Z and I went and saw a movie at the Springwood 9 in Ankeny last week. In the lobby, the walls are lined with movie poster cards. Z was intrigued by them, but particularly one featuring Charlie Chaplin. So this week for Wayback Wednesday, we decided to watch Modern Times.
Modern Times follows Chaplin's character, The Little Tramp, in the midst of The Great Depression as he bumbles his way through one adventure after another. While it's easy to dismiss the film as a series of light-hearted vignettes full of slapstick comedy, there are far greater themes at play. Chaplin's empathy for the poor is prevalent, as well as his contempt for corporations and technological advances. The movie itself is something of a revolt against technology as the film is predominantly a silent movie, even though it was filmed well into the sound era. When the film does use dialogue, it uses it to jar the viewer, particularly in the first scene when the corporate CEO is demanding more and more production from the workers. Modern Times is often referred to as the last silent movie, and it is the film where Charlie Chaplin retired the Tramp character. Towards the end of the film, we finally hear the Tramp's voice, but it is in a silly gibberish song and dance number. Chaplin is quoted as saying that "The Tramp can't talk. Once he talks, he's dead." Chaplin would go on to make more movies, but none of them featured the Tramp.
Also in the film is the beautiful Paulette Goddard as the Gamin, an street person we are introduced to as she tries to care for her father and sisters. Later, she and the tramp pair up and work together towards the American dream, only to continually have it pulled out from beneath them by their own actions or society.
Despite it's comedic element, Chaplin fills the movie with images that could have been disturbing in a less adept hand. We see crowds of people vying for a few jobs, hungry people forced to break the law to feed themselves and their families, labor strikes, and the police being used to bust unions and break up a peaceful protest. Chaplin handles all of these humor, but not in a mean way. While he has no sympathy for the rich, he never plays the people struggling through the Depression with anything but compassion.
The movie features the iconic scene of Chaplin working on an assembly line that consistently is moving faster. This scene would be parodied in one of the most famous I Love Lucy episodes, Job Switching. Other easily recognized scenes include the Tramp being woven through an elaborate system of gears after being pulled into a factory machine; it also has the scene where he is a waiter struggling with the in and out door.
Modern Times is a timeless classic. In these "modern times," it has significant relevance as a film about people struggling through tough economic times in a world seemingly run by corporations.
No comments:
Post a Comment