Charlie Chaplin and His Times - Report Example

Charlie Chaplin Charlie Chaplin Introduction Charles Chaplin was born on 16th April 1889 and died on 25th December 1977 at 88 years. He was an English filmmaker and actor who rose the ladder of fame in the era of silent film production. He became a worldwide personality by the use of screen persona known as the tramp who stands out as a prominent figure in the film industry (Chaplin & Robinson, n.d.). Chaplin acted for more than 75 years from his childhood up to a year before his death and experienced both controversy and adulations. The early life of Chaplin as a child was defined by lots of hardships and extreme poverty because his father was not present, and her mother took full responsibility for him. His mother used to struggle a lot financially and on several occasions, Chaplin was sent to childrens home before he reached age nine. At the age of fourteen, Chaplin’s mother was found to have a mental condition that made their financial status worse than before. He entered the entertainment sector at a very early age touring music halls as a comedian and a stage actor (Chaplin & Robinson, n.d.). The prestigious Fred Karno Company then saw the talent that he possessed and signed him at the age of nineteen and took Chaplin to the United States of America. He later started making appearances in 1924 and within a short period, he developed his Tramp persona making him have a large number of followers globally. Chaplin used to direct his films and with time, he was recognized as one of the best-known figures in the movie industry. He was responsible for the writing, directing, producing, starring, editing and composing the music played in most of his films. Lots of persons in the film industry and those who worked closely with him said that he was a perfectionist whose financial muscle helped him in taking lots of time in producing his movies. Most of Chaplin’s movies are characterized by pathos combined with slapstick, typified in the Tramp’s struggles against adversity. Most of his movies portray social and political themes and an autobiographical component. Chaplin’s movie production methods Charlie Chaplin talked less about the methods he used in the filmmaking industry and claimed that doing so will be a tantamount to a magician leading to him spoiling his illusions. Very little was known about his working processes to his death, and his production methods were revealed through a documentary called the Unknown Chaplin. Until the shooting of the great dictator, it has been said that Chaplin never shot his movies from a complete script with most of his first films coming from a vague premise. In his production, he usually accepted new ideas from his production team and sometimes discarded them, in the process, a narrative structure would emerge, that frequently required Chaplin to re-do the shooting of an already-completed scene that might have been used in the story. The manner of shooting that Chaplin used meant that he would take longer in the production compared to the standard film production. When he realized that he was out of ideas, he often took a production break and could take some time and even days as he prepared for a major come back in the studio. To prove his perfectionist nature, Chaplin used to delay the process of production so as produce a high-quality film to the audience by shooting and editing as many takes as possible. His production techniques have been described as sheer perseverance to the point of madness because he was always consumed entirely in the film production. The combination of all his production techniques that usually was accompanied by story improvisation and relentlessness in perfecting his works often resulted in the production of thousands of feet of film going to waste (Hansmeyer, 2007). The result of this was massive taxation that made Chaplin be frustrated and in some cases, he would lash his production crew and the actors too. Charles always practiced total control over his picture production to an extent that he would at some point act some roles in the film that were meant for other people. He wanted the actors to do completely whatever he did and not to do their things (Lynn, 1997). After getting the shots, Chaplin would then do the editing from the large amounts of footages produced and came up with the kind of film that he desired to give to the potential clients. His independence in film production made him to be referred as one of the first auteurs by the film historians. Style and themes used by Chaplin Though Chaplin’s style of comedy is categorically defined as slapstick, it’s always considered to be intelligent and restrained with some movie analysts and historians describing it as a mix of deft, thoughtful and balletic physical comedy and also situation based gags. He then diverged from his well known slapstick by slowing the pace and completely exhausting each and every scene of its comedy potentiality, while placing more focus on the development of the viewers relationship to the characters used in the films (Hansmeyer, 2007). Unlike most of the conventional slapstick comedies, a movie analyst puts it clear that the comic moments done in Chaplins films try to center mostly on the Tramps attitude to the things that happened to him. The humor that comes from Chaplins comedies does not necessarily come from the Tramp bumping into a tree but from lifting his hat to the tree in apology. A scholar by the name Dan Kamin has argued that serious demeanor and the quirky mannerism in the midst of the slapstick actions are the primary elements of Chaplins comedy (Lynn, 1997). The use of surreal transformation of objects and the use of in-camera trickery are also common features in his works. Conclusion To conclude, silent films produced by Chaplin typically follow the efforts of the Tramps actually to reserve in a harsh world. Chaplin lives in absolute poverty and continuously receive harsh treatment from the society but always remains kind and upbeat. The actor defies his social position and strives to be seen as a gentleman. The Tramp usually challenges administration figures and also gives as good as he gets leading to his description as a representative of the underprivileged in the society. The combination of pathos is a well- indicated element in the works of Chaplin. Sappiness in Chaplin’s movies arises from a range of sources, with the pinpointing of personal failure, disaster in economics and the essentials. Charles on several times drew from catastrophic events when producing his films as he did in the case of The Gold Rush inspired by the destiny of the Donner party. Chaplin also had his works touching on controversial issues and explores the topics ironically bringing out the comedy out of sufferings. His movies also were characterized by social commentary, as it is evident in the underdog. With time, he began to incorporate political messages into the films as he did in the Modern Times Movie and The Great Dictator. Some of Chaplins films slot in autobiographical facts and some psychologists came to believe that he played himself always as he was in his dismal youth. In his movie the kid, Chaplin tried to express the complications that he passed on while as a small child to the point of being taken to the orphanage. In limelight, Chaplin slotted in some elements from his parents lives. Lots of Chaplins sets especially those taken in the streets usually have strong similarities to those who belong to the local region where he grew up. From analysis, the structure of his films mostly consists of sketches tied together with a common setting and theme than having a closely put together storyline. All his films are simple and economical as the scenes are seen as staged making the production process cheap, and it has been said that Chaplin believed in action and nothing more. References Chaplin, C., & Robinson, D. My autobiography. Hansmeyer, C. (2007). Charlie Chaplins techniques for the creation of comic effect in his films. Munchen: GRIN Verlag GmbH. Lynn, K. (1997). Charlie Chaplin and his times. New York: Simon & Schuster. Read More