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Why does Johann (the father/leader of the city) in Metropolis (1927) want a revolution?
He says he wants the "man-machine" built with the likeness of Maria in order to "sow discord" amongst the workers. Maria is the one who is preaching a message of hope/faith and therefore keeping a revolution at bay. For how much longer, who knows. The point is, she is giving the workers hope and preventing violence.
Why would Johann want a version of Maria that encourages a revolution (death to the machines!)? It is in Johann's best interest if the workers stay succumbed, as his bourgeoisie lifestyle is dependent on their work.
(First post, sorry if the tags are bad.)
Basically, Joh Frederson, the builder of Metropolis and the owner of seemingly almost every factory there, wanted to instigate a labour riot to justify a harsh crackdown. He got Rotwang to kidnap Maria and substitute a robot imposter to incite a mob to attack the Heart Machine, a critical electrical generator. However he apparently underestimated the consequences, as the entire city lost power and the workers' underground city began to flood once the pumps stopped working.
It's Joh Fredersen.
He sees Maria as a threat; he's basically the big boss and everyone works for him, so he fears that she's starting an uprising. He wants the machine to replace Maria so it can ruin her reputation.
It wasn't his intention to sow discord; that was Rotwang trying to ruin Joh because he's jealous that Hel chose Joh over himself.
Not sure how easily accessible the movie is to you, but check timestamp 00:59:50. Boss man Johann Joh Fredersen says, "I shall sow discord between them and her! I shall destroy their belief in this woman"
The discord thing is probably a weird translation. Rotwang programming the imposter to start the revolution makes sense. That's never explicitly stated, though? The movie is hard to follow.
Thanks.
Which version is this timestamp from?
Though honestly it doesn't matter because both of my copies are stuck in an unreachable place right now. 😅
The thing about silent movies is that you're really supposed to infer a lot of it through the actions of the actors rather than from the title cards, so it's possible you misread something.
You might want to read the story that the movie is based on. It's a bit hard to find but I do remember I found the full text of an English translation years ago. It's a very different experience.