Friday, January 23, 2009
Modern Times
I thought Modern Times was very interesting, mostly because it was not what I expected at all. I think someone already brought it up in class, but I definitely noticed how unexpectedly dark it was. It covered poverty, hunger, murder, riots, etc., which were subjects that would have come to mind last upon hearing Charlie Chaplin. However, it was still humorous in a Murphy's law kind of funny. In other words, I could somewhat predict what was going to happen because I could always assume something was going to go wrong. For example, when the boss tests the machine that feeds workers so they do not have to take lunch breaks and could continue working while being fed, it was safe to assume that the machine would humorously mess up on Charlie. I was pleasantly surprised about the deeper content of the humor involved in Modern Times and although I was hesitant to watch it at first, I am glad that I did!
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I think were on the same page here courtney. Being a fan of Charlie Chaplin, I thought this was a great film of humor. The main thing that always seems to make me laugh are the facial expressions that Chaplin expresses to the camera whenever something mischievous of dangerous just went down. But I think its funny that you mention the dark images in his film criticizing the American Society at the time because a few years later Chaplin was accused of being a Communist during the Red Scare and was told to leave the United States. I guess it just goes to show how much the US Governement feels about people makin fun of them hah
ReplyDeleteYes, Modern Times covered the beginning of the twentieth century, the industrial age, and the isolation that seemed to come along with the innovations...
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Chaplin was really accused of being a communist (makes Modern Times pretty ironic considering he was thrown in jail for unwittingly leading what I remember to be the communist protesters).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I too was caught off-guard by the serious themes and dark tone present in the backdrop of the movie. It kinda left me with a weird feeling, because Chaplin is always marketed as the epitome of slapstick, but after the whole thing, I wasn't really laughing...