Appearing with a Hitler-like moustache, walking in a weird way, and acting hilariously were a few features that I characterized Charlie Chaplin when I was a kid. His acting as the Tramp remained as my most vivid and beautiful memory until this day. However, not until when I grew older, did I know that Charlie Chaplin used his hilarious act to criticize the current society and promote the idea of freedom and equality. According to an interview with Charlie Chaplin, Brian Eggert wrote “his concerns are humanity and its existence within a world where middle class citizens are dehumanized by the surrounding industrialization” (Brian Eggert). That was the reason why he decided to make Modern Times. This movie is his ironic illustration on how industrialization negatively affected the working class at that time. Specifically, the factory scene in Modern Times is his critique on the working condition in factory and the greed of the upper class. Using Ideological Criticism, I argue that Charlie used his humorous mind to criticize capitalism and social inequality, through symbol like the Tramp, the Feeding Machine, and the factory. First, I will analyze the rhetorical artifact to show it’s hidden meaning. Second, I will talk about why the meaning of the ideologies from the scene is a criticism the adverse effect of the industrialization. Third, I will talk about the impact of the factory scene of Modern Times to the society.
The context of the movie was one of the elements that influence its meaning. Modern Times was released on January 1st, 1936 when the United State was still deep in the Great Depression. Although the economy was recovering at that time, the unemployment rate of the previous year was 20.1 % (Steve Kangas). Across the ...
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...ering the thoughts and opinions of their employee. On the other side, despite the hash and dangerous working environment, the workers could not quit. The jobs at the factories were their main source of income and without it they would suffer form hunger and poverty. Hence, the workers at that time were tangled in the system that only supports a small proportion of the population, the upper class.
Furthermore, the mechanism of the machine offered a different interpretation of the working condition. At first the machine operated smoothly and flawlessly. It works according to the inventor’s words. Brian Eggert described the operation of the Machine in his review as the following:
“Squares of meat are pushed by automated appendages; an ear of corn spins on a rotator; a bowl of soup is gently lifted for sipping; between courses a pad wipes the face clean” (Brian Eggert)
Factory workers worked twelve to fifteen hours a day in hazardous condition. There were no protective rules for women and children and no insurances for job-related accidents or industrial illness. The workers were obliged to trade at company store
The Coal Company exploited the workers by underpaying them and restricting their freedom as consumers. The miners were forced to buy their own tools, clothes, food, etc. from the Ôcompany storeÕ many times at higher prices than necessary. This created circulation of money from the company to the laborer back to the company. The miners worked for obvious reasons: to supply themselves and their families with shelter, food and clothing. They relied on company power to supply a means of employment. However, the company in turn relied on the laborers, because without them the company would have no means by which to excavate the coal and continue the production process.
Sam Patch’s father, who was a drunkard, exhausted all his family fortune, and in 1807 the Patches moved to the mill village of Pawtucket. This was a climactic moment in their history because it marked their passage out of the family economy and into the labor market. This caused the Patches to be dependent on factory owners for a job. Factory spinners, including Sam Patch, were people with a lot of pride and dignity. Before 1820, most spinners in New England mills were emigrants from the factory towns of Lancashire England. They were veterans who knew that their skills were essential, and they commanded respect (Johnson 23). Industrialization brought with it urbanization or city growth but it had an unintended consequence of creating massive wealth gaps between the rich people and the working class people.
The working conditions at the time for the majority of laborers was deplorable. Businessmen would take advantage of the laborers and force them to work long hours with severely little
The Great Depression is when the film industry boomed with new types of movies like: gangster films and musicals. They were both born in the Great Depression. Most films show the hardships of the time period. Some of the films display this very well for example Modern Times staring Charlie Chaplin. One of the more well-known gangster films was The Public Enemy.. These films have very different views of the time period but still have things in common. This paper will compare Modern Times and The Public Enemy.
Late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century were the years of achievement, the years of one huge reform, the years that shaped the present day in so many ways. The present day industrial workers owe their stable life, pleasant working conditions, and a variety of insurances to nothing else but these fifty four years. The struggling lives of industrial proletariat (thesis), their desire for improvement (antithesis), and the emergence of the welfare state, political democracy, trading unions, and social equality (synthesis) skillfully describe the picture of the events happening in those days.
Movies in the Great Depression were outlets that the American people used to escape the daily hardships and struggles of their lives. Three genres emerged and flourished during this time period: comedy, musicals, and gangster films. Each genre depicted life in the Great Depression in different yet similar ways. While watching the movies, you can see that money played a large part in the plot. Justice and the law are also reoccurring themes. The treatment and depiction of women in these films is one aspect that is interesting to study and look at, as well. Women’s rights was still a hot button issue, and it is plain to see that by viewing such films as “Room Service”, “The Public Enemy”, and “Gold Diggers of 1937”.
Provoking thoughts occurred as a result of viewing a certain piece of art at the San Jose Museum of Art. This piece of art piece labeled Fallen Fruit by David Burns and Austin Young was the awe and inspiration for my topic of this paper. The piece made me think of working conditions and how far they have improved in the past century. The digital print coldly depicts assembly line workers packaging fruits for a company. The print displays the average worker in monochrome while the environment juxtaposes the workers with its tinted bright colors. The contrast between the monochrome workers and the tinted environment creates a feeling where the worker is lost in a sea of color and reveals a sense of seriousness of the morbid reality that most workers faced during the 1920s. This contrast was created by Burns and Young as a metaphor to illuminate the audience on the emphasis that companies placed on the workplace itself and the products that were being produced rather than the conditions of the workers. The angle and focus of the workers in the print also help establish a feeling of disregard for the workers. This cruel reality established by the print led me on the train of thought of the Progressive Era. An era of great change, Progressive reforms helped the quality of life for the average worker and helped pave the way for future improvements. Although Progressive reforms for the workplace were loosely enforced, these labor reforms were effective to help create better working conditions, help regulate big business, and push for the creation of unions and bureaus.
The leaders of big business didn’t give workers the rights they deserved. In the text, Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?, it states, “Workers were often forbidden to strike, paid very low wages, and forced to work very long hours.” This evidence is a perfect example of the dehumanization of workers. The employers treated their workers like interchangeable parts, which were easily replaced. The big business leaders started paying less attention to the working conditions, and more to the production rates, and money. They didn’t care about worker’s family or the worker’s wellbeing. Due to the horrible working conditions, the workers were more likely to be injured, and sometimes, die. The capitalists didn’t give their employees the rights and respect they deserved, because to them they were just unskilled, cheap labor. If the workers were unhappy, they would easily replace them with other unskilled workers. That’s why they were considered interchangeable parts. This evidence shows the big business leaders only cared about money, and didn’t treat their workers
Modern Times was unlike most movies produced during the Great Depression era because it is featuring a view on the unemployment and rough conditions that people f...
They notice how the economy is evolving over time and during that time it was mostly due to the industrial revolution that was occurring. But the economy was evolving to become profit driven and creating a large global market, which Marx and Engels said brings upon new tyrannies. Since the economy was becoming more industrialized it has caused the labor to become similar due to the new advanced technologies. The labor of the workingman was becoming less extensive and less needed, leaving the proletariats having difficulties finding and holding jobs. Goods were becoming much easier to produce, but as the production was becoming easier to achieve it caused the proletariats to benefit from their own labor even less. The economy was created by the labor of the proletariats, but the benefits of that labor was only enjoyed by the wealth of the bourgeoisie in the form of private
It is the worker’s condition that he truly focuses on. Many of the problems that people faced during this time include: tenement housing, poor working conditions, child labor, monopolies of business, social and political inequality, and most importantly people putting profits over lives. It is around the same time that a terrible fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The unsafe working conditions made the employees escape nearly impossible.
These paragraph state the negatives of this revolution. One of the most important con of this time period is the effect of child labor. As Document 7 states: Large machines and rising demand for products quickly led to the growth of the factory system. The building of these factories led to hire massive numbers of child workers, the youngest at 11 to 12 years old. The owners of these factories had no incentive to look out for the child’s safety or health. The workers also followed a very strict schedule. All workers had to be at the same place in the same time allotted for them. If a worker was injured, he was easily replaced. Another negative was the working conditions. Working conditions were described as dangerous, dirty, unhealthy, polluted, dark, dim and drafty. These workers who worked very hard with their strong muscles in these horrible conditions were not valued. If they were hurt and could not work, they were simply replaced. This was also stated in Document 4, with the same thing happening to children. In conclusion, both adult and child workers were not valued equally and got treated like
Workers did become "one" and worked well together as "one" but did not succeed as "one". Even throughout lock-outs and strikes, they were suppressed by government power and corporation rule. The power they had hoped to gain as they united wasn’t strong enough to overcome the arbitrary rule and omnipotence of corporations and the government. Miseries of their laborious life continued as hours remained long, wages remained low, conditions remained unsafe, and workers remained disheartened.
The film “Modern Times,” directed by Charlie Chaplin, is set in the mid nineteen thirties. This time frame places the characters in the middle of the Great Depression and the industrial revolution. The film depicts the lifestyle and quality of living for people in this era by showing a factory worker who cannot take the monotony of working on an assembly line. The film follows the factory worker through many of his adventures throughout the film. The film’s main stars are Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard.