Social issues on Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times"

 Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. KBE, born on 16th April 1889, was an English comedian, filmmaker, and composer best known during the silent film era. He is regarded as one of the most prominent people in the cinema industry because of his movie persona, the Tramp. From his boyhood in the Victorian era (a year before his death in 1977 due to stroke) his career spanned more than 75 years and was marked by both adoration and controversy.

Modern Times

Modern Times is an American silent comedy film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in 1936. In this movie, Charlie Chapin's iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern world. The film is a satire on the severe job and financial situations that many people encountered during the Great Depression, which Chaplin believes were brought about by the efficiencies of contemporary industrialization. The movie starred in Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford and Chester Conklin. The film was significance for two main reasons:

i) Chaplin's final performance as the Tramp

ii) For the first time, his voice was heard on film.

Modern Times was one of the first 25 films selected for the purpose of preserving in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1989 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important." It was shown "out of competition" at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003.

The movie highlights many social issues faced by underprivileged sections of the society which are as follows:

I. Hardships faced due to first world war

A war is fought amongst two leaders, but the consequences are felt by the entire people of the country, particularly the poor. Afghanistan, Iran, Sub-Saharan Africa, Syria and other countries are still ravaged by conflict and bloodshed, and many people are caught in a "poverty trap". While peaceful countries are fleeing poverty and conflict, corrupt government leadership frequently leads to war, pushing societies further into poverty and making the poor poorer.

II. Unemployment and Poverty

Issues of 1930s are poverty, joblessness, strikes and strike breakers. 

Poverty is highlighted in several scenes, like when Ellen flees after stealing bread, or when the three thieves attack the department store because they lack the financial means to purchase basic requirements. This is a societal issue that underlines the people's and country's economic insecurity. 

On the other hand, unemployment is a significant problem which leads to hunger, and greed leads to theft. He gets sent to prison for no reason by an innocent person who has no idea what he is doing. Charlie worked really hard wherever he could in the film. However, all he did was make minor errors such as throwing his boss into the machine, sailing off the ship, and failing to serve the guests on time. These problems should not be the reason for someone losing their employment. This is inequitable. People are stressed and tense at work, which causes them to make mistakes. Too much work, it is thought, has a negative impact on a person's health.

   

III. Great Depression in America

The Great Depression in America led to massive unemployment due to huge preference being given to industrial production. The invention of machines led to widespread unemployment as they ultimately replaced the humans, which was expected to help the mankind. This spread the aggression among the workers which forced them to join strikes and demonstrate communalism to stand against the same. These strikes were broken by political oppression.

The above mentioned points are some of the social issues being raised in the film which are existing even in today's world. Still, not much attention has been paid to such issues.