Modern Times

Perhaps only Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille stand on the same plane as the talent, humanity and understanding of motion pictures and their audience that was Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin realized that motion picture are an inherently “mass” audience form of entertainment/education. As such, he knew the majority of members of the audience in a capitalistic society belonged to the “have-nots” and not the “haves”. Born into the utmost deplorable conditions it was a lesson he never forgot, and one he was able to exploit for its full satirical potential in the classic Modern Times. Like Willa Cather or Walt Whitman, Chaplin lived during a time when industry, mechanization and capitalism transformed a rural, placid America into a bustling, economically-driven urban machine. Like these authors, in his heart and soul Chaplin knew the very character of the American people had been dehumanized somehow in the process. Replacing agriculture with industry threatened to separate Americans from their connection with nature and the self in a mad pursuit for mechanization and material profit. In Modern Times Chaplin exaggerates the scenario to a level where all the inherent dangers in adopting such a lifestyle, as an individual and

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self once gaining his position on the conveyor belt production line. Stopping to scratch an itch, brushing away a bothersome fly, or sneaking a smoke in the men’s room are definitely signs the Tramp will not be successful in such mechanized endeavors. While in the men’s room, a “Big Brother” screen appears and he is chastised for trying to steal a break, “Hey, quit stalling! Get back to work. Go on.” The Billows Feeding Machine pokes another stab at capitalism because it is an automatic feeding machine that literally feeds workers and even wipes their mouths in an effort to save time and money. The salesman for the machine states that the competitive nature of business demands such a machine to retain an advantage. Perhaps the breakdown of this machine when the Tramp is chosen to demonstrate its features is one of the funniest scenes in cinema history. We see the breakdown of humanization prior to this as the Tramp is so used to the routine, precise mechanization his job demands that he cannot stop tightening things even on break, including buttons on a co-worker’s bottom. Another hysterically funny scene unfolds when the Tramp makes a valiant effort to keep up with the pace of the conveyor belt when it is sped up to inc
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Approximate Word count = 1636
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)