In an article I recently read about "The BBC's 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time" (link to the article at the end of the article), "The Gold Rush" ranked 17th. The author of this article commented: A groundbreaking comedy film, with laughter resounding for a century ~ What more can I ask for such a film besides nostalgia and admiration?
The comedy groundbreaking of "The Gold Rush" may be manifested in many ways, such as highly imaginative elements and slightly exaggerated performances such as paper compass, bread dance and boiled shoes. The film tells a story set in cold Alaska during the gold rush era and features four main characters: Charlie Chaplin as the tramp Charlie, the wanted man Larson, the gold digger Jim and the dancer Georgia . The specific scenes are the wooden house near the Snow Mountain Gold Mine; Alaska town; the mountain hut; ). The story mainly promotes the development of the plot to a certain extent by generating and resolving contradictions in the above-mentioned scenes.
Snow Mountain Chalet
At the beginning of the story, Charlie took a "paper compass" and got lost in the snowy mountains, and the snowy mountain wooden house he found in the confusion was his last refuge. The preconceived Larson in the shelter did not accept Charlie, the outsider, so the two began a contest over the "temporary residence" of the wooden house. This is the first contradiction shown in the film: the struggle for habitat. Interestingly, Charlie used an evasive way of fighting, that is: it's not that I don't want to go, but the wind is too strong for me to go out, you see God let me stay. As a latecomer, the gold digger Jim expressed his thoughts more directly. He not only wanted to stay in the house, but also snatch Larson's gun to gain an absolute right to speak in a predicament.
After some fighting, the three finally achieved temporary peace, but after solving the habitat problem, the second contradiction gradually emerged: the problem of eating. Because the Snow Mountain Shack was just a simple shelter, the three of them had nothing to eat, so they quickly panicked from hunger, and Charlie even ate candles secretly. Later, the three of them drew cards and decided to let Larson go out to find food, but after finding the gold mine in the snowy mountains, Larson had no intention of returning to the wooden house. In the face of life and death, money was still more attractive, and Charlie, Jim and Larson were three There's also a sense of personal vulnerability: Even if Larson finds food, he won't necessarily share it with the other two. Charlie, who stayed at the log house, cooked his own leather shoes and shared the "dinner" with Jim. This kind of comedy effect brought by eating incredible things has far-reaching effects. I remember eating tables and microphones in "Super School Overlord" I watched when I was a child, and then later Xiaoyanzi eating paper...all have similar effects. Leather shoes didn't really solve the hunger problem, however, and soon Jim was so hungry that he began to imagine Charlie as a walking broiler, and wanted to kill Charlie to feed his stomach (unsurprisingly, people in desperation would think of this, but Seeing this plot, I still feel funny with a little horror), but fortunately the black bear who came to the door rescued Charlie. After the food and clothing issue was resolved, the two naturally parted ways.
Jim finds Larson near the Snow Mountain Gold Mine, and the two fight over the ownership of the gold mine. The money issue, the third contradiction in the story, is the one that continues to the end of the film. Larson knocked Jim unconscious, but he fell off a cliff during the escape process, and Jim temporarily forgot the location of the gold mine due to amnesia, so the third contradiction of the story was temporarily put on hold.
alaska town
The town is completely a wind and moon field. The film describes this town as "a city surrounded by life, love, and desire." In this city, everyone wears mink, and there are singing and dancing on the dance floor every night. Charlie, a tramp who had just solved the problem of food and clothing, began to think about love. By coincidence, the dancer Georgia chose to dance with Charlie in order to get rid of the pursuit of the upstart. For Charlie it was an encounter, for Georgia it was just a way to get rid of the upstart. However, judging from the results, this is another battle between two men, but this time the resource for the competition is the girl on the dance floor, and Charlie's state is still the same: Look, I didn't want to fight this Pretty girl dancing, she came to me by herself. However, Georgia did not take Charlie in his eyes at this time, so it can be said that after Charlie met Georgia, the fourth contradiction in the film was also drawn: love and not love.
mountain hut
After leaving Fengyuechang, Charlie used his "wisdom" to live in a local bachelor's mountain hut. Compared with the snowy mountain hut, this hut is not only a place to shelter from the wind and rain, at least the mountain hut must be sturdy. Much more, and not far from the bustling town, in other words, Charlie has gotten rid of the situation on the edge of life and death, his life has been improved to a certain extent, and he has been thinking about Georgia in his heart.
Georgia, who learned about Charlie's intentions by chance, decided to play tricks on Charlie, such as making fun of him, and casually promised to come and play with him in the new year, but when the new year came, he completely forgot about it, and Charlie was waiting at home alone, especially like New Year's Eve. Mrs. Xianglin with the sound of firecrackers. Of course, Georgia later saw Charlie's elaborate dinner and began to be moved by his actions.
However, at this time, Charlie was "captured" by Jim again to the Snow Mountain Cabin to accompany him to search for gold mines. As a result, the wooden house was blown to the edge of the cliff by the storm at night, and the two who escaped from the wooden house found that they were just blown to the side of the gold mine, so the two realized their dream of making a fortune overnight.
first class
In the era of all "looking at money", having money is equivalent to having some reputation and status. In Japanese, this movie is translated as "The Age of Golden Madness", and the "madness" may be here. In first class, Charlie and Jim are surrounded by reporters, all scrambling to interview the two American dream legends who rose from penniless homeless to millionaire tycoons. And Georgia also appeared in the third-class cabin of this ship very cooperatively. Facing Charlie who became rich overnight and really loved her, she naturally accepted all this. Interestingly, the story ends with a question-and-answer style: will this be a happy ending? Yes, it is indeed a perfect ending. That is to say, the film finally questioned the usual happy ending, but did not make changes.
The relationship between Charlie and Georgia has to be said to be a "Jack Sue" and "Mary Sue" relationship: men succeeded through various coincidences & the beauty of heaven, and women successfully obtained this rich and dedicated man . When I was in class a few days ago, the teacher asked what is generally considered a happy life in society today, and someone replied: It is probably a man who succeeds in men and women in success. In this way, "The Gold Rush" ultimately tells a story of happiness in this sense.
"Gold Rush" uses several sudden situations to create contradictions, and produces a comic effect in the process of resolving contradictions, and the story is indeed a relatively ordinary story (I think it is ordinary, maybe it only shows the "American Dream" side, not front and back). This film is indeed groundbreaking in terms of comedy, and it also had a profound impact on later comedy films, such as the comedy elements and this kind of character relationship, which is often seen in comedy films even today. However, today's movies always imitate their predecessors too much, and there is always a feeling of lack of strength. For example, some bad comedy movies overemphasize the creation of contradictions and ignore the coherence of the story, which often produces a kind of funny And the funny boring effect, the relationship between the hero and heroine often evolves into a kind of moral kidnapping relationship such as "the person who loves you the most is me, how can you let me be sad".
In this sense, the greatness of "The Gold Rush" lies in its pioneering approach to comedy, whose integrity needs to be filled and corrected (rather than parody) by later comedians.
Interesting opinions of other students: 1. The structure of the Leaning Tower of Pisa The characters and storylines in the movie are often between the stable and the uneasy, the protagonist is often on the verge of danger, but can always escape (or solve the problem) smoothly, just like the Leaning of Pisa Like the tower, it looks like it is about to collapse, but it is a very stable structure. Movies create comedy in this way. 2. Dreams and Reality The film tells the story of a man who "worked hard" to achieve the American Dream. Among them, there are four men looking for gold mines, namely Larson, Jim and Charlie, and a man who follows Georgina. Compared with other men, Charlie is weak, not so good-looking, and has a low class status (homeless), Reckless, pitiful and cute, and sometimes a little clever, these elements combine to form a very resonant character, and the audience is happy to see such a person realize his dream.
Related article link: BBC names the 100 greatest American movies of all time
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