‘Modern Times’ and the hidden realism of Chaplin
Not going to lie, I was initially apprehensive when approaching ‘Modern Times’. I had never seen a Charlie Chaplin film before, and when it comes to the Golden Age of Hollywood, I found myself not really enjoying the films out of that timeframe that I have seen. In a way, my adverse reaction to Classic Hollywood in the past stems from what I feel is a sense of artificiality to the more popular movies of this time period. I just haven’t usually found the acting, camerawork, and heavily strict stories of Hollywood under the early Producer-Assembly Line system to be very stimulating. Speaking way too generally, it all felt so wooden compared to some of the filmmaking happening abroad at the same time, or in America later in the 60s and 70s. While I can certainly appreciate what Golden Age Hollywood meant to cinema and its future, It usually is not my cup of tea. I’m usually that guy who goes “‘Casablanca’ is… fine”.
That being said, I really enjoyed ‘Modern Times’, which I was very surprised by. As previously mentioned, I had never seen any of Charlie Chaplin’s movies before, with my only preexisting knowledge of his career being his persona of The Tramp, which is iconic enough in its own right, I went into this film relatively blind. The Golden age of Hollywood chapter from Mark Cousins ‘The Story of Film’ helped to provide a little bit of context and background, but that was all I had going in to see the feature.
While I have been fortunate to have seen some silent films from this time period, none had the pure energy and splendor found in ‘Modern Times’. In a time period that I usually find to be bland and wooden, Chaplin brings the spectacle of comedy to its furthest reaches. Chaplin is the master of Slapstick comedy, and the giant set pieces and building gags of the film highlight Chaplin’s great talents. Even though Chaplin is not too ambitious or interested in breaking ground in framing or composition, he simply excels in giving fun characters and ambitious acts. I had seen some very short clips of the iconic assembly line set of ‘Modern Times’ before seeing the film, but in viewing the movie in its entirety showed how meticulous and carefully planned these stunts were. Chaplin brings so much energy to the Tramp character. Even in silence, he shines, moving everywhere in the frame, using his body to show off his bombastic personality. I believe it is this physical nature of Chaplin’s slapstick that lets ‘Modern Times’ age so well. Dialogue-based jokes that focus on pop culture and phenomena from the time can age poorly in comparison, but it is always hilarious seeing a manic caricature flub around on camera for 90 minutes causing pure mayhem. I was certainly surprised by how much I ended up laughing throughout the run time, I felt like a kid watching an episode of ‘Looney Tunes’, just enjoying the joy of it all.
Though by no means is ‘Moderns Times’ a heavy film, it is rather heavy-handed in its political messaging throughout. Chaplin sprinkles his leftist, pro-worker themes through the situations the Tramp finds himself in throughout the film. Starting off, the Tramp is a low wage worker on a factory assembly line, paid very little to do seemingly impossible tasks over and over again, he “accidentally” finds himself participating in a worker’s strike, and so on. A lot of screentime in ‘Modern Times’ focuses on the plight of the factory workers, and their attempts to stay afloat in an industrializing America where the wealth gap is building and building.
There is also the whole plot line during the first half of the film involving the Tramp’s time in prison that particularly stood out to me as a strong message that highlights the economic inequality of the time period. After being arrested, praised as a hero, then released from prison, it is striking how badly Chaplin’s character wants to be sent back to jail. Life is so miserable for an unemployed man on the outside, and there is so little opportunity for improving one’s standing, that the Tramp would rather go back to prison and enjoy a free living space, a bed to sleep in, and some hot meals as a captive than as a free man who cannot get anything, no matter how hard he tries. It is very telling of the reality of the world during the time and hits me as something far too familiar to actual modern times, where people who are less fortunate are willing to commit certain low level crimes to live somewhere more preferable than the streets, even if that is a jail cell.
From this extended plot line in the first half follows a much more chaotic second act, where the Tramp and his love interest “the Gamin” find themselves moving from job to job, from circumstance to circumstance, which provides a delightful jump in pacing from the earlier section of the film that really helped in keeping me invested and attentive for the entire runtime. The department store job, the second factory job and strike, the cabin the Tramp and Gamin call home, the nightclub; these are all instances of the working class man trying to build up a new life for himself, only to end up fired or arrested for trying to do the right thing for his fellow man. A new job as a night watchman at a store? The Tramp gets fired for helping friends looking for food. A new living for the couple as a singer-dancer duo? They are fired because the Gamin stole a loaf of bread once to prevent starvation. All of the so-called opportunities under the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” idea of America are falsehoods, and Chaplin dedicated ‘Modern Times’ to exposing these lies.
Overall, ‘Modern Times’ stands out to me amongst the Classic Hollywood area in how it brings realism to an area of cinematic history that I find usually lacks it so much. There is artificiality to Chaplin’s schtick, yes, but it is used to shed a light on the reality of the audience. ‘Modern Times’ holds a mirror up to American audiences, and challenges us to see if the American Dream really holds up.
