Modern Times Film Analysis

By: Catalina Echavarría

Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936) is a film directed and starred by Charles Chaplin. It depicts the hardships of a low-class worker in the industrialized Post-Depression era in the United States of America.

 

Factsheet

Film Title: Modern Times

Director´s Name: Charles Chaplin

Country: United States of America

Year: 1936

Plot

The factory worker (commonly known as the Tramp or Charlot in previous movies (Robinson, 1985)) screws bolts onto pieces of machinery at an ever-increasing rate, unable to cope, he ends up being engulfed by the mechanism, halting the production line. His task is so mechanical, that after the shift, he behaves like a robot, mimicking the same frantic moves repeatedly. While on the factory, he serves a guinea pig for a force-feeding machine and later suffers a nervous break-down, ending up in a hospital.

After his discharge, he finds himself among demonstrators fighting the economic system, and is mistaken for a communist leader, thus being arrested and sent to jail, where he unwillingly consumes smuggled cocaine. In his delirium, he stops a jailbreak and is regarded as a hero. “Happy in his comfortable cell” (Chaplin, 1936), he is released from prison despite his plight: “Can I stay longer? I´m so happy here” (Chaplin, 1936).

He meets and orphan girl (Ellen or the Gamin (Robinson, 1985)) while trying to go back to the penitentiary, taking the blame for the bread she stole. He finally gets caught after eating a full banquet without paying and meeting Ellen in the paddy wagon, before she escapes and convinces him to go with her. They dream of a better life where food and a household are granted, and he gets a job as a watchman in a department store. Burglars break into the store and he recognizes one of his former coworkers, Big Bill, who explains they are starving. After a merry feast together, the Tramp is locked again.

Upon his release, Ellen takes him to a shack by the waterfront, although she admits “Of course it´s no Buckingham Palace” (Chaplin, 1936), they are both happy to have a place of their own. The workers strike at the factory is finally over, and the tramp is able to get a job again, but fails miserably as mechanic assistant, that same day riots break out and he is jailed once more. Two weeks later, Ellen lands a job as singer and arranges for the restaurant manager to hire the Tramp. After dreadfully serving tables, he successfully performs as singer, but police arrest Ellen on the spot. They manage to escape and walk down a road to an uncertain but hopeful future together.

 

Conceptual Analysis

Modern Times is a film where the post Great-Depression struggles of the working class is clearly depicted. It was Chaplin´s last “silent” movie, even though it contains a few audible dialogues, they are all gibberish and unintelligible, which attracted critics for being “outdated” (Robinson, 1985). There are however written signs all along the film to highlight the most important messages given to the audience. It is also noteworthy that all of the newspaper headlines speak of riots, unemployment, strikes and general unease about the economic situation.

Some scenes speak eloquently about the hardships of the times: the waterfront kids scavenging for food and collecting rubble to survive, the unemployed turned burglars for food, the happiness of being in jail where basic needs are met in spite of a so-called freedom, and the obvious analogies of the man-eating machines. The role of food is central throughout the movie, not only because of the machines engulfing workers or force-feeding them, but also because of the general scarcity (the Tramp, Ellen and unemployed are on a constant battle against hunger and starvation (Stephens, 2011)).

The film is a political comedy, highly critical of the economic system and the dehumanization of capitalism, where workers are regarded as replaceable pieces of machinery. The clear disparities among the upper-class and lower-class is evident too:  owners who don´t really work and try to stay as far as possible from their employees as possible, rich ladies who can afford delicacies and expensive fabrics, and patrons who dance among whisky and roast duck.

Personal Analysis and Reflections

Modern Times serves as an important reminder of the need to preserve humanity in a mechanized, modern world; where capitalism has proven to fail at creating general welfare and abundance for everyone; where economic inequality, the tyranny of the machine, and the need for drugs and alcohol as a way to escape reality . It also depicts the climate after the Great Depression, the period between the First and Second World Wars, in which pessimism and uncertainty about the future were ubiquitous.

Charles Chaplin was very critical of the economic and social issues of his time, he satirizes industrial capitalism through stark humorous and paradoxical portrayals of the progress of laissez-faire economic policies. The opening sequence, in which a herd of sheep are juxtaposed with workers heading to the factory, symbolizes the subordination to the economic system: confined to a pen (the factory), surrounded by fences, relying on incentives for their livelihood, and knowing they have been domesticated to be replaceable (Connerly, 2009).  

References:

Chaplin, C (Director & Producer). (1936). Modern Times [Film]. United States of America: United Artists. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jLHVT0-GgM

Connerly, A. (2009). Charlie Chaplin´s Modern Times and the Abstraction of Labour. Available at: https://aconerlycoleman.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/draft-charlie-chaplins-modern-times-and-the-abstraction-of-labour/

Robinson, D. (1985). Chaplin: his Life and Art. London: McGraw-Hill.

Stephens, G. (2011). Biting Back at the Machine: Charlie Chaplin´s Modern Times. Melbourne: Senses of Cinema. Available at: http://sensesofcinema.com/2011/feature-articles/biting-back-at-the-machine-charlie-chaplins-modern-times/