Metropolis
(1927)
Metropolis, set in the year 2026, is the story of a futuristic society divided into two distinct categories, the privileged and the workers. The privileged live high above the earth in the metropolis, a city of a luxury. The workers live underground, working to sustain the lives of the privileged. The stories protagonist is a man named Freder, the son of Johann Fredersen, the man who runs the metropolis. Freder falls in love with a beautiful woman named Maria whom he follows underground and sees the horrors of the underworld first hand. Outraged by the conditions the technologically advanced elite keep the workers in, Freder joins Maria and takes up the workers cause.
Metropolis warns of the dangers of a society where access to technology is controled by a priveleged elite and the underpriveliged are enslaved to machines.