothic Cathedral" of Metropolis has become
an eyesore to Freder's father and he wishes nothing more than to tear it down
for it is "pointless and an obstruction" (p20). This cathedral represents
all gods, representing an "All Gods Are One" religion. In the novel,
as we will see later in the movie, the Christian faith which Maria preaches
has been forced far underground, taught in secret, even below the abodes of
the workers. Those who live in the towers have no need of the messiah Maria
and her people worship, for perhaps, what need does a people have for a messiah
in a world where all appetites of the mind and body are satisfied? This may
be why some powerful men (and from time to time even powerful women) cannot
tolerate the idea of its populace embracing a Messiah. A Messiah reminds people
that they live in an imperfect world, and aids them in remembering--much to
the behest of those in power--that the awful world that causes them such strife
has the potential to be changed by one person (or one idea). Now, it is not
that a Messiah is unnecessary when living in euphoric conditions, but when one
is not living under such conditions, you're damned right a Messiah is necessary.
If not only for the hope of one.
| "And you've got ventriloquists" describes the lack of voice which the workers possess. They are spoken for by the masters of Metropolis. Or: "we"--those above in the towers--have conquered and you have no voice, because "you"--the workers--are the conquered. |  |
"Standing in the shadows at the end of my bed" refers to the garden-bed Freder is
located in when Maria arrives. Not until he sees the Light of Maria, combined
with the despair of his "brothers" from the lower levels of the city--with
their "grey and ancient" faces, and their "colourless eyes"
(p13)--is he enlightened with compassion.
In synch with music and film, when we hear "Rats and Children follow me out
of town/Rats and children follow me out of their homes" Maria collects
the children as the servants of the "Club of Sons" impel them to leave.
But before she leaves she is revealed as a guide to those below, showing her
followers the world as it could be to them, like Christ revealed to the Disciples.
And though Maria is a Christian, she does not attempt to use the strange pagan
culture within the Eternal Garden to frighten the children. The calm tone she
possesses as she points about the room are the actions of a teacher giving respect
for different beliefs and cultures.
If your CD is still in synch, you should hear "COME ON KIDS" the moment
Maria turns her back to leave with the children.
The picture below (displaying some lyrics from the song "Kid A") is taken
from the Kid A hidden booklet.
| As Freder runs out of the Eternal Garden in search of Maria (and ultimately, Truth), the driving bass-line of "The National Anthem" begins,thrusting Freder on his way, out through the doors of the Club of Sons. |  |
It is at this point I wish to introduce the importance in storytelling concerning
the theme of PASSING THROUGH DOORS. This is a theme that one may not consciously
grasp, but surely does so sub-consciously. During "Kid A," Maria walks
into the Eternal Garden and is ushered into a reality far different from her
and the children's own, and as she walks into a new reality, she also introduces
Freder to a world far different from his own which he sees reflected in Maria's
beauty and virtue, ultimately calling him on his quest. Freder, through the
door of the garden, descends into the Machine World after his destiny. Passing
through doors and moving downwards in storytelling is a method authors use to
introduce characters to new knowledge, most often the knowledge which gets them
in trouble and/or impassions their journey. A few examples of this are Alice
in Wonderland, Pan's Labyrinth, Don Quixote, and Eyes Wide Shut. In other words,
passing through doors, falling down holes, etc., in literature usually mark
a change in a story or character. And much of true life often mirrors this.
As his search for Maria begins, Freder is introduced to the Machine realm, his
first step "down the up ladder" so to speak. The machine engines are
quite strange to him, considering he has spent his entire life above in the
lap of luxury, splurging on hedonism.
"Everyone is so near/So alone" are the workers of the machines, so close in their
compartments, yet so busy at their work. "Everyone has got the fear"
refers to a number of things: fear of doing a bad job; fear of losing their
job; fear of being replaced; fear of becoming too old in order to do a good
job, fear of getting hurt on the job, etc
"It's on and on:" the work never stops. This also at times sounds like "It's
holding on/It's holding on," which unbelievingly, the machine is, despite
the oppresed who work them.
The music gets spookier as the "manometer scale" (p 29-see below, left)
increases in temperature. (Note the letter "A" in the photo to the
right.)
 |  |
Right at the moment when the free-jazz horns begin to bleat, the factory is strewn
into a phase of disorder, caused by a worker who could not keep up with his
task, or, a malfunction of the engine itself. Which it is is never made clear.
Freder, never seeing such horror before, has an hallucination of the machine
engine morphing into the war god, Moloch, who the workers appear to be sacrificing
themselves to.
 |  |
"You shall not give any of your children to devote them by fire to Moloch, and
so profane the name of your God" (Lev. 18:21).
| When the hallucination fades out Freder sees the reality in the death and injury which the mishap has caused. The wounded and dead are carried off before his eyes. |  |
The horns of "The National Anthem" settle as the song ends and so does
the chaos in the factory as everyone returns back to work like nothing has happened,
for in the factory, regardless of mishap, the product must be churned out. The
job must get done.
As we hear the last 10-20 seconds of The National Anthem play out we see it coincides
with a scene just as long: Freder running to the car and telling the chauffer,
"To my father." We also hear a mumble in the recording here and it
should be in strict synch with the film where we see Freder speak right as he
opens the car door, or as the "To my father" film still appears.
4 How to Disappear Completely
In the film we see shots of the city, Metropolis, while acoustic guitars and diving
violins embellish.
 |  |
| Enter Freder's father, the man who Freder is not. When Yorke sings, "That there, that's not me," this is Freder singing to his father, for Freder's father is all business, and Freder is all play. They are two different men, and though they inhabit the same world, and some of the same the same DNA, neither one can understand the reasoning of the other. |  |
Just as this is sung, Freder enters his father's office. Freder is eager to talk,
but John stifles his son with an uplifted hand for he is busy. Freder is invisible
to the Master of Metropolis. It appears John's business interactions are what
is most important. Note that there seems to be a sort of stock market ticker
tape machine John's assistants are reading the tape of, giving evidence that
this world is one of capitalism.
| Freder reveals to Joseph, John's assistant, what he has seen in "the depths" of the machine factory. |  |
"Strobelights/and blown speakers/fireworks/and hurricanes"
These are Freder's colliding view of his past and present perception of his father,
for John displays no compassion or care for what Freder has revealed. In the
novel, Freder compares the crashing of waves and storms as the sounds of Metropolis
which have gone unnoticed his entire life until Maria and the children visit
the Eternal Gardens. The mention of "blown speakers" could also pertain
to the loud-speaker that is in John Frederson's office, not seen in the film,
but described in the book (p 22). This clash of sound noted in the lyrics pertains
to Freder's world-view. Hemispheres are colliding.
John is not the man whom Freder believed he was. Freder throws his arms around his
father, though his father shows no emotion. Without mediation, John has grown
cold. "I'm not here/ this isn't happening" Something bad and unbelievable
has happened. Freder is discovering that he and his father are two entirely
different people.
Freder, collapsing in his chair with the sign of Saint Andrew across his chest cannot
believe the lack of compassion his father has for the dead workers. Freder's
sorrow soon turns to fear, and the mood can be felt in the film along with the
upcoming track, the eerie, "Treefingers."
"Treefingers" begins and coincides with snapshots Lang gives us of the city of Metropolis.
Progress.
 |  |
| "IN THEIR PROPER PLACE -- THE DEPTHS," answers his father, John. |  |
Note that this is very close to the lyric "everything in its right place."
"WHAT WILL YOU DO IF THEY TURN AGAINST YOU?" is Freder's next question. Again
we see the city and we realize there is much to be lost if there is an uprising.
But Freder's father answers with only a smirk, which can only be translated
as "impossible." The ominous music of "Treefingers" overlays
Freder's realisation: That a revolution is not only more than likey, but inevitable
unless a change is made, and quickly. For surely, if Freder can decipher the
Master's uncaring intentions, so surely must those below. Although John rules
Metropolis, Freder realizes that it is the hands of the workers who ultimately
control the city's fate. Should they realize their foothold, easily could they
destroy the city should they be compelled to do so.
And what comes next appears to be proof of Freder's assumption.
John Freder closes the shades of his office and it is eerily reminiscent of the scene
from Blade Runner--the sci-fi film based on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep--where Dr. Tyrell shades his office window (right
pic).
 |  |
Joseph announces that the machine foreman has arrived with some important news. John
is seen motioning for Joseph to allow in the foreman. When he enters, John gestures
the foreman over to his desk and the foreman obliges. It next appears as if
John Frederson belongs to a Secret Society. He sits with his hand slid under
the lapel of his jacket, awaiting the foreman to return a corresponding sign
which will inform John that they both belong to the same brotherhood,
 |  |
but the foreman does not, and John, so upset by this, will soon fire his assistant,
Joseph, for this insult. Or, John is simply upset due to the threatening piece
of information the foreman hands him. This seems very bizarre, mostly because
when the foreman hands the plans to John, he tells him, "More of those
plans, sir." This assumes that the foreman has seen these before, but had
the foreman shown these to John previously, why should John fire Joseph (which
he will soon do) for allowing the foreman to provide him this information and
not have it directly handed to him by Joseph, as is the reason John uses to
fire Joseph. If the Secret Society idea is true, it would seem John is angered
that one of those "out of the know" have knowledge they should not
possess, but not only that, the foreman directly knows that John is aware of
this information. The foreman cannot be trusted with this information because
he does not belong to John's "little group." It could just be that
the scene where Joseph is fired is Lang's way of showing us what a dick John
Frederson is. (But there is still hope for him to change.) The hand in the coat
is odd, though. I won't delve too much into the Secret Society/Mason thing that
this may hint at. Outsiders, who try to understand the Freemasons, often end
up treading a road similar to the one Oedipa Maas takes in Thomas Pynchon's,
The Crying of Lot 49. But I will note that the upside-down pentagram, which
is a symbol used by the Masons, also appears in Rotwang's house during the song,
"In Limbo." And in the film, during "Optimistic," the bank of Metropolis
is referred to as the "G" bank, and the letter G holds very prominent
in Freemasonry. But David Icke can finish that.
| During John's annoyance, the foreman hands him "plans" he has taken off the bodies of two of the dead workers who were killed earlier that day (during "The National Anthem"). They are very cryptic in appearance: |  |
6 Optimistic
This song begins and Joseph is fired by Freder's father. Freder is equally crushed
by this action. His father fires Joseph and has no qualms about it. He merely
tells Joseph to go to the "G-bank" and receive his last paycheck.
Yorke's disparate "Oooooo" crooning overlays the crushing news.
"Flies are buzzing round my head
Vultures circling my bed
Picking up every last crumb
The big fish eat the little ones
Big fish eat the little ones
Not my problem, give me some"
In other words:
Joseph is as good as dead
there are others ("vultures") eager to take his place
the bigger fish (GREED) has taken him out and the
big fish don't care. What was the fuss about? Oh well. Let's get back to making
more money.
"The best you can is good enough"
Do the best you can to help. Be compassionate. Freder knows he must not only help
the workers below, but also must allow his compassion to be spread amongst those
of his own class. Freder is the Optimistic one.
Freder then prevents Joseph from committing suicide and his optimism spreads to Joseph.
Optimism is contagious.
When we hear the lyric "I'd really like to help you man" in synch is:
 |  |
This one's optimistic
This one runs the market
this one just came out of the swamp
Translation:
Freder is optimistic.
His father is of the capitalist aristocracy (the market),
and Joseph has discovered that hope lies in mankind and not materialism, thus
he has come "out of the swamp.
Now some fans hear "Dinosaurs roaming the earth" as the final lyrics,
but I can sometimes hear "Dinosaurs RULING the earth," which makes
more sense, as it is the old ideas and the old men which oversee the aristocracy
of Metropolis and our own world. It also could be:
The Dinosaurs, Rome, and The Earth
The Dinosaurs Roman Earth
Joseph helps Freder find his way back to the the machines and the workers. Here, Freder
trades places with Worker #11811. Once dressed in the garb of the workers, Freder
never casts it away and is seen throughout the film (and novel) wearing them.
This is very intriguing. The man who was free finds salvation in the garb of
the oppressed.
7 In Limbo
Here we are introduced to Rotwang, "The inventor." What the film neglects
to tell us is that Rotwang is a scientist who blends science and magic, a sort
of "mystical scientist."
(In the film you can see behind the female-looking android that there is an
upside-down pentagram on the wall, and that Rotwang's right hand has been replaced
by machine--as the film tells us later).
| In the occult, the "right hand" is denoted to describe good works while the "left hand" describes those who use magic for evil. Rotwang has no "human" right hand, thus being of the left. |  |
"The waves of the sea became waves of fire." p. 9
"But high above the sea, which bellowed in the uproar of the waves, the
stars of heaven danced the solemn, mighty dance." p. 8
Through playing his organ, Freder has been "calling on God." p. 10.
In this section of the novel, while Freder plays, he envisions a "completely
ruined earth ." (p. 9) The excitement in which Freder has brought himself
to through his playing has stirred in him a vision. He soon sees a bird with
jeweled wings whose light is "gentler than moonlight and more imperious
than the light of the sun...it was the most heavenly note." (p. 10) The
vision ends with Freder in agony, for the last thing he sees is the "austere
countenance of the virgin," (p. 9) who quickly vanishes as his song ends.
In "Idioteque," here is the magic of the sea resurrecting in Rotwang,
and though his vision of this female may contain the same beauty, it is only
skin deep. Rotwang's intentions are Freder's opposite. Rotwang, through the
grief of losing the love of his life, has "lost his way," thus "lost
at sea." His loss, leading him to insanity through his brilliance, has
him "living in a fantasy." If Freder symbolizes a Christ-figure, Rotwang
is the story's Anti.
Hidden from the film, but revealed in the book, is the fact that Freder's long deceased
mother--before she married John Frederson--was Rotwang's lover. This loss has
severely damaged Rotwang's psyche, causing him to turn against humanity and
God, resulting in his insane passion to create mechanical creatures that can
replace man.
Should you watch the reamining scenes of the film after the CD ends you will see that
Rotwang is a type of Dr. Frankenstein as he will mold Maria into his imitation
of her.
The "trap doors" that "spiral down" we see are Rotwang's link
to the secret workings of the workers and literally his secret doors that intersect
the workers' caves. Through these devices, Rotwang is aware of the oncoming
situation, ready to take advantage of the moment when John asks him for his
help. (These are seen while "Idioteque" plays.)
In "I got a message I can't read" we can connect with John handing the
plans from the foreman to Rotwang. We also see Freder find these plans while
he is working the position he has taken from worker 11811 (although this does
not occur until the next track).
On the front door of Rotwang's house is "the seal of Solomon, the pentagram"(p47).
This can be seen later in the movie (a while after the cd has finished) when
Freder comes to Rotwang's house in search of Maria. Harbou states that every
door within this house retains this seal. In the novel, this house is identified
as the oldest standing structure in Metropolis. Many men have entered it and
have attempted to demolish it, but they all mysteriously die. Until one day,
Rotwang arrives, and the abode finds no qualms with his purchase of it. Harbou
also writes that the house "stood at an angle to the street," (p49)
as if even its very nature is incongruent to Metropolis' own reality. As for
the original owner, Rotwang confesses to John that he found his body in the
catacombs under the house and states, "he once lost his way" in "the
city of graves." (p59)
During this song, Rotwang reveals his plans to replace men with machines to John and
introduces him to the android, Parody.
At about 2:25 of "In Limbo" you can hear some sort of unintelligble lyric
which may or may not be backwards.
As the song ends in a spiral of chaotic melody, Parody ascends. Notice the pentagram
in this pic and the one below.
8 Idioteque
The "Ice age coming" is the cold heart of technology and artificial intelligence
housed in Rotwang's robot. This lyric can also be interpreted as "A sage
coming," which could pertain to Freder, as he will become the Mediator.
In the film, during "Idioteque," we are brought back and forth from John
and Rotwang in Rotwang's house and to Freder working the machine
Throughout the introduction of John Freder and Rotwang's machine, we see a bit of discontent
on the face of John Freder. He needs some convincing concerning Rotwang's plan,
and by Track 10 of Kid A he will have it.
"Let me hear both sides" is John confiding in Rotwang:
While Freder is below, his father shows Rotwang the plans his foreman has found on
the dead workers. Rotwang reveals that the plans are not plans, but a map. And
Rotwang will show John Frederson where it leads to. Those who implement codes
often do so because they have knowledge of a dangerous nature.
Freder finds the same note of paper, and is told of a "meeting" which will
be held after his shift is over.
 |  |
Harbou,in the novel, describes the maps as "bearing neither print nor script,
being covered over and over with the tracing of a strange symbol and an apparently
half destroyed plan...Ways seemed to be indicated, seeming to be false ways,
but they all led to one destination; to a place which was filled with crosses.
A symbol of life? Sense in Nonsense? (p39)" Sort of like in Philip K. Dick's
novel, Valis, how Dick describes messages from a sentient satellite living
in the "garbage" of the physical world.
It is during this song, where we see in the movie that the time which those above
is different from those below. John Frederson's watch reveals that there are
12 hours while the workers are held to a ten-hour clock. (The pic on the right
is from a shot you can see during the song "Kid A." right before the
DAY SHIFT film still.)
 |  |
But Rotwang is the real tyrant of Metropolis, for it is his brain which John Freder
cannot live without. Rotwang is the designer of which keeps the Master of Metropolis
producing. He is John's man behind the curtain. His Oz, so to speak, but not
so nice.
"The first of the children" sung at the end of the song could either pertain
to Freder, as he is the first of the "enlightened," or to the robot,
who is the first of a kind of "cloned" human, with more to come to
replace the rest of us. On the Wikipedia page of the Kid A album Thom
Yorke is quoted to have come up with the title Kid A as representing the first
clone.
But the most sensical explaination for "The first of the children" is
Freder. For a child is of flesh and not metal. He is the Kid A. Kid Alpha. The
New/Next Beginning.
9 Morning Bell
Freder's shift is over. "Morning Bell" begins, while in the film, like clockwork,
the shift whistle-ending the Night Shift-blows.
It is also of note that "Morning Bell" is a painting by Winslow Homer.
The YaleUniversity website states the painting describes how "The social role
of women was profoundly changed by the Civil War, and economic necessity forced
many to leave their homes to work in factories...Situated at the crossroads
in the painting, she may be seen as symbolically poised between the rural values
of the past and the increasingly isolated and depersonalized culture of American
life after the Civil War."
The lyrics of this song seem the most incongruent with Metropolis, with lyrics like
"furniture" and "bump on the head," but I will try to make sense of it.
"Cut the kids in half" could describe the plan Rotwang has for turning the workers
against Metropolis, thus levelling all of John Frederson's accomplishments.
"Light another candle" refers to the candles standing at the altar in the scene
during "Motion Picture Soundtrack." When the workers finish their
shift, they enter the underground church to be "released" from the
agonies of the physical world through Maria's gospel and hope of "peaceful
rebellion (Magill reference)."
"You can keep the furniture" and "the clothes are on the lawn with the furniture" could refer to some one who has left his old life behind, like Freder has done.
A "Bump on the head" can refer to amnesia. John Frederson has forgotten
the power of love, and this must be resurrecterd in order for all the people
of Metropolis to live in peace.
The lyric "Release me" is attached to "Sleepy jack the fire drill."
This is an awesome phrase. Now if one were to JACK a fire drill--in other words,
make it inoperable--when one pulled the lever, well, nothing would happen, and
pure panic would follow. Or, it could mean, by JACK, to cause a false alarm,
or a distraction, which is what the robot does later in the film, enabling the
workers to bring down the Central Power House of Metropolis.
As the music at the end of "Morning Bell" twists about we see Rotwang
leading John Frederson to a secret passage while the workers, too, finished
with the day shift, head down a dark cavernous tunnel of their own.
At the end of the song we can hear Yorke singing:
"Working working walking working working walking"
10 Motion Picture Soundtrack
How ironic a song title.
In the novel, when Freder finds this place, "The walls shook under the surf
of an invisible organ" (p 64). It is only right that "Motion Picture
Soundtrack" too should be played by a pipe organ. It is also important
to note that at the beginning of the novel, Freder is playing the same type
of organ.
The last track on KID A begins as Freder discovers he has found Maria.
 |  |
Freder, seeing he is in a holy place, removes his hat while the first lyrics of the
song describe Freder confessing his sins:
"Red wine and sleeping pills" = the use of intoxicants to replace True ecstasy
"Cheap sex" = immoral acts
"and seraphims" = the worship of false idols
"I think your crazy" is Freder, who is completely bewildered by this child
of Light, Maria. For Freder knows, like Una in the fable, "Una
and the Lion," taken from one of the world's most just rulers--the
First Queen Elizabeth's--favorite fables, the epic poem by Edmund Spenser, The
Faerie Queene, that "True love never looks back, but always forward." And it is forward--the future--which
Freder will influence.
|  |
Maria describes a great vision of a past civilization that wished to create a monumental
tower dedicated to the greatness of humanity and its Creator.
In the novel, Harbou reveals that the architects and the workers begin to see the
construction of the tower differently:
"'Babel," |
At 3:16 the music will completely fade out on "Motion
Picture Soundtrack" and will not return until 4:18.
As the music returns, the Babel workers in Maria's story ascend the stairs leading
to the Tower of Babel and smash the tower to bits. This music fades completely
out at 5:09, but if you look at the time on your CD you will see that it still
plays for an additional minute and fifty-two seconds, for the track of
"Motion Picture Soundtrack" is 7:01 minutes long.
During this "empty" time it is then revealed that Maria has her own vision.
One of the future. A prophecy. Soon, a savior will come who will mediate the
mind and the heart--the intellect with compassion. The creation of Reason. Freder,
hearing the words of Maria, knows the mediator is near. As he clutches the cap
of worker 11811 to his heart, it is as if he is telling himself, "I am
imminent. And I am now." Maria assures her people that their mediater will
"surely come."
Yet some in her flock are beginning to grow impatient:
"We will wait, but not for long."
"It's not like the movies/They fed us on little white lies" refers to the realization
of beauty in Maria's message and the enlightenment it has delivered.
Although, if you listen closely, "They fed us on little white lies" can also
be interpreted as:
"Then Freder saw a living/loving white light"
As the track ends (at 7:01), we see John Frederson dropping back from the hole
in the cave shaped "like a pointed devil's-ear" (p70)where he has
been spying on the workers.
Fearing a revolt, John instructs Rotwang to begin building his machine-men.
And there ends KID A and METROPOLIS, or Mid M.
But all need not fear, for when Freder ascends from the caves he does so as The
Christ-Bearing Lion from Below. He will herd the Oxen through the Frost. Freder
is the KID A. A new beginning.
I do recommend you watch the rest of the film, with or without the Kid A disc.
THE MORAL:
The heart, people. THE HEART. Whatever your religion. Whatever your beliefs.
Prayer and the end of selfishness.
Pray that we can learn to stop killing one another.
We must remove the walls which divide us. If one acts for the advancement of Good,
what does it matter the God or Gods one believes the Good is rooted in? The
Unseen motivation for Good is like the sun. No matter where we are, when we
step outside in the day, high above is the sun and on us shines its Light. The
source of the Light is no different no matter where we walk in the day. We must
end this arguing over the namesakes and begin to revel united in the LIGHT.
Why must we argue over its name when its affect is the same? it is in this understanding
which the next Age must follow. The choice is ours.
Thea. Fritz. Thank you. Wikipedia states that this movie will be remade soon. Hopefully
the creative team behind this rendition will preserve the moral you revealed
to us.
Highest Thanks to The Lord Jesus Christ and The Prophet Zoroaster whose Love and Kindness
aided me in this revelation. And to Luna. You did not make it easy for me to
find my way to you.
Fo r A ze
REFERENCES:
Magill's Survey to Science Fiction (1979 Salem Press, Vol. 3 p. 1385)
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (First St. Martin's Griffin Edition: November
1995, p 805)
Metropolis by Thea Von Harbou 1963 Ace edition based on the 1927 English Translation
Wikipedia Metropolis Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(film)
METROPOLIS & KID A sites:
My favorite Metropolis site: http://www.michaelorgan.org.au/metroa.htm (many splendid pics, but sadly
many dead links for some of them)
Original Movie found (German): http://www.zeit.de/online/2008/27/metropolis-vorab
English Version of Above: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20080702-12847.html
Photos of lost stills: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37332
Wiki Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(film)
Legal? download of METROPOLIS novel by Thea VonHArbou: http://www.archive.org/details/Metropolis_63
About 2002 restoration: http://www.alpha-omega.de/English/E_metropolis.html
Official Webpage on 2002 Restoration: http://www.kino.com/metropolis/
More pics: http://rbowser.tripod.com/metropolis/metro1.html
Kid A Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_A
Radiohead:http://radiohead.com
The pic below is on Radiohead's "Diet of Worms" page and is named fritzlang.jpg
Anyone know the location/name of this building?
Kid A in Alphabetland:An Abecedarian Roller Coaster Ride Through The Phallocentric Obscurantism Of
Jacques Lacan: http://nosubject.com/Kid_A_In_Alphabet_Land
If Kid A were an anagram, you could make this Greek word from it (found at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/):
di^ka
(dika, -as, -ai, -an; -as.)
1. justice
a. sing., right, (sense of) justice
b. pl. decisions, judgements of right, pass judgment
2. manner
3. propers., Justice
OTHER METROPOLIS/RADIOHEAD connections from the novel:
p 21 "the seven colours of the rainbow flared" IN RAINBOWS
p 26 "for to be dismissed by you, father, means going down!...Down!...Down!..."
DOWN IS THE NEW UP
p 64 "drawn by an invisible, unbreakable cord" see Pyramid Song Video
p 87 I also informed the watchman.
p 88 Her laws keep us eternally perpendicular to the centre of the earth, even
if we stand on our head.
p 89 I have no friends [and] I have no friend. see THE BENDS
p 95 jerked like fishes like fighting bears
*Magill's Survey to Science Fiction (1979 Salem Press, Vol. 3 p. 1385) states the movie
was based upon the book, while The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (First St.
Martin's Griffin Edition:
November 1995, p 805) testifies to the opposite. The Metropolis wiki page also
confirms this.
