Re: Fiction: "Rich and poor"

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

>Fritz Lang's _Metropolis_ has the only son (Freder) of the biggest
industrialist (Jon Frederson), smitten with an angelic and virginal
working-class woman reformer (Maria), descend from the heavenly
paradise of the rich and idle to take the place of a laborer in the
subterranean hell of working-class toil.  Freder emerges from the
hell as the "mediator" between capital and labor, having "rescued"
his beloved from the evil scientist (Rotwang) and "saved" the working
class from the seductive android created by Rotwang in the likeness
of Maria, the mechanical agitator who escaped the control of her
creator and incited toilers to revolution.<

a classic film. In the end, Freder is the "heart," which according to Maria, is needed between the "brain" [the capitalists, Frederson] and the "hands" [the workers]. It's a clear statement of Christian Democracy, complete with Christian symbolism. (Of course, the fake Maria is the agent provacateur.)

Jim