Chaplin and the Cinema - Essay Example

Chaplin and the Cinema The era of Charlie Chaplin can also be said to be an era of remarkable developments in the sector of entertainment. He maintained his stance as a comedian while portraying other daily life situations. It was indeed a difficult task for him to maintain his stance as he was a sort of comedian who did not talk while doing his plays. Any form of entertainment which needs to convey the emotions of different people requires the people or actors to speak. But Charlie Chaplin is famous for his ability to show his inner feelings without stating a word. Even in this modern era people take inspiration from Charlie Chaplin’s way of acting. He expressed his inner sentiments by changing his expressions of the face. This was a skill which was possessed by him and he was the most famous comedian of his time. But later he adopted the way of acting like others. The movie ‘The Great Dictator’ marked a great revolution in the entertainment sector. This was the first movie in which Charlie Chaplin used the medium of talking to convey his feelings and emotions. It marked the introduction of Charlie Chaplin as a ‘talkie’ in the film industry which marked a great importance and secondly it also made its political importance felt through out the world. This movie was released during the era of World War II and showed its criticism against the forces which were involved during the World War II. The Great Dictator was a movie which marked the entrance of Americans in the World War II. This movie is of a great historical significance. It disparages the strategies designed specially by the Nazis during the World War II. The strategies made by the Nazis were shown as racial in this movie and it disapproved the policies largely. The production of ‘The Great Dictator’ started in 1937 at which time the Nazis did not pose any kind of danger to the United States of America. This movie takes its story from Hitler and Nazism. If the movie is closely reviewed it can be said that it clearly criticizes the policies made by Hitler and Nazis. Charlie Chaplin plays the role of a barber who has a faith in the religion of Jews. He belongs to the country of Tomania. In the commencement of the movie the barber is shown as a patriot of the country who is fighting in the World War I. This barber helps to save the life of a Tomanian Soldier during the war. But after the war this barber suffers from the disease amnesia and is hospitalized. Similarly another role is also played by Charlie Chaplin in the movie which is of a Tomanian dictator. This character is named Adenoid Hynkel and he is shown as an extremist in the movie. The dictator wants to eliminate all the Jews who are presently living on the lands of Tomania. At the other hand the barber himself is a Jew and he runs away from the hospital he is kept in. When the barber reaches the town in which he used to live in he finds out that the town is now turned into a ghetto by a group of terrorists. However after this town is discovered by the armies they decide to hang each and every Jew in the vicinity. But this act of brutality is stopped by the Commander Schultz when he reaches the spot. Commander Schultz was the same soldier who was saved by the Jewish barber during the war. Therefore Commander Schultz after reaching the town orders his soldiers not to hang anyone in the town. While all this is happening the Jewish barber falls in love with his neighbor. Hannah is the neighbor of the Jewish barber who gets impressed by him because of the braveness he shows. On the other side Hynkel is planning to rule over the world through his policies of supremacy and killing. He decides to kill all the Jews present in the world and dominate it. The Tomanian dictator joins hands with another dictator named Napoloni so that he can achieve dominance in the country. And after he comes in power in the state of Tomania he implements his racial policies on the people of Tomania. Commander Schultz is jailed for the mercy and compassion he shows towards the people of Tomania. However as the character of Hynkel resembles that of Jewish barber they can be easily mistaken. This resemblance proves to be of great importance to the Jewish barber and the people who wanted justice and were against the policies of racism. Thus because of the similitude between these characters the Jewish barber is mistaken with the dictator Hynkel. This marks a great curb in the movie’s stance as now the Jewish barber has the chance to change the whole scenario of the movie. Therefore after he is mistakenly taken as Hynkel he changes his policies on racism and announces a need for democracy and peace in his region. The Jewish barber tries to change the policies of Hynkel and implement his own peaceful policies. As this movie was shot in 1937 before the World War II little was known about the malevolence of Hitler. This movie was one of the famous works of that era which openly showed its resentment for the policies implemented by Hitler. ‘The Great Dictator’ was written, directed and starred by Charlie Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin after an era of silence in the movies, made a new break of speaking in this movie. This showed that he personally wanted the movie to be special with a great message. He portrayed himself in both the characters and depicted the character of Hitler in real. He directed the movie in such a way that both Nazism and Anti-Semitism were exposed. ‘The Great Dictator’ was released in 1940 regardless of the opposition that Charlie Chaplin was having. The American Rights opposed the movie widely. However this movie depicted the real character of Hitler and his needs. In 1936 the Nazi soldiers dishonored the contract of Versailles by conquering the Rhineland. This showed the inner self of Hitler who wanted to conquer the world with his racial policies. Hitler was famous for his racial policies against homosexuals and Jews. This movie portrayed Hyknel as Hitler as he is implementing the policies like that of Hitler. Hyknel does not want the Jews to live in this world while similarly Hitler wants the same too in real. However the Jewish barber comes to the safety of his people on the right time. Charlie Chaplin portrayed the characters of individuals in a comic and a horror way. This movie showed its hate for Hitler and wanted to end the era of violence that he had created. However all this hate was shown in a comic way for e.g. while giving a speech Hyknel suffocates and he uses water to stop his suffocation. But unfortunately he doesn’t realize that the crowd is starring at him and he puts water into his pants. This makes all the people present at the speech laugh at him. This scene clearly depicts Charlie’s message of hate towards Hitler and his disrespect for Hitler. In another scene Hyknel is portrayed as a chimpanzee when he tries to climb a curtain in an unusual manner. However the movie in the end gives a message of peace and harmony to the people. The Jewish barber gives a speech to the crowd about democracy and peace. This scene clearly shows that Charlie Chaplin wants the racial policies of all the dictators to be eradicated from this world. The speech is telling the viewers that the policies of Hitler should be widely resented and some action must be taken against them to avoid any future conflicts. Charlie Chaplin was famous for his comic stance in the movies. However, almost all the movies of Charlie Chaplin have a deep message for the audience. Charlie Chaplin always believed in combining humor with emotions. As Disney described Charlie in his words ‘Charlie taught me that in the best comedy you’ve got to feel sorry for your main character’. At another instance he said ‘Before you laugh with him you have to shed a tear for him’. This shows that Charlie believed in showing strong emotions while making comic movies. Charlie always wanted to give a positive message to his audience regarding the world issues. Charlie Chaplin wanted peace and harmony to be maintained in the world. In the movie ‘The Great Dictator’ Charlie Chaplin is asking the audience to wake up in response to the harsh and racial policies imposed by Hitler. Charlie Chaplin is asking for a change in the people through this movie. This movie was made in the times of discomfort and war in the 19th century and it helped in creating awareness among people about war, peace and love. ‘The Great Dictator’ was a movie which involved all the aspects of life from a positive mind. It also showed love as Hannah and the Jewish Barber fell in love during the war. It promoted peace in a different manner. And it openly discerned the policies of Adolf Hitler. ‘The Great Dictator’ was one of the great works made by Charlie Chaplin who yet another in this movie gave a strong message to the audience. The movie “City Lights” is considered as a famous piece of work by Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin liked it personally and considered it as his best piece of work and it deserved it so. This movie is full of romance, sadness and is undoubtedly a best piece of comic. The story revolves around a tramp clown, who falls in love with a blind flower girl. The role of the flower girl is played marvelously by Virginia Cherrill. The tramp clown does not realize that the girl is blind but afterwards when he comes to know about her blindness, he spends the remaining movie in the struggle to collect enough money for the operation to bring her eye sight back. This movie is full of emotional and romantic scenes along with a touch of outstanding humor. It is entertaining, and it has some of Charlie Chaplins most excellent scenes. In this movie Chaplin performed tremendously well as a boxer, sanitation worker, etc. The comic role of the intoxicated millionaire, which was played by Harry Myers, was successful to catch the attention of the viewer throughout the movie. The millionaire acts as the tramp’s friend and supporter when he is drunk but when he revives back to normal life he does not remember a single thing about the tramp and his life. As the story moves towards its end, Charlie collects the money by breaking the letter of the law in order to help the blind girl in restoring her eye sight. But unfortunately he gets imprisoned for it. However, the flower girl gets her eye sight back and does not need the tramp until he is free from prison. When she first sees the tramp she does not recognize him because, when she was blind she imagined him as a rich person and she was under the same impression. However in the end of the movie Charlie Chaplin walks in front of the same street where he saw the flower girl for the first time. And there only he realizes that the flower girl has now opened up a flower shop on the street with the help of her grand mother. But in the end of the movie when the flower girl hands Charlie Chaplin a flower she feels the touch of his hand and realizes that she has felt the touch. There only she comes to know that Charlie Chaplin is the same Tramp who helped her in restoring her sight. The ending of the movie was superb and it showed the emotions of both the characters. The ending of this movie is still widely acclaimed in the cinema because of its depiction of heart breaking emotions. Charlie Chaplin was a successful director, a marvelous writer and an excellent actor. The movie “City Lights” represents and possesses all these qualities of Chaplin at the maximum of his powers. Chaplin is the actor, the emotionalist, the most wanted clown, the ballet dancer, the competitor, the enthusiast, the tragedian and the fool, when he is aimed to make a mater piece. As in this movie, he showed the simple story of a tramp who has fallen for a blind flower girl and showed his love and sincerity by making it his aim to protect her and provide her with support. Chaplin raises the Victorian contrivances of the plot with his ingenious use of pantomime and his sure grip of how the Tramp communicates to the viewers. Chaplin took a risk of making a silent movie after the beginning of talking pictures, in 1931. The development of talking pictures had killed off the talent of silent movies that provided him with fame and fortune. However, his fans once again gathered to praise his work and he was successful in impressing the viewers. The movie ‘City Lights’ portrayed Charlie as a loving man who completed his aim in life and gave priority to his aim over everything. He showed all the qualities of a loyal and loving man. This movie as other movies of Charlie Chaplin had a message for its viewers. It gave a message of love and emotions of a person. Like other movies Charlie Chaplin in this movie also combined love with humor and presented it to the viewers. Charlie Chaplin excelled in both the forms of acting in the movies i.e. silent art form and the speaking art form. However he preferred doing the movies in the silent form as he got famous for the movies he made in the silent mode. In an era when silent form of acting wasn’t preferred in the cinema Charlie Chaplin still made his acting felt through out the world by his movie ‘City Lights’. On the other hand he made another movie named ‘The Great Dictator’ in which he expressed his emotions through talking. This movie also got famous for Charlie’s work in this movie. Charlie’s work even in this movie was widely appreciated. This showed that Charlie Chaplin could perform different kind of arts in the cinema i.e. silent form of acting and the talking form too. Charlie Chaplin’s acting is still widely acclaimed all over the cinema as humor while being silent is considered to be a very difficult task. However after this movie it can be said that he excelled in both forms of acting. Works Cited Chaplin, Charlie, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, and Henry Daniell. The Great Dictator. New York: CBS Fox Video, 1992. Egerton, Jodi Heather. Comedy, Resistance, and the Abject: Roberto Benignis Life Is Beautiful and Charlie Chaplins The Great Dictator. Report (M.A.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000, 2000. Chaplin, Charlie, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers, Allan Garcia, and Hank Mann. City Lights A Comedy Romance in Pantomime. Charles Chaplin centennial collection. Beverly Hills, CA: CBS Fox Video, 1992. Jackson, K. M. "Mickey and the Tramp: Walt Disneys Debt to Charlie Chaplin." JOURNAL OF AMERICAN CULTURE -BLACKWELL PUBLISHING-. 26. 4 (2003): 439-444. Galenson, D. W., and J. Kotin. "Filming Images or Filming Reality: The Life Cycles of Important Movie Directors from D. W. Griffith to Federico Fellini." HISTORICAL METHODS. 40. 3 (2007): 117-134. Read More