Charlie Chaplin's Contribution to Film
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This paper will be concerned with the artistry of Charlie Chaplin. Specifically, it will analyze Chaplin's contribution to the art of film as seen in his treatment of the roles of actor, artist and director. Charlie Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889 in London. He became involved in theatrical acting at an early age, and in this capacity he came to the United States when he was only twenty-one. However, once he arrived in America his interests soon changed from the theater to the new film industry which was being established at the time. Chaplin's first work in film was as an actor under the comedy director Mack Sennett. Sennett was known for his slapstick comedies which featured the Keystone Kops and various other characters. After familiarizing himself with the art of comic film acting in a series of Sennett shorts, Chaplin moved on to work for a variety of other directors. His special talent as a comedic actor soon gained Chaplin a reputation as one of the greatest film artists of his time. In fact, by 1915, he was already beginning to be hailed as a genius in his craft. This fact can be seen, for example, in a review of Chaplin's work which appeared in a 1915 edition of Bioscope. This review praised Chaplin not only for his rising popularity as a film comedian, but also for his uncanny artistry in that field. It was noted that he had what appeared to be an innate sense of humor, and that he also had the ability to apply that sense of humor in a way which was
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Liberty, the passengers are shoved and roped in like cattle; Charlie takes a quizzical second look at the statue" (Ellis 70). Through subtle reactions such as this, Chaplin and his "Tramp" character were able to make important social commentaries on the state of the world at the time. As noted, this was a uniquely new element in the film comedies of the time.
In The Kid (1921), Chaplin provided audiences with another film merging humor with emotional expression. Chaplin showed himself to be not only a great comedian but a great actor as well in this film concerning the "Tramp" and the orphaned kid he tries to take care of. The same trend was continued in the 1925 production of The Gold Rush. Again, in that film, "the hilarity is touched with humanity" (Gifford 100). An example of this is contained in the scene in which two starving prospectors are taking shelter from the winter weather in a cabin. Despite the serious nature of the theme of starvation, some extremely humorous moments are created when the prospectors start seeing each other as food and Charlie ends up eating his shoes and shoelaces as if they were a plate of spaghetti. Chaplin's genius at merging humor and pathos was further carried out in his 1931 master
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Approximate Word count = 2407
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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