Laurie Pratt
Dr. Badass
06 November 2016
Mocking Evil for the Good of Humanity
Evil has been the enemy of good for eons. Often heroes attempt to fight evil with violence, prayer, or both. Fighting evil has been a base for many stories, films, and real-life events. Humor is also a good way to combat evil. Humor can make evil people feel inferior or see how ridiculous his or her actions are. Charlie Chaplin’s film, The Great Dictator, mocks Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Throughout the film, he mocks the German lifestyle and language and the actions of the dictator. The speech Chaplin delivers at the end of the film is very encouraging to spread love and peace and not the hatred that was stirred up by Hitler.
Chaplin, starring as a Jewish
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People being punished for their beliefs is immoral. Speaking up about issues is one of best ways to bring attention to it. This was a way for Chaplin to bring more attention to the public about how ridiculous and wrong Hitler’s plans were. It also gave Chaplin a chance to voice his wisdom. “We all want to help each other. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery.” ("Charlie Chaplin - Official Website") The film was made to be funny to grab the audience's attention so that he could deliver the speech at the end to make an emphasis that the citizens of Earth needed to act against Hitler before everyone fell under his …show more content…
“Satirizing Dictators Is Nothing New - Just Ask Charlie Chaplin.” NPR, NPR, 23 Dec. 2014, www.npr.org/2014/12/23/372463647/satirizing-dictators-is-nothing-new-just-ask-charlie-chaplin.
“Charlie Chaplin - Official Website.” Charlie Chaplin : The Great Dictator Speech, www.charliechaplin.com/en/synopsis/articles/29-the-great-dictator-s-speech.
“The Great Dictator,” director. 23 Mar. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypqkfdf2bem.
2010, 10:28AM GMT 24 Mar. “Hitler Sketches That Failed to Secure His Place at Art Academy to Be Auctioned.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 24 Mar. 2010,
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Through the enormity of this act, others can be effected, and both their consciences and their actions can be affected. In the McCarthyism era, otherwise known as the Red Scare, it was also necessary for people to put themselves on the line in order to limit the scope of the hysteria and help it to settle down. Even if it meant risking their jobs and reputations, the resistance of these people, including Arthur Miller himself, was a necessary step in calming the hysteria. No matter what type of sacrifice you give, whether it be your reputation, your livelihood, your life, or something a little less drastic, putting your community before yourself is a noble action and without people to carry out this philosophy, hysterias would never come to an end.
Unfortunately, indifference is easy, tempting, and seductive, but there have been groups and people that have stood up for what they believe. Although, people believe these genocides can not happen now, there are many tragedies that are going on. We can learn to get involved and care for those who feel worthless from the speech. Feeling worthless or not important is worse than punishments. It is vital that we ask ourselves about the lessons we learn from the consequences of action and inaction during the Holocaust and other human rights tragedies. This can allow us not to make the same mistake
For example, the comedy shows The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon expresses satirical humor concerning politics. His show also demonstrates political satire by telling jokes and even impersonating political figures for the audience. He creates humor through sarcasm that focuses on real issues. His sarcastic humor causes others to feel more confident in their criticism toward politicians. For example, “Jimmy Fallon expresses his humor about Donald Trump, impersonating his appearance and imitating his voice while talking about politics. He uses his humor by impersonating Donald Trump and his sweeping generalizations with Madea (Rogo).” Jimmy Fallon shows people his views through humor and it creates a sense of community to express their agreeable and disagreeable views. As we discussed some ideas about satirical humor that affects political changes, it was important to reveal their feelings about changes in life and drove them to look upon their society or government more
Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes
Bullies vs. Dictators When we hear the word “bully”, we normally think of little kids picking on other little kids. However, though bullying is an adolescent phase as well, grown adults can threaten other adults, too. On another note, a dictator, which seems to be an adult bully on a larger scale, misuses their power and controls a nation with a posse. They mostly use violence in order to scare citizens into changing their ways of life. Bullies and dictators are very similar because they use violence, they feel superior in their position and they tend to have their own cliques but they’re different in degree.
John Marwood Cleese, an English actor, comedian, writer and film producer said, “If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth”. The point he brings up is the ideology of satire. Satire, by definition, is a technique utilized by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society. This can be done by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule ("Satire - Definition and Examples", para.1). Often times, the humor used opens the audiences’ minds to the underlying problem that the writer is trying to reveal. By examining the purpose and methods of satire, dissecting literary works, and displaying examples in the media, satire is shown to be a valuable tool.
According to Everything’s an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, “Humor has always played an important role in argument…” (38). Humor itself is something that activates amusement or laughter. Moreover, in popular culture satire is a tool that is used to point out things in our society. Satire opens the minds of people to philosophies they might completely deny, using humor. There are many elements of satire that identify flaws within our society. A couple of satire elements that will be discussed are irony and exaggeration. In addition, a parody is used in popular culture as a way to mock or mimic situation or person.
Humor is more than just amusing entertainment to pass the time. Though jokes and witty banter can be shallow, humor can go deeper than surface level to convey messages to audiences who would otherwise be close-minded about certain ideas. Humor is a great tool to get audiences to change the way they think, feel, and act. In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” Alexander Weinstein uses humor to criticize some of society’s faults such as the way it has become heavily reliant on technology, racially insensitive, and judgmental.
The Great Dictator was filmed, directed, and starred in by the famous actor, Charlie Chaplin. Charlie was most famously known for his role in” The Tramp”, where his famous image was founded. Despite his famous role, he was also widely known for his speech in “The Great Dictator”. The speech was themed inspiring, and a call to action as Charlie calls on for peace and love instead of chaos and hatred. This was a very huge impact at the time since during the 1940’s one of the biggest wars were being fought in the world; World War II.
The Chaplin was observed as the ironic hypocrite whom represented religion but was too scared to stand up for what he believe...
As evident from “The Great Dictator” in its entirety, Charlie Chaplin was a fantastic writer and speaker. He had successfully convinced his audience that change is possible through his choice of words and charisma. This speech is nothing short of motivational and has many characteristics within it that would help people understand his point of view and also come into agreement with him, those being ethos, organization, and pathos in particular. Although this was given several decades ago, it remains relatable today in terms of how things like money and power have blinded people and caused so much misery and destruction for the benefit of a few.
This is what had made Hitler one of the greatest public speakers that the world had ever seen from his time and in history. "The German people and it 's soldiers work and fight today not for themselves and their own age, but also for many generations to come. A historical task of unique dimensions has been entrusted to us by the Creator that we are now obliged to carry out." Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany, was a very talented spokesman in ways that leaders today could not even begin to compare with. He was charismatic and bold, making it easier for him to win over the minds of many Germans with these two traits. He believed that during his rise to power, he and the people of Germany had been given a duty by God to purify the nation of its imperfect races and weaker people so as to make the mother country strong again for future generations. "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." In many ways, Hitler felt he was justified in what he was doing, and in some
Humor has been the source of entertainment throughout history. Today humor is practiced in movies, plays, songs, television shows and radio. Humor has brought fame and fortune to those who have mastered its power.
“I should like to help everyone if possible…We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.” (Chaplin) What appears to be a simple statement continues to inspire the world even 70 years post production. Still appreciated for more than a decade, Charlie Chaplin’s well-known speech in The Great Dictator makes for one of the most thought-provoking and inspiring film speeches of all time. Like all of his other films, Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in The Great Dictator, which is a satirical piece on Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Chaplin plays a double role in this film, one of a Jewish barber and the other of Adenoid Hynkel (Adolph Hitler), who both look alike. The barber, who has been mistaken for Hynkel, is taken to the capital to make a speech upon their victory over Osterlich. Instead of speaking about slavery, inequality, and other outdated ideas like Hynkel would have, the barber speaks about having free speech, a democracy, and declares Osterlich a free nation. (Charlie Chaplin –Official Website) The speech also expresses that to have a free world, people must “do away with greed, hate and intolerance.” (Chaplin) The barber’s great speech not only reached out to Hynkel’s soldiers in 1940 but also to the viewers of the film even 70 years post-production. It calls for a new era of science, progress, and reason that will eventually lead to the happiness of all people. Charlie Chaplin uses the speech in The Great Dictator as a medium to recuperate the state of humanity that has been lost to power, greed, and hatred by stimulating an emotional atmosphere with the help of style and speaks for the common good that rallies his people to “fight to free the world” (Chaplin) and in turn provide the world a r...