Modern Times

Modern Times

As a musician and an artist I find Charles Chaplin creativity and ability to combine social struggles of his time and comedy very inspiring. Chaplin’s approach to “Modern Times” is timeless.  Even today, almost 100 years later, we can still relate to the characters of the story.  The story depicts the different levels of society and their reactions to human suffering. Chaplin manages to convey a political and social message through the positive tone of comedy.

I believe that Chaplin’s ability and willingness to convey very relevant issues to society are hard to match to any of the current productions in the United States.

Even though there are plenty of good artist willing to express the struggles of current society, the United States population has become dull. We are numb, and in the general sense fail to question or invest ourselves in looking at the issues in our communities as something worth of discussing through entertainment.

We look at the screen in search of turning off our brains and with the intention of desensitizing ourselves from the safety of our living rooms. Long gone are the times when artist like Chaplin were recognize for the courage to make us think through the universal language of comedy and art.

Modern Times is definitely slapstick and a movie that appears almost innocent in nature. Many scenes of the movie revolve around humor based on movement and physical activities that were highly incongruent and caused us to laugh. One of the best examples of this childish humor is the scene when Chaplin in eaten by the machine at the factory and starts sliding through the different gears as if being inside was not a problem at all.

The relationship between Chaplin and his female friend was very simple and innocent. They did not show any sex scenes or talked about anything that was related to sex. When Chaplin and his girlfriend where together, they always thought about simple things in life.  They just wanted to life in a comfortable house and have enough to eat.

Also, I found that Chaplin wanted to show how the type of lifestyle of his character could make anyone crazy. Chaplin became crazy after going through the gears of the machinery at his job and started creating all sorts of problems around the factory. After Chaplin goes crazy, he is sent to jail instead of being sent to a mental institution without giving him the opportunity to be healthy again. I think that this problem is still alive in America; it is not a surprise to see shootings by mentally ill people at least once a moth on TV.

I personally believe that the work of an artist is to inspire humanity to attain new levels of consciousness and understanding. As and artist we have the ability to bring people together to think, collaborate, and develop connections between the different aspects that we call human experience. Science, humor, language, music, culture, and feelings that relate to all of us are creatively expressed on the timeless film, “Modern Times.”