Communication of Information in Charlie Chaplin Films When a critic examines the silent films of Charles Chaplin a question that arises is whether the comedy he portrayed is a mockery of political and current issues, or a means to bring laughter to viewers. Silent films generated different emotions and thoughts since a spectator was simply watching actions rather than hearing an explanation through words. Information was cleverly construed this way and however the critic analyzed the information presented was an individual responsibility. In fact, Charles Chaplin once said, "..it is not the reality that matters in a film but what the imagination can make of if," to a young critic.[1] Media, such as television, film, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet have all been influential mediums of information in the Twentieth century. Rarely was silent film thought of as a strong medium, but Charles Chaplin used silent film as a medium to present political and life issues through a comedic fashion. In Chaplin's later films, he used sound effects, such as whistle blowing and music, to assist him in relaying a message thoroughly. In fact, when films included speech Chaplin felt that this would distort his messages and eventually his success would crumble. Chaplin's beliefs regarding silence in films was expressed earlier by the theorist, Jean Baudrillard. Baudrillard once said, "Speech exchanged dissolves the idea and function of the medium, and of the intermediary, as does symbolic land reciprocal exchange."[2] Though, Chaplin disagreed with Baudrillard's belief that "[the particular media] can involve a technical apparatus as well as a corporeal one, but in this case, it no longer acts as a medium, as an autonomous system administ... ... middle of paper ... ...is information is not organized or explained in traditional techniques. Therefore, meanings and actions can mislead the viewer to understand an issue entirely differently than what the artist, in this case Charles Chaplin, intended. I do not believe that Charles Chaplin attempted to defy and sneer the government or modern times; but I do understand how some may have taken the issues too seriously being that the films were released so close to the actual events they portrayed. Bibliography: Notes 1. Chaplin. My Autobiography. PAC Holdings: London,1966 2. Jean Baudrillard, "Requiem for the Media," in For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign Telos, 1981 3. Ibid. 4. Chaplin, Charles. My Life in Pictures. Grosset & Dunlap Publishers: New York, 1975 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid. 7. Chaplin. My Autobiography. PAC Holdings: London, 1966
script, the viewer needs another way to interpret the film. The 1922 silent film Nosferatu
The silent era in film occurred between 1895 through 1929. It had a a major impact on film history, cinematically and musically. In silent films, the dialogue was seen through muted gestures, mime, and title cards from the beginning of the film to the end. The pioneers of the silent era were directors such as, D. W. Griffith, Robert Wiene and Edwin S. Porter. These groundbreaking directors brought films like first horror movie and the first action and western movie. Due to lack of color, the silent films were either black and white or dyed by various shades and hues to signal a mood or represent a time of day. Now, we begin to enter towards the sound era and opposed to the silent era, synchronized sounds were introduced to movies. The classic movie, The Jazz Singer, which was directed by Alan Crosland, was the first feature length film to have synchronized dialogue. This was not only another major impact in film history, but it also played a major part in film technology and where film is right now.
Political communication—communication with a political purpose about human interaction—takes many different forms including novels, poetry, music, television, and film, which all have their distinct advantages and disadvantages in communicating with the public. Although some political communication intends to enact or drive social changes, some political communication seeks to maintain the status quo. The film medium, which is the subject of this paper, has a much broader mass appeal than other medias and often changes the viewer’s original beliefs and perceptions when he or she experiences over an hour straight of visual indoctrination of only one view.
(1) Wittgenstein once said, “A typical America film, naive and silly, can for all its silliness and even by means of it— be instructive . . . I have often learnt from a silly American film.” (Wittgenstein 57e). He is pointing out that the humor, and the means of humor, in some films can be a tool of instruction. The ability of film to cause a reaction like laughter is of philosophical interest. While Wittgenstein’s comment is itself playful and dense, it directs our attention to a philosophical aspect of some films. Understood in a wider scope, I believe the comment is a terse philosophy of film. Understood in an even wider scope, we can see it as a terse theory of philosophical method.
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, and no spoken dialogue. The silent film era was from 1894 to 1929. Even though silent films seemed boring, they were actually quite the popular hit. In the films the actors would use gestures, mime, or title cards to convey to the audience what the plot was about. “The term silent film is therefore a retronym – that is a term created to distinguish something retroactively”, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_film). Since September 2013, it has been announced by the United States Library of Congress that a total of 70% of American silent films are to believed to be lost forever. Some thought out reasons are 1.) The film companies decided to destroy the films once the silent film era ended, 2.) Natural environmental causes that caused the films to degrade over time, and 3.) there could had been fires in the vaults where they kept all the films in. Since actors couldn’t talk during the films they used body language and facial expressions so the audience could better understand what the plot was and how the character felt and portrayed on the screen. Silent films were suppose to attract audiences that were simplistic. Melodramatic acting was common in most films. Vaudeville was a very popular origin in silent films. In mid-1910s though, the vaudeville style soon dies out due to differences
Watched by grandparents, known by parents, but quickly fleeting in the minds of young ones, Charlie Chaplin is the original “tramp.” From films such as The Kid or The Circus, Chaplin is the face of silent films. His unique combination of comedy and tragedy is a modern reformation of Shakespeare’s style. Many would agree that Charlie Chaplin is the Shakespeare of silent films. From rags to riches to exile, Chaplin is a timeless comedian and will always be remembered as the “tramp.”
Perhaps now I must consider an alternate approach to understanding this film. Maybe my difficulty in pinpointing The Silent Partner's positive attributes demonstrates to some extent my current narrow-mindedness on Hollywood-style pictures. I think it's only fair to treat this film as an article of film criticism in order to accurately look at it within the context of a national cinema. And so, let us begin by looking first at the particulars of the Canadian film industry around the time The Silent Partner was released. Maybe afterwards, we'll be able to understand the implications of what audiences saw on that illustrious Canadian screen I feel so emotionally bound to preserving.
In 1939, Charlie Chaplin was a world famous movie star who released a movie that would be very controversial, The Great Dictator. The movie was meant to ridicule Hitler, as at that time he was at the height of his power. At the end of the movie, Chaplin delivers a speech as a Jewish barber mistaken for Chaplin’s Hitler- like dictator. Chaplin uses speech rhetoric to convey Chaplin's message of hope and light. The film did very well in the theaters and was Chaplin's most successful movie. The speech in the film, The Great Dictator, used it's influential place in society with cinema to convey a message of peace, hope, and independence.
Brownlow, Kevin 1994, ‘Preface’, in Paolo, C, Burning Passions: an introduction to the study of silent film, British Film Institute, London: BFI, pp. 1-3.
An obvious difference in these films is that the 1931 version played to a Depression audience and that the Coppola version played to a modern audience. (I am being extremely careful because, obviously, the 1931 audience was modern in 1931; however, we like to think of ourselves as being more modern than past generations. There are differences in the audiences which viewed the respective versions in their time, and I hope to prove this point as the paper unfolds.)
“The biggest mistake we have made is to consider that films are primarily a form of entertainment. The film is the greatest medium since the invention of movable type for exchanging ideas and information, and it is no more at its best in light entertainment than literature is at its best in the light novel.” - Orson Welles
Amongst the numerous great silent film directors, the three that are commonly mentioned surrounding that discussion are Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin. Having seeing a greater amount of Charlie Chaplin’s magnificent work than the others, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd most certainly still got my consideration. In spite of every one of the three delivering awesome pieces of visual artwork, they shared some comparable attributes, however they each had unique differences which contributed to their each distinct style of silent film production. From seeing films produced by all three of these directors, it is evident that comedy works magnificently well with the silent movie format.
We have all seen it done before, either in real life or in the movies. A situation is funny because of the misinterpretation of someone's actions or the complete conflict of what a situation seems to be and what it really is. People come into contact with sight gags all the time. One might be trying to be sneaky and hide something and then when someone looks, one pretends to be doing something else not to get caught. One could also pantomime using an umbrella as a baseball bat. These are both basic forms of sight gags.
Even though these communist accusations were never proven to be true, today Chaplin is considered a filmmaking pioneer and one of the most identifiable actors of the twentieth century.
The film “Modern Times,” directed by Charlie Chaplin, is set in the mid nineteen thirties. This time frame places the characters in the middle of the Great Depression and the industrial revolution. The film depicts the lifestyle and quality of living for people in this era by showing a factory worker who cannot take the monotony of working on an assembly line. The film follows the factory worker through many of his adventures throughout the film. The film’s main stars are Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard.