Women had recently gotten the vote and were beginning to gain a previously unheard of social independence. America and the world were in the midst of the great depression, and chaplin felt a. Despite the story taking place in a future world, the message it offers is not unlike those of films of the past. How did the film industry do during the great depression. However, chaplin himself says, to entertain is my first consideration. How movies got us through the great depression best.
Modern times is a 1936 american silent comedy film written and directed by charlie chaplin in which his iconic little tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The reception of the film in the us, france and britain. On chaplins modern times simon hajdini abstract the research article discusses, on various levels, the relationship and laughter, on the other. Like all chaplins greatest work, the film treads a fine line between slapstick and satire, as well as functioning as a socioeconomic commentary on american society during the thirties as a result of increasing industrialisation and in particular the devastating effects of great depression. The great depression had an impact on many aspects of american culture. Modern times is a 1936 american silent comedy film written and directed by charlie chaplin in.
It depicts the climate of tension in which people lived in america before the 2nd new deal. But when i decided to write a film series comparing the great depression with the great. American film, especially in the comedy genre was a good example of this. The preceding decade, known as the roaring twenties, was a time of relative affluence for many middle and. Modern times is obviously a movie with a lot of social commentary directed at the hard life the people had to face during the depression. Chaplins modern times confronted the effects of the great depression in a way unique for its socioeconomic realism at the time of its mid1930s making. Lloyd, now 94, was starring on the new york stage when the depression gripped america. Chaplin portrays a factory worker on an assembly line that his tightfisted employer keeps accelerating beyond the laborers capacity to keep up. Modern times and the great depression charlie chaplin taylor.
The film is a comedy, but it is very precise in describing the condition of the middle class during the great depression. Following the events of the second industrial revolution, charlie chaplins character has to change his life dramatically in order to fit in with the new age. Chaplins modern times 1936 and the great depression. However, the slapstick, and physical humour wins high school students over and they seem to always enjoy the film.
The great depression of charlie chaplin s modern times cram. Modern times, american silent film, released in 1936, that starred charlie chaplin as a man at odds with modern technology. The debut silent film on this list, charlie chaplins modern times, is a satirical look at the depression era. Given its place at the end of the film, it is likely intended not just for the gamin but also to the audienceto the millions of american people still struggling to recover from the great depression. Modern times marked the last screen appearance of the little tramp the character. Modern times was a wonderful blend of comedy and social drama. Nor did the film suggest any remedy for the problems that the protagonist and the audience kept encountering everywhere. The timing of the great depression varied across the world. One great example from the 1930s is the wizard of oz, as dorothy judy garland travels to the technicolor land of oz after her kansas house gets caughtin a tornado.
Really a stunningly beautiful film, the last shot by the great cinematographer conrad hall. Of mice and men from the steinbeck novel about a pair of migrant farmers roaming 1930. So while kids will be thoroughly entertained by sight gags, comic mayhem, and outrageous characters, grownups and teens will see razor. Anxieties of modern times still with us by julian e. Charlie chaplins modern times 1936 uses film language to directly critique the industrialization of america and the poverty of the great depression. It made plain that many people in america were poor. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the great depression, conditions created, in chaplins view, by the efficiencies of modern. Filmed between 1932 and 1936, it was directed, written, scored, and produced by chaplin himself. The film, which was set during the great depression, centres on a luckless factory worker played by. In addition to the glamour, lloyd says, many films, including one by. The little tramp described in the film credits as a factory worker is now. Charlie chaplins modern times united artists, released in the united states in 1936, was the only film dealing in a direct way with the impact of the great depression to have emerged from within the hollywood system and to have been widely viewed by popular audiences during the mid1930s. Zelizer, special to cnn the struggles of a worker played by charlie chaplin in modern times seem all too familiar today. Between bursts of comedy a grand picture of a society in turmoil is produced.
Its product was therapeutic diversion for millions of americans who needed to get away. Chaplin portrays a worker enduring endless rounds at an assembly line. Charlie chaplin charlies dance modern times youtube. Seventysix years later, the film still speaks to many of us mired in the great recession. Chaplins modern times and the great depression cambridge. In order to fully comprehend modern times one must be aware of the era in which the great depression and considerable technological advancements took place. Modern times and the great depression by richard carr the impact of the wall street crash would be writ large over two of charlie chaplin s later films, the semisilent modern times of 1936, and his first film explicitly not to feature the little tramp, monsieur verdoux released some eleven years later. Modern times, charlie chaplins last outing as the little tramp, puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine paulette goddard. It is no coincidence that the thirties are the golden age of american star system. Modern times and the great depression charlie chaplin. How does modern times define the core values of chaplin. Modern times 1936 features charlie chaplins final performance as the little tramp character. In examining reception of the movie in the us, uk and france, this essay debunks notions that hollywood movies were part of some unidirectional current of americanisation. Research essay students are asked to take their knowledge of the industrial revolution and write a research paper comparing it to the great depression as depicted in modern times.
Parents need to know that beneath the silent film slapstick comedy and the artistry of chaplin in modern times there is a serious political thread that pits the working man against powerful authority figures. In modern times 1936, the stillsilent tramp, with his familiar small derby hat, mustache, large boots, baggy pants, tight jacket and cane makes his last screen appearance. Some films offered escapism and reassurance, others offered hypothetical solutions to social problems across the political spectrum. That phrase would sit through history as a farewell to the character and, on a larger level, to the silent film genre as a whole. Although technically a sound film, very little of the soundtrack to.
Chaplin surrounded by a crowd in vienna during his world tour, 1931 chaplin was acutely preoccupied with the social and economic problems of this new age. Chaplins last silent film, filled with sound effects, was made when everyone else was making talkies. By the 1930s, the country had undergone huge social changes. Essayabout the film industry during the great depression. The movie industrys triumph in the 1930s lay in giving the public what it wanted to see. Silent film, with its quiet black and white world, had never beckoned me. With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the great depression, modern times though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound even song. Life for the average family during the great depression. Charlie turns against modern society, the machine age, the use of sound in films. Modern times is a masterpiece in history of cinema. When chaplin was creating modern times the united states was in the deepest and longestlasting economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. The tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman. Trivia in november 1935, three months before the film s premiere, the american communist journal, the new masses, published a translation of soviet film chief boris shumiatskis pravda article in which he claimed charles chaplin had changed his ending to a more suitably anticapitalist one on shumiatskis urging. The great depression 19291939 was the worst economic downturn in modern history.
Different elements of the movie portrayed the different difficulties of life in that era. Posted by charles silver, curator, department of film. Modern times found him facing very different predicaments in the aftermath of americas great depression, when mass unemployment coincided with the massive rise of industrial automation. Charlie chaplin film modern times essay example for. The film, which was set during the great depression, centres on a luckless factory worker played by chaplin who finds himself. In examining reception of the movie in the us, uk and france, this essay debunks notions that hollywood movies were part of some unidirectional current of. The achievement of modern technology in the 1930s had been considerable, leading many to raise disturbing questions as to technology becoming a dominant influence in society. It is an appeal to keep hope alive and keep trying, and indeed this hope is able to lift the gamins spirit enough for the two of them to keep. As the great depression hit bottom in 1933, tens of millions of americans found solace in the movies, where 15 cents bought admission to an infinite range of alternative realities.
The film is a comment on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the great depression, conditions created, in. Chaplins modern times 1936 spoke in comedic yet forceful terms about the crushing experiences of so many living through the great depression. This film was about the little tramp trying the get thought the modern times. A new restored version of modern times, one of the greatest films in.
This climate with the rise of unemployment and the decline of living conditions. For modern times does not point to any causes of the misery that many people experienced during the great depression. The audience in the cinema at the time was looking for pure entertainment, a few laughs to forget the dark periods. Modern times and the great depression university press. The great depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the united states. Modern times is chaplins selfconscious valedictory to the pantomime of silent film he had pioneered and nurtured into one of the great art forms of the twentieth century. Modern times is often hailed as one of chaplins greatest achievements, and it remains one of his most popular films.
The film is a comment on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the great depression conditions created, in chaplins view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the great depression, modern times, though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound even song. Modern times came out in theaters in 1936 exactly in the period of transition between the 1st and the 2nd new deal. The film starts in a factory where little tramp works.
1053 1657 1420 656 1565 1305 627 1580 7 1462 1054 1455 1070 288 583 819 1429 1590 811 875 514 996 593 185 626 960 1669 1064 9 533 1613 190 1549 1385 1094 28 176 1449 366 400 127 744 757 100 156 104