THE USE OF BAD ENGINEERING IN METROPOLIS THE INVISIBLE RAY & FORBIDDEN PLANET essays

THE USE OF BAD ENGINEERING IN METROPOLIS THE INVISIBLE RAY & FORBIDDEN PLANET essays In today's technological universe, most science fiction films and texts, being "the only literature capable of exploring the macro-history of our species. . . in a cosmic context" (Franklin, Internet), are structured on hard science and research and contain machines or other devices which are quite recognizable in form and shape to the general viewing audience. But this has not always been the case, for in a number of science fiction films produced in the early days of Hollywood and well into the late 1950's, the portrayal of mechanical devices, such as robots, weapons, communications instruments and navigational aids, not to mention certain theories or ideas concerning radiation and power sources, were based on pure speculation and hypothesis with a grain of engineering ingenuity added for good measure. Some of these devices and ideas were well ahead of their time, but most were either ill-conceived or based on pseudo-science, being unscientific in nature. Three films stand out as prime examples of the application of "bad engineering"Metropolis ( 1926), directed by Fritz Lang; The Invisible Ray (1936), directed by Lambert Hillyer, and Forbidden Planet (1956), directed by Fred MacLeod Wilcox. According to Erica Hawkins, Metropolis is a showcase for Lang's visual prowess and relies upon "innovative visual imagery that was well ahead of its time," which is highlighted by the film's scenario of "a robot- like society controlled by an evil super-industrialist" (Internet, 2004). In essence, Metropolis, set in the year 2026, relates the tale of a future supercity where the workers spend a zombie-like existence working underneath the city, running the machines that keep it alive and that allow the elite city masters to frolic in reckless abandon. These tyrannical industrialists also live in absolute splendor, while the workers live ...