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Critical analysis of Charlie Chaplin
Analysis essay film Charlie Chaplin modern times
Critical analysis of Charlie Chaplin
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Sight Gags and Charlie Chaplin
We have all seen it done before, either in real life or in the movies. A situation is funny because of the misinterpretation of someone's actions or the complete conflict of what a situation seems to be and what it really is. People come into contact with sight gags all the time. One might be trying to be sneaky and hide something and then when someone looks, one pretends to be doing something else not to get caught. One could also pantomime using an umbrella as a baseball bat. These are both basic forms of sight gags.
Sight gags are an essential part of comedy, especially the silent comedies of Charlie Chaplin's time. A sight gag is a visual form of comedy. In this form of comedy, the actors rely on the way the audience perceives the actions on screen for humor. This could include a misunderstanding by characters or a misrepresentation of an everyday object. In order to make the gag work, the actor must use smooth, visible actions to convey his or her point. Noel Carroll outlines six different types of sight gags in the book, Comedy/Cinema/Theory. In this paper, I will talk about each gag and give examples from the three Charlie Chaplin films that we have watched.
The first type of sight gag discussed is the mutual interference. This type of sight gag is set up so that a character in the film misunderstands something that is happening in the scene, however the audience can see both sides of the situation and is aware of the truth. The author says that this "perception of incongruity in an event or situation amuses us, which in turn causes risible sensations - laughter, for example - that we feel in response to humor."(Page 27) This type of sight gag tends to be a favorite in the silent ...
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...nd I believe that these six techniques are excellent examples of how humor can be conveyed to the audience without words. Sight gags tend to suggest the possibility of interpreting a situation in more than one way. The author points out that "the sight gag flies in the face of the prejudice that movies can only brutishly recapitulate from a single point of view what stands before the camera." From the conflicts of interpretation to the literal and metaphoric points of view, it is these things that confuse but amuse us. I am sure that most of us have seen variations of these six basic techniques in both movies and real life. Hopefully with this information one will be able to better understand and appreciate the humor of the sight gags and silent films.
Works Cited
Horton, Andrew S. Comedy/Cinema/Theory. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1991.
And experimental social psychologists...have studied how social forces and the pressures of a given situation can change the way we behave, regardless of our personalities and background” (43). Many of the Candid Camera hoaxes highlight the fact that people are not accustomed to deviance from social norms. Thus, when roles are broken or reversed, the results prove laughter inducing. For instance, when the dentist launches into a sales pitch about gold-plated tooth necklaces and framed x-rays, it’s nearly impossible not to laugh at his flustered patient’s protest that, “The way our walls are set up in our house...this—this just won’t go with it.” But underlying this farcical situation is a human truth—the unfailing desire to adhere to normal social constructs. The dentist should be cleaning my teeth, our brains protest, not selling earrings bedazzled with them! Further on in the episode, during the dentist-turned-barber hoax, we encounter another universal crutch: white lies. “Please, don’t make me feel bad!” the patient pleads when the planted dentist becomes emotionally distraught after having slathered him in shaving cream, “You’re doing a good job, you are!” In this case, viewers can chuckle at the awkward situation while at the same time considering just how often they, too, voice such dishonesties in day-to-day
In the movie, the three main types of comedy I recognized were farce, parody, and satire. Farce is comedy designed to provoke the audience into simple, hearty laughter and often uses highly exaggerated or caricatured character types and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations. It also makes use of broad verbal humor and physical horseplay. Some examples of farce in the movie are:
Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. London: SAGE, 2005. Print.
Before the beginning of the movie, cast members will wander around the theater, and yell out various lines from the movie. When the movie curtain starts to roll its way up, you see a bright pair of red lips singing. When the lips appear, people will start to yell out their favorite audience participation lines. One of my favorite spots in the movie to shout out lines would have to be in the very beginning when the lips on screen are singing the song "Science Fiction, Double Feature." The song is full of participation lines and props that people can bring to the theater with them. There is one line that I particularly like that comes from this song and it goes a little something like this; "and from a deadly place it came from (where?) outer space! (Thank you!)." Another example of audience participation/prop use would be when one of the characters, Dr. Scott, goes flying through the walls of the laboratory in his wheelchair. As he is rolling down the ramp from where he flew through, another character, Brad, yells out "Great SCOTT" and that’s when everyone takes the toilet paper they have brought with them and throws it all over the place. Once all the toilet paper has been collected by the cast leader, they pick out one person from the audience and DOUSE them with toilet paper and it’s the funniest sight one will ever see!
For example, his mouth is twisted in a permanent grin. The bigger the smile gets, the more noticeable the dimples on either side of his lips appear. When he laughs, his whole mouth opens, exposing his slightly crooked teeth and pink tongue. Another exciting feature of the comedy lover is his shoes. They are bright high-tops with vivacious patterns dancing along the sides. His shoelaces are different colors that lay united atop the tongue of the shoe. Furthermore, his eyes are mirthful and full of life. They have a kind twinkle to them that gives his whole face a welcoming glow. Also, his hair is a messy mop of curls. The small locks stick up in different directions as if he’s run his hand through them multiple times. Finally, the comedy type’s shirt is entertaining. Although its color is old and faded, it still catches the eye. The t-shirt has rubbed off lettering displayed across the chest that says some kind of joke or comical phrase. The comedy moviegoer resembles the hilarious actor, Will
Laughter is an interesting topic. Mainly because of the lack of thought that goes with it as to why we laugh. In an article titled Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson, the theory behind why things are funny is explored. He mentions many different things in his article pertaining to the comic, however, there are a few that stand out more than others. He talks directly about the fact that things are only funny if they relate to humans. Then he touches on the idea that accidents are funnier than planned events. Finally, he speaks on laughter being directly related to social setting. The 1992 film Noises Off is a perfect demonstration of everything that Bergson writes about. Henri Bergson’s essay on laughter is perfectly supported by the film Noises Off.
fun. What made him funny was these sort of pranks, and the contrast of his
Society is greatly affected by the media’s outlook on different aspects of life, it has a large effect on body image. Body image in America has been a growing problem for years as more young women feel the need to do anything they can to stay thin, trying to live up to what society has taught them is beauty. Many of these ideals have been presented through the media, social and general alike. However, there are also positive sides to the media and they are now doing positive things to improve body image in young women today.
Again, this section will give a working definition of the “urban question’. To fully compare the political economy and ecological perspectives a description of the “urban question” allows the reader to better understand the divergent schools of thought. For Social Science scholars, from a variety of disciplines, the “urban question” asks how space and the urban or city are related (The City Reader, 2009). The perspective that guides the ecological and the social spatial-dialect schools of thought asks the “urban question” in separate distinct terminology. Respected scholars from the ecological mode of thinking, like Burgess, Wirth and others view society and space from the rationale that geographical scope determines society (The City Reader, 2009). The “urban question” that results from the ecological paradigm sees the relationship between the city (space) as influencing the behaviors of individuals or society in the city. On the other hand...
Language or the way in which words are used is one of the most important components of a comedy. Through an intelligent use of word play and the ability to add
For centuries mankind has unsuccessfully attempted to define beauty. Greek philosophers, including Plato, tried to define beauty as if it were as simple as any other law in nature. However this cannot be so because the idea of what is beautiful has varied throughout cultures and the ages. In the 1800s women who were pale and rather plump were considered objects of desire; but in today’s society, desirable women are slender and tan, among other things. The fact is that today, beauty is as unobtainable as it is indefinable. All of today’s supermodels, as seen in millions of advertisements, have been modified, airbrushed, and photoshopped. Women desiring this beauty have turned to various sources of false remedies, spending thousands of dollars, in hope that they too can be beautiful. The media has twisted and warped our ideal definition of beauty into something that does not exist naturally and is simply inaccessible.
Laius was warned by an oracle that his own son would kill him and that he would marry his mother, Jocasta. Determined to reverse their fate, Laius pierced and bound his newborn sons feet and sent a servant away with him with strict instructions to leave the child to die on the mountain of Cithaeron. However, the servant felt badly for the infant and gave him to a shepherd who then gave the child to Polybus, king of Corinth, a neighboring realm. Polybus then named the child Oedipus (swollen foot) and raised him as his own son. Oedipus was never told that he was adopted, and when an oracle told him that he would murder his father and marry his mother he fled the city believing that the king and queen of Corinth were his parents. In the course of his travels, he met and killed Laius, thinking that the king and his servants were a band of robbers, and thus unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy.
In order to be an effective teacher there needs to be an understanding that we all learn differently, this means that no single teaching strategy is effective for all students/learners all the time. This makes teaching a complex process because you need to understand and meet the requirements of all of your learners. Students learn best when they aren’t asked to simply memorise information but when they form their own understandings of what is being taught. When a student has successfully learnt a new idea they are able to then intergrate this information with their previously learnt information and make sense of it. To be an effective teacher you need to work jointly with students to asses where they are at, be able to give feedback on how the student is going and ensure that they are understanding the lesson (Killen, 2013) According to Lovat and Smith (2003) students learning must result in a change in a student’s understanding of the information being taught. In order to show understanding they must be able to share this information with others and want to learn more (Killen, 2013). In order to have a deeper understanding of what is being taught they need to be aware of the relationship that exists between what they knew previously and the new information that is being learned (Killen, 2013).. Students need to be given goals that they can achieve in order to feel a sense of mastery over their own learning, this gives students motivation that they are able to complete tasks and to keep going.
First, one must ponder a couple of questions: who defines beauty in today’s culture and society? Does the mass media industry define beauty? Everywhere one turns in advertisements, commercials, TV shows, movies, magazines, etc. someone is telling us what “beauty” is. The allure of celebrities and the beauty they exude, definitely influences the beauty those in the Western culture strive to be and are attracted too. Television, movies, magazines, advertisements that come from the Western culture have influenced cultures around the world. Due to the high i...
One of the most famous types of television comedy is the sketch comedy style. Greg M. Smith, in his article “Red Skelton, The Crack-up, and the Quick- change” explains how the move of vaudeville acts to television created the template for all sketch comedies. A small number of performers, often only one or two, “depended on interchangeable acts that could be juggled into different configurations for a show, the sketch necessarily is narratively compartmentalized. Plot elements from one sketch do not carry over to the next, necessitating that the performer slip from one role to another as he/she moves from sketch to sketch.” (n pag) Today’s sketch comedies continue to run independent multiple short sketches per episode. Although they may now have recurring characters, frequently still, only a single-time character is played. Just as there is a prevalence of one actor playing multiple roles per episode, so also are the situations, locations, and interactions often differentiated completely from one scene or show to the next. Some or all of these elements can be found in such shows as Monty Python's Flying Circus, Saturday Night Live, The Whi...