Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) - Essay Example

Chaplain, the producer of the movie, had a vision of scientific management in 1930 when the movie was produced. The era of 1930 was a period of economic misfortune, social struggles and industrial standardization (Tomlinson 660). The period’s culture was powerfully depicted by the entertainment of the thirties. In Modern Times film, the producer has constructed scenes wisely to portray his opinions of the period’s prominent management styles. The elements used in the workshop to produce the movie exhibit replaceability, standardization, specialization and centralization.

These elements have been used intentionally by the producer to display criticism of classical management ideas. At the time the film was being produced, US was trapped in economic slouch that led to high unemployment rates, which consequently led to dwindling of corporate earnings. Because of these economic hardships, there came up unrelenting obsession due to the urge to save time and energy as a way of raising profit (Robinson 12). Industry leaders and business owners of the period began to turn to ever enlightening minds of scientists for help and profitability.

During this time, there developed a strong consensus that math and science were the only solutions to the problems of the period. Scientists were progressing rapidly in their activities to make their labor effective and efficient. Unfortunately, for other humans within the labor force, during the scientific age had scientific views that led to great injustices. The Modern Times film unfortunately failed to suggest how employees can be managed as mechanized entities instead of just ordinary humans.

Most scientific minds like Fredrick Taylor, managers and CEOs accepted and suggested classical management theorists to place proposals to work in their factories (Tomlinson 661). The Modern Times film has highlighted this aspect in brief. The film opens with a juxtaposition of a heard of crazed sheep with a street hustling with a mass