A classic with sophisticated directing and a powerful message

▲ The workers live an inhuman life, constantly toiling to operate the underground machine.

Dr. LEE admires the film, saying she can’t believe such an incredibly imaginative film with a tightly woven plot was made 90 years ago.

“What’s amazing about the movie is that as a silent, black-and-white film, made in a time when CG was unimaginable, it successfully depicts a futuristic city.”

Through sophisticated directing, the film delivers a crystal clear message to the audience. The movie portrays a highly industrialized and contradictory futuristic city of Metropolis in which the rich reign from high-rise tower complexes, while the lower class of underground-dwelling workers toil constantly to maintain the luxurious lifestyle of the upper class. Therefore, it is very dramatic when the main character Freder, son of the city’s master Fredersen, meets Maria, a young woman from the underground. A memorable scene occurs when Freder is shocked to hear Maria telling the underground children that the upper class people are their brothers and sisters.

▲ The robot, Maria, dances and bewitches the mighty men of Metropolis, triggering a fight among them

Maria tries to save workers and inspire Freder to be a mediator between the workers and the rich masses who control the city. Meanwhile, Fredersen finds out about Maria’s influence on the workers and orders Rotwang, a scientist, to create a robotic copy of her in order to send it to the underground city to deceive and stir up the workers. In the end, his attempt fails and Freder becomes a real mediator, reconciling the workers and his father. The message from the movie is very powerful

“The robot Maria’s dance bewitches the mighty men of Metropolis and triggers a fight among them. That scene is impressive because it seems to show the ignorance of the public. Personally, it looks like a warning that the advance of civilization can bring convenience but at the same time, ill-intentioned scientists or inventors can easily turn the public into the stupid crowd by deceiving them,” says Dr. LEE.

Scientist should serve as the heart which connects head and hands

For Dr. LEE, what Rotwang does in the movie is interesting because he reminds her of research ethics and the attitude of scientists. He is a genius who can make a perfect human-like-robot and also knows he can destroy the world with his ability.

She says, “Maria preaches that the mediator between head and hands must be the heart and what she says is very meaningful to me as a scientist. The ultimate goal of research is happiness of mankind. Without the heart to love and care for others, we, as researchers, can become a villain like Fresersen or Rotwang. I think the message of linking head and hands with the heart can be applied to research ethics.”

▲ The evil scientist Rotwang creates a robotic copy of Maria to urge the workers to rise up and destroy Metropolis

What she means is that technological advances have made life a lot more convenient, but what researchers should always bear in mind is for whom the research is for. The fake Maria is an intelligent robot with artificial intelligence (A.I.). Dr. LEE says these AI robots can do what humans can’t do, but what still matters is the intention of the developer.

“The city in the movie doesn’t look out of date compared to modern cities. The future city in my dream isn’t that grand,” says Dr. LEE, imagining a near tangible future, “I do not imagine a future where people use a sleek aircraft in the city instead of a car or travel to space easily. That’s because I know how hard it is to develop and realize such technologies. But it would be nice if we have a house that automatically regulates temperature and humidity or a laptop that can be folded like paper.”

A scientist who develops entirely new materials

As a material scientist, Dr. LEE is often curious about materials in science movies: how Spiderman’s web can be so strong and elastic, what kind of materials were used for Captain America’s shield to make it indestructible. These interesting questions pop up in the head of Dr. LEE who has devoted herself to material engineering.

“Materials are used in almost all areas, so that material engineering is connected to various disciplines such as chemistry, physics and life sciences . We can conduct joint research with groups in diverse fields and create new materials. This is the beauty of material engineering,” she says.

▲ Research fellow LEE Sun-Hwa is working on synthesizing new allotropes of carbon at the IBS Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials.

Among various carbon bonds, Dr. LEE is currently studying sp3 hybridization, a combination of an s orbital and 3 p orbitals like diamond, at the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Material. Diamonds have outstanding properties such as extreme hardness, high thermal conductivity and excellent biocompatibility but there has been very little research on controlling the shape and properties of diamonds when synthesizing them. She is aiming to develop diamond-like carbon materials with desired shape and properties utilizing organic precursors.

Dr. LEE says that science should not be used to satisfy one’s greed and should serve as the heart which connects head and hands since the ultimate goal of scientific research is happiness of mankind.