Representations of leisure and its political implications in the Cinema of the Weimar Republic: Metropolis and Menschen am Sonntag

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the representations of leisure in two films from Weimar Republic German cinema: Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang and released in 1927, and Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday), directed by Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer and released in 1930. To this end, we start from the premise that cinema is a privileged field of symbolic disputes, functioning as medium for the construction of social representations. In the context of interwar Germany ‒ marked by tensions and political, cultural, and social conflicts ‒ leisure became a contested theme, both in everyday life and on the screen. Through film analysis, focusing on selected film stills, we seek to achieve the stated objective. Functioning almost as an ethnography of everyday life, People on Sunday distances itself from Metropolis, following distinct aesthetic and political paths and reflecting the political tensions of the period.

Keywords
Leisure; German Cinema; Politics; Metropolis ; Menschen am Sonntag