Modern Times: Analysis of Charlie Chaplin's Iconic Film (IDC 20)

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of Charlie Chaplin's film, 'Modern Times.' It examines the film's portrayal of industrialization, its impact on individuals, and its use of humor as a form of social critique. The analysis highlights how the film uses humor to convey its message about the dehumanizing effects of mechanization and the importance of human creativity. The essay also discusses the film's enduring relevance and its visionary commentary on society, referencing the film's depiction of the 'great depression' and the rapid industrialization of the United States. The analysis also includes references to relevant scholarly sources. The assignment brief is about the role of humor in society.

Running head: MODERN TIMES
Introduction to film studies
Modern Times- Charlie Chaplin
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MODERN TIMES
‘Modern Times’ is considered to be one of the greatest comedy films of all times by
many film critics. The film was directed by Charlie Chaplin in 1936 and depicted the time of
‘great depression’ in the United States, which according to Charlie Chaplin was due to the
rapid industrialization, which he gave the moniker ‘Modern Times’. The film relied heavily
on its humor in a subtle and fun way to drive home its message of how technology affects day
to day lives of individuals to which we still can relate to (Grace, 1952).
The film starts with the message of humanity’s crusade in the pursuit of happiness
with a depiction of a flock of sheep. This was a humorous way of showing how collectivism
can take away the constructs of individualism. The message really acted to shake up how
people thought about the industrialization, with hundreds of workers flocking to the factories,
working on the assembly lines. There was an eerie semblance between the herd of sheep
entering the barn, the workers entering the factory and the mass production of various goods
in the factories, showing how the mechanization was leading people towards a mindless,
mechanical work, devoid of any emotions, making a person work like a robot (Chaplin et al.,
1936; Rice, 2017).
The film also uses humor as a social critique of the direction of the society towards
modernization and how with the advent of the mechanical work, which was supposed to
bring happiness to people, only resulted in their enslavement. The humor thus acted as a form
of warning to everyone about how overdependence on technology can drive away the spirit of
creativity and innovation (Brock, 2016; Carroza, 2019).
These aspects show how the film was way ahead of its time, in terms of its visionary
comment on the society and the intelligent way humor was used to spread across a message
making it one of the greatest films ever.

2MODERN TIMES
References:
Brock, T. (2016). Modern Times. Preserving and Performing Film Scores by Charles
Chaplin. Journal of Film Preservation, (94), 97.
Carrozza, M. C. (2019). Are We Going Through a Real Revolution?. In The Robot and Us
(pp. 1-11). Springer, Cham.
Chaplin, C., Goddard, P., Bergman, H., & Conklin, C. (1936). Modern times (Vol. 5).
Beverly Hills, CA: United Artists.
Grace, H. A. (1952). Charlie Chaplin's films and American culture patterns. The Journal of
Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 10(4), 353-363.
Rice, S. (2017). Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (Reviewed by Shelley Rice). Public Voices,
4(2), 93-101.