Modern Times FAQs

The year 1936 is a significant milestone in the history of mankind. This was the year when Hitler became the dictator of Germany and Mussolini formed his fascist regime in Italy. These events marked the beginning of a long period of political turmoil, which was accompanied by social dislocation and economic uncertainty. The greatest disaster that befell humanity in this era was World War II.

What is the message of Modern Times?

The message of Modern Times is rather simple; Capitalism is a failure, but not necessarily because of its inherent contradictions. As outlined in the book and elsewhere (links at bottom), This “failure” for which Capital offers no substitute has actually been its co-planetarium. Capital must maintain production to create more consumers.

Thus, other factors – the nature of social conditions such as climate change – will impact the oil supply when exactly ‘too much’ production isn’t needed anymore, so there need to be artificial bubbles between demand requirements. Otherwise, you get mass unemployment.

Who is Charlie Chaplin?

Charlie Chaplin (real name Charles Spencer Chaplin) was born to Elisabeth at 5 Woodbury Gardens, London, on April 16th, 1889. He is widely renowned as the most important comedian and producer of screen comedy in film history” (but you knew that because it’s a quote from Wikipedia).

His parents were Harry Alonzo “Willie” Glassco, an immigrant from County Mayo, Ireland, who worked for Grand Junction Railway company as a porter. At the same time, his mother, Patience Edmondstone, worked as a servant doing domestic work relating to housework & laundry.

Did Charlie Chaplin skate blind in Modern Times?

No, Charlie Chaplin did not skate blind in Modern Times. The story was made up by the journalist H.L. Mencken to make a point about the film industry.

He originally wrote the piece in 1924, and it quickly caused a sensation. There are many ways to make a film, but there is only one way to do so on ice: Shut off all heat, put out all lights and shut down completely.

Then get some reels of celluloid with soundtracks copied over them (no silent film can be produced after the weather has cooled the freezing water used for emulsification) which have been slow speeded up by 400%, edited into action sequences by double-expanding an offset print at close shave speeds about seventy frames per second (and play them backward) with minor modifications.

The technicians in the cutting room must be blind, and they are duly paid $100 per day to keep their eyes shut. At the same time, cheese appears on turkeys and superlative ice-skating actions similar to sex-chimera never seen before by innocent young viewers of the 1920s.

What is one of the themes of Modern Times?

The low-key theme of Modern Times is not about the condition of modern industry. The film illustrates very well Chaplin’s demonstration to such an audience that it was entirely in their power for manufacturing and consuming things to be cheaper – at first seeing only a father trying his daughter in new clothes, then realizing after a while of automation, both parents could afford with less cost what he couldn’t have afforded even if he had art reached the highest level.

Throughout the story, there are many scenes showing concepts involved: crowd psychology, self-determination by workers towards productivity within society (a few shots show people engaged in various kinds of work besides working as a team), and that men now can work with less fatigue (thus productivity) under the new ways. Chaplin’s interest also influenced the subplot concerning automation in this subject since he often lauded machines that governed human actions more than humans themselves.

Why did Chaplin make Modern Times?

First of all, as a political statement, considering the way tools like steam engines and the film had made more contributions to social evolution than previously thought under their respective fields. Let’s look at it from his relationship with actor Harry Lauder (as Chaplin uses different characters for each side), who in turn was affected by artist-revolution Sidney Carton. This theme can be seen: even if these new tricks make life easier but not better – the chances are that people would choose self-improvement over laziness.

In such a way, Chaplin makes this point that with new materials (film) could be made better-living conditions for everyone – but wished it all to disappear afterward so people will choose to improve themselves again rather than take advantage over others out of laziness once more, which puts up even stronger intentions on Universal’s engineer’s end: they want at least everything not meant for mankind-like purposes/needs/limits utilized by reaching their goals, thus creating better machines and conditions for subsequent generation again.

What is nose powder in Modern Times?

The same chemicals Chaplin had put throughout his entire movie career to imagine the industrial age from a basis. What he is saying through this adds yet another political message – now nobody wants to use these chemicals,

everybody has been used of them before (of course with products that are made out of old scrap material and dead animals) in an early shape somewhere instead some new chemical technology might entail for people, which uses their mindset and makes politics around it more difficult indeed as we can be seen there.

Does Modern Times have sound?

Quite a few people think not; around 60% of the jokes are without any soundtrack on YouTube and Facebook, for instance. There is singing noise by Charlie/The Artist (closer to say as Meto minus all his fanatic fan-boy outrage) when one could be selling newspapers within Modern Times –

while The Age did reviews, they didn’t have sound either, so this helps to make it more authentic that way you feel like some real newspaper was written down. When nothing else humorous happened within Modern Times, I find this merely an argumentation technique used by Chaplin.

What is the meaning behind the title Modern Times?

It is as simple as it could be; we live in a modern time when most of the good things still come from old-fashioned industrial technology. Where full cities often remind us to nobody reading newspapers, where newspapers like Modern Times become too expensive for people to buy them.

There must be some punchline related to this sort of “modern times” – and that’s what Chaplin worked out while making his movie: around 30 years ago did, he talked about next generations will inherit something that plays movies with sound and vivid color separated into frames (which you keep for your whole life).

Is Modern Times lacking in sound?

It’s not “soundless” per se, but it is missing one (possibly only) musical track during the movie, which wouldn’t be so bad if that also creates some sort of emotional impact.

Do you have any differences between the DVD and The Criterion Blu-ray Edition?

Only in regard to the writing name on the back cover: BD01 – old title instead of +TV channel code by the author (DVD1 to DVD10) and L’Arroseur Arrosé retains correct order where I never saw before!

Why is Charlie/The Artist singing within Modern Times?

Does this remind anyone of Batman ’66? If so, I told you – Chaplin worshiped Frank Miller already during his career :). The same principle was used by Edgar Wright in Hot Fuzz (for instance:

The Man With Two Brains scene), and even long before that, John Ford did it as well. Soundtracks are always important information while watching a movie, and eventually, Film Faces is inspired by Hollywood musicals where you could watch 5 titles throughout the night.

Is Modern Times a satirical film?

Humor is much more than just funny – it’s an attitude. The key element of humor is “jest” with a tone of deliberate incongruity, which can be very easy to misinterpret as satire at first glance.

Modern Times is much more like realistic fiction.

Its story has some elements of satire – but it definitely is not that kind, because the viewer should follow the film without knowing what intentions were used to make this funny (without mentioning: note on-screen by Chaplin himself about “a role for jokes”).

Did Chaplin intend for Modern Times to be seen as a political film?

In his autobiography ‘My Autobiography,’ Chaplin once used this term: “I have always said that I intended Modern Times to be a film of what happens in the world today. It has nothing whatsoever to do with politics or any other subject save only those things which affect everyone and everybody, no matter what their creed.”

So, it’s rather not posing political issues but trying to show people how they should think about them – or even better: get out of TV-screen for 2 minutes every day (on average) and talk with somebody.

What do the jokes in Modern Times tell us about life in the industrial age?

They tell us what human life was much like 100 years ago – and where we are today: in one or another circus. The world of “Modern Times” is clearly not hoping for much as it’s quite sometimes showing some paradoxical situations (but on the other hand, it is trying to show that such jokes have nothing at all with the current situation):

1) Two pennies, rope and harness;

2) Three bottles outside a lavatory door;

3) A millionaire with two puddings given to him by assistants while sitting in an armchair which has been put just beside his own cage.

Why was a sound not included in the film when it was released in 1926?

The sound films were in their infancy, with the first ones coming out in 1920 (also: an increasing dependence of cinema on music and its separate parts since then) – so it would have been a simpler task than to transfer one silent film into a talking movie.

The producer Albert Smith explains this process by saying that “the monolog [in Modern Times] was heard over the other characters’. That kind of device is not devised for speeches doing part by themselves.’ There has never really been anything quite like any word spoken as itself.”

Why did Chaplin delete a substantial amount of footage from Modern Times before it was released commercially?

Despite knowing it’s not a completed film and based on actual incidents in life, absolutely anything might happen: all mentions of the war had been removed – so the audience wouldn’t think they are watching “actual” footage.

Is Charlie/The Artist’s singing within Modern Times meant as an effective critique of modern consumer culture?

Absolutely. The entire movie critiques the use of art and music for entertainment purposes, “making” people realize just how ludicrous such behavior could become if consumers alone were deciding about what forms of culture were admissible.

What city do modern times take place in?

It was filmed, as Chaplin’s introduction from the movie explains, in and around Paris. References to it being set “in France” are inaccurate but understandable: he wasn’t shooting a different film after all. He himself mentions the “Vermelles” prison, and it was said that he shot a sequence in there.

Why are modern times placed right before The Great Dictator?

I believe Chaplin -due to his exceptional skill behind the camera- likes working with superimpositions so much that he would make an editable one of Modern Times (and its title) simply because it concerns art critical aspects like consumerism: a concept central enough that could be connected directly by using titles interchangeably.

Why was Charlie Chaplin exiled?

Pre-WWII, he was a strong defender of capitalism and dictatorship -against communism- so obviously didn’t care much about the objections by the Jewish community.

Post-World War II, who else could take his place as a globally accepted entertainment icon? I guess he couldn’t count on people like Ronald Reagan or a company named Disney (from which the global media only distorts authenticity). Or whatever Hollywood did in general with him from those years on.

Does Modern Times have a happy ending?

The movie ends with the workers winning their strike, but it’s ambiguous.

Everybody is getting paid, but they’re doing it at the expense of their health. This could be a happy ending where everyone wins or not.

What was Charlie Chaplin’s impact on society?

Certainly, a huge and inspiring one, but can you seriously say that George Bush had no impact on society? People widely supported the war in Iraq through the United States. And because of this outdated obsession with military intervention, we’re into another economic recession where I live now.

Yeah, so on more practical terms, Charlie Chaplin is probably most famous as a comedic actor who personifies popular art forms just like what they represent these days.

Conclusion

The movie “Modern Times” is a 1936 American comedy film directed by Charlie Chaplin. It chronicles the life of the worker Max (played by Chaplin), and his eventual fight for freedom from a futuristic, automated factory in which he works.

In 1936, the first major talkie film came out. This movie was Modern Times. It was a realistic portrayal of the daily life of a factory worker in the 1930s. The plot revolves around Charlie Chaplin and his fellow workers as they struggle to make ends meet in their factory jobs.