Is All Art Political? The Great Societies, Pt. 1: Metropolis

 

5 Dec 2025

Episode 6.18 –

Is All Art Political? The Great Societies, Pt. 1: Metropolis

It seems everything is politics these days. But at least can’t we keep art pure? You know, art for art’s sake? I offer my thoughts on the topic while we examine the classic silent film, Metropolis (1927).

In the process, we discuss an indigenous protest against American Art, the nature of ideology, an opening definition of a Great Society, and the four areas of inquiry we must pursue to answer the question, “Is All Art Political?”

1. The Author’s Intention
2. The Text Itself
3. The Context Around the Text
4. The Reader’s Thinking

This Part 1 considers the first of these by asking what we know about the creators of the German silent film; Part 2 will look at the next three approaches.

Some links to items mentioned:

• An Indigenous Takeover of the MET:  https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/an-indigenous-takeover-of-the-met-asks-who-should-be-writing-art-history-1234757699/
• Metropolis (1927):   https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFzHH9EL9x0

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/

CHAPTERS

00:00     Great Garden Walls
09:03     Intro Theme
09:38     Framing the Talk
19:18     Some Metropolis Backstory
29:58     Harbou and Lang: Artist’s Intent
37:30     Author Trouble
48:38     Where This Leaves Us
52:49     Closing Credits

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New to Literary Nomads? Check out episode 5.00 to find out what we’re all about: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/an-introduction-and-irony/

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Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/general/transcript/6-18-the-great-societies-pt-1/

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Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

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CREDITS:

Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

USING THIS WORK:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

MLA CITATION:

Chisnell, Steve. “6.18 Is All Art Political? The Great Societies, Pt. 1: Metropolis,” Literary Nomads. Waywords Studio, 5 Dec 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/.