What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedMetropolis
Film · 1927
If you loved Metropolis, start with Psycho-Pass (2012) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to Metropolis across media.
What hooked you in Metropolis was the way grand, suffocating social structures mirror the isolation and struggle of the individual caught within them.
Books on the same thread
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley · Book · 1932
Explores: Social Engineering, Loss of Individuality, Technological Control.
Much like the rigid hierarchy of Metropolis, this story examines how extreme technological control and social engineering strip away human individuality in service of a cold, stable, and hollow society.
The Time Machine
H. G. Wells · Book · 2016
Explores: Time Travel, Social Darwinism, Class Division.
If you were moved by the stark class division in Metropolis, this narrative captures that same devastating evolution, where the privileged and the laborers exist in two entirely different worlds.
The Machine Stops
E. M. Forster · Book · 2011
Explores: Technology Dependence, Social Isolation, Loss of Individuality.
This story mirrors the subterranean desperation seen in Metropolis, focusing on a future where humanity is trapped by an all-encompassing machine, leading to profound isolation and a loss of self.
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka · Book · 2019
Explores: Alienation, Transformation, Existentialism.
While Metropolis uses scale to depict human alienation, this work explores the same existential dread on a personal level, showing how a sudden transformation can shatter one's place within society.
Series on the same thread
Psycho-Pass
Series · 2012
Shares a thread with Metropolis: Cyberpunk.
This series reflects the technological determinism found in Metropolis, questioning the morality of a system that manages human behavior through rigid, automated judgment rather than genuine social progress or justice.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Rafał Jaki · Series · 2022
Shares a thread with Metropolis: Social inequality.
This animation captures the gritty, high-tech inequality of Metropolis, following characters who must navigate a corrupt, neon-drenched dystopia where human life is often reduced to its value in cybernetic parts.
Babylon Berlin
Tom Tykwer · Series · 2017
Explores: Weimar Republic, Interwar Period, Political Intrigue.
Sharing the German Expressionist roots of Metropolis, this show masterfully depicts the moral decay and political instability of a city on the brink, echoing the atmosphere of a collapsing society.
Mr. Robot
Sam Esmail · Series · 2015
Shares a thread with Metropolis: Cyberpunk.
Just as the protagonist of Metropolis challenges the masters of the city, this hacker takes on corporate conspiracies, using his skills to fight against the systems that oppress the common person.
Podcasts on the same thread
Desinteligencia Artificial
Podcast
Explores: Modern Society, Technology, Future.
This podcast provides a modern critique of technology, grounding the philosophical questions about our future that Metropolis first posed almost a century ago regarding the cost of human progress.
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman · Podcast · 2026
Explores: human condition, technological ethics, deep thinking.
These conversations delve into the ethical dilemmas of the human condition and technology, expanding upon the same intellectual territory that Metropolis explored through its visionary depiction of industrial societal collapse.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is Metropolis about a city divided by class?
Yes, Metropolis depicts a futuristic city that is sharply divided between the rich and the poor. The narrative follows the son of the city's mastermind as he encounters a prophet who predicts a savior will eventually mediate the differences between these two social classes.
What is the central conflict in Metropolis?
The central conflict in Metropolis involves the extreme social stratification between the wealthy residents and the impoverished workers. This tension drives the plot as the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who foretells the arrival of a mediator to resolve the divide.
Does Metropolis feature a mediator between the rich and the poor?
The plot of Metropolis centers on the prediction of a savior who will mediate the differences between the rich and the poor. The son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who explains this coming mediation within their sharply divided futuristic society.
What happens to the son of the mastermind in Metropolis?
In Metropolis, the son of the city's mastermind discovers the deep divide between the rich and the poor. After meeting a prophet who predicts that a savior will arrive to mediate these differences, he becomes involved in the fate of their futuristic city.