"Metropolis" and "Final Fantasy VII"

[Kenshin IV]

Fritz Lang's Metropolis has influenced all forms of media and entertainment, and I finally had the pleasure of viewing the film for the first time. Luckily, my first experience with the film was the near-completed version released in 2010. While Final Fantasy VI was the first game in the franchise to borrow the steam-punk aesthetic from Metropolis, it is Final Fantasy VII that took the most inspiration from the film. There are obvious parallels between the two, but I want to focus on one scene (or area, to be exact) in particular that Final Fantasy VII takes directly from Lang's masterpiece.

During the creation of robo-Maria, the lead character, Freder, is stuck in the rooms of Dr. Rotwang while trying to save her. Eventually he finds a door that leads down a winding staircase in a cellar and then into Rotwang's basement laboratory. Anyone who's a fan of Final Fantasy VII can tell you that sounds strangely familiar to a certain flashback scene in Nibelheim. The room Freder is stuck in also happens to be a library, while the basement laboratory in Final Fantasy VII also doubles as a library.

Here are videos of the scene from the film, and the scene from the game:

Metropolis: http://youtu.be/bioZDgrTiT4?t=4m1s

Final Fantasy VII: http://youtu.be/dlYQGpZlLPU?t=2m20s