Interpretation Of The Great Dictator By Charles Chaplin

The Great Dictator by Charles Chaplin (1940) can be interpreted multiple ways. One way includes just a comedic film without any meaning. That translation would be seen by one whom knows nothing of what has gone on in the world. A second interpretation of the film by Charles Chaplin could be the belief of a parody on Adolf Hitler. In this second interpretation, one will conclude the movie to be mocking Adolf Hitler with the “similar” character of Adenoid Hynkel while addressing the issues of which were going on. Of course, there are multiple other ways of which the film could be taken. I, however, am part of the second interpretation group. I believe the film to be making a joke out of Adenoid Hynkel, depicting him as a somewhat incompetent

For instance, when Hynkel made Napoloni, “Benito Mussolini”, sit in the extremely low chair in attempt to make himself tower over Napoloni. Hynkel attempts to be bigger than Napoloni again during the barber scene. When the two men went to get a haircut, each dictator tried to make themselves seem higher than the other by pumping their barber chair. Those examples show Chaplin’s humor towards what he visualizes Hitler and Benito Mussolini to be like. The next scene I would like to point out is that of when Hynkel was playing with the globe-like ball. I conceive that ball to represent the world and when Hynkel makes it pop, I think that to be how Hitler is destroying humanity. The last scene I want to bring to attention is the scene where Hitler, I mean Hynkel, says he will “destroy (his) enemies like this.” The small comical dictator then tries to rip apart a handful of some spaghetti noodles. He was unable to rip the noodles which somewhat symbolizes what happened in real-life decades before the movie as well as some years later. In 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allied Powers, Hitler's “adversaries”. Before that, Adolf Hitler was a Corporal in the German Army during World War I. Germany surrendered in that war as

The theme is somewhat unclear in a lot of the movie however since I was often lost as to what was going on. I can only imagine how one back in 1940 would have taken it. I imagine this message was received by audiences at that time as strange. I can also see people believing that Chaplin was denounces Nazism while saying the world is in charge of preserving the good of humankind . As read on a newspaper article with New York Times that was published in 1940, I see people of the time didn’t take the movie as well as I did. The author, Bosley Crowther Wallace, describes the movie as “essentially a tragic picture” with strongly bitter overtones. Mr. Crowther Wallace also states that the film “possesses several disappointing shortcomings.” I could see how people of the time would think the film is a bit harsh. I can mostly see it because of the mocking of Hitler as well as the persecution of the Jews in the Ghetto. I’m sure the scenes of the stormtroopers “molesting” the Ghettos could have been perceived as a bitter