Much of the built environment of Metropolis appears "manly" when interpreting the film through the lens of gender relations: the skyscrapers, the staircases, the buttons of machines, even the smoke that is emitted in factories. In contrast, the catacombs represent dark vaginal spaces, hidden from the technological surveillance of Frederson's empire. Fredersen doesn't even know the catacombs exist, and once he discovers them, he is alarmed that there is something in his city that is beyond his control; although she preaches social peace, it is not her words that alarm Fredersen but the fact that she has exerted an influence beyond her control. Therefore, seeing the catacombs as a symbol of subversion, femininity is seen as obstructive, secretive and even dangerous.