Where is the anthem, the culture foundation for the conflict that is happening in real time, right before our very eyes?
Why are we fighting? What are we fighting for? This is not the life we signed on for - something has been taken from us. And within the collective heart - a growing demand that broken promises be righted, in a foot race with a swelling mood of wrath.
And how will this play out? We've seen the theme of uprising play out throughout the world this year. We have seen similar cries of revolution, peaceful and otherwise, through several centuries of modern commercial civilization. Global concentration of power and wealth did not materialize overnight, after all.
But whither goes the heart? And can it go to better places than the callow, the cruel, the chaotic?
Back in 1927, an aurally-challenged (not his fault!) visionary named Fritz Lang put together one of the finest pieces of cinema. It had no soundtrack, rather a live orchestra. The acting was suited to the silent screen, pantomine. The setting was similarly grand, fitting the medium - and the message that Lang wished to convey:
That, yes, the people are held as beneath the value of the machines they work, duped into building the great city that in time became their jail, to the sustainment (and pleasure) of their rulers.
They endured their toil. One woman spoke a message of peace, a beautiful lyric of the Legend of Babel...and the eventual reconciliation that was to come.
And, thanks to Fritz Lang's storytelling, that does come about.
However...being the 1920s...and German... there's a lot of story to pass through before that point.
And now, for what some of you will be the very first time, allow me to introduce the 1927 classic Metropolis, in full.
Even if you skip through, I think you will find it very timely. That, and we are closing on the time of the story. Imagine that.
The Wiki Cliffs Notes might be helpful as well.