The silence speaks

Karelle 2022-04-23 07:01:26

Again, all comedies come from tragedies, marveling at Master Chaplin's superb acting skills and exaggerated but not exaggerated performance techniques. The film is silent, but it is full of powerful accusations of that era. The great economic prosperity of the United States, the exploitation of workers by capitalism, the economic depression, the general strike of workers, the social unrest... From Chaplin, from the perspective of a small person, looking at that era, the era is developing, the productivity is breaking through, but it is also absurd .

Chaplin once commented: "This film is developed from an abstract concept - criticizing our mechanized way of life." Whether Chaplin's own shooting intention is to stand on a critical point of view , to expose the capitalists' frantic exploitation of workers in order to maximize surplus value and the suppression and destruction of human nature by such a mode of production.

At the same time, from the perspective of management science, "Modern Times" vividly and truly reproduces the strong traces of scientific management in social production at that time: workers have a very detailed professional division of labor, and workers engaged in each type of work have extremely Skilled skills, the movements and workload of workers working on the assembly line are all standardized and arranged, and the daily production work is carried out under the strict supervision of managers.

Through the description of the bitter life of the little people in the capitalist industrial age, the film uses exaggerated and comical actions to make people laugh and fall into a kind of reflection on the cruel reality of society. A fair society will eventually give people a chance, just like they find a job and a life that suits them in a bar. As long as they work hard, they will have their own life, no matter if it is poor or cheap...

Finally, people must have the confidence to struggle, and the beauty is ahead!

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Extended Reading
  • Jeanette 2022-03-24 09:01:24

    [2006-05-02]I watched some of Chaplin's films for a while, and I believed more in my own judgment: the films kept making great strides backwards! ! [2021-02-20] Rewatched Modern times and city lights with my children. Chaplin is such a great and talented filmmaker.

  • Emery 2022-03-25 09:01:06

    The restaurant singing is not bad! Although when I watched it, I wanted to say why he was always making trouble and not working hard, but the purpose of this performance is probably to make people feel quite inspirational at the end. .

Modern Times quotes

  • [first lines]

    President of the Electro Steel Corp.: Section 5, speed her up, 401.

  • Opening Title Card: "Modern Times." A story of industry, of individual enterprise - humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness.