Metropolis (1927) is a German film that visually illustrates the social stratification of society, with factory workers living underground, the middle class living above ground, and the rich living in skyscrapers. This uses the same tactic as Parasite (2019) to denote social class. Parasite (2019) is about a poor family that works for a rich family, allowing for upward social mobility (quite literally). The opening scene of Parasite (2019) depicts the poorer family barely scraping by and living underground in poor living conditions. When the poorer family begins to work for the richer family, the poor family walks up all these steps to get to massive, modern house, and walk up numerous stairs within the luxurious house, which represents how the family moved upwards in society.

Metropolis (1927) also focused on the social effects of government control of the masses. This is similar to the government control themes found in George Orwell’s 1984, which is a dystopian novel about a government who has overreaching control over ALL aspects of society.

Metropolis (1927) visually showed how all the factory workers walked in an assembly line fashion, working continuously and simultaneously, like cogs in a machine. Katy Perry’s music video for "Chained to the Rhythm", had the extras in the music video walk as if they were robots, in a synchronized, uniform manner. This song and the music video is a social commentary on how human lives have become so mechanic due to social media and the internet.

Metropolis (1927)

A silent, dystopian, and futuristic sci-fi film about the never- ending battles between social classes due to technological advances and industrialization