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Critical analysis of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie chaplin biography essay
Critical analysis of Charlie Chaplin
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James Agee once wrote in Life Magazine of Charlie Chaplin’s career as, “The finest pantomime, the deepest emotion, and the richest and most poignant poetry was in his work”. One thing that personally inspires me about Charlie Chaplin was his charisma. In every film he has been apart of, he always manages to make everyone in the room laugh whether using slapstick comedy or the use of simple gags. In this project, I will explore Chaplin’s upbringing, his great movie career, and why Chaplin was unwelcome in the United States during the Red Scare of the 1950’s.
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889 in London, England. His father, Charles Chaplin Sr., was a vocalist and an actor. His mother, Hannah Chaplin, was a vocalist as well as a character comedienne in the music halls of London. Chaplin also had a half-brother named Sydney, who was from a previous marriage of Hannah’s (Lynn). When Charlie was five years old, he sang for his mother on stage after she had fallen ill and was unable to speak let alone sing (Lynn). Everyone in the audience loved Charlie’s performance so much, that they threw coins onto the stage in show of appreciation of the young actor. By the age of 10, Chaplin’s childhood consisted of extreme poverty, working in the workhouses of London, and seeing his mother's mental health decline so much, that it had her institutionalized. Charlie and his brother Sydney were sent to an orphanage shortly after his mother was admitted into the asylum. Their father remarried, giving the opportunity to live with their father once more. The Chaplin brothers were often locked out of his father’s house because his new wife didn’t want to take care of his children. They were often left to search for food and shelter outs...
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..., he vowed to never return to the America:
"Whether I re-entered that unhappy country or not was of little consequence to me. I would like to have told them that the sooner I was rid of that hate-beleaguered atmosphere the better, that I was fed up of America's insults and moral pomposity" (Chaplin 455).
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.
Works Cited
Brinkley, Alan. Liberalism and Its Discontents. 1998. Cambridge, Mass.
Chaplin, Charles. My Autobiography. 1964. London: Simon & Schuster, 2012
Lynn, Kenneth S. Charlie Chaplin and His Times. New York, NY: Simon
& Schuster, 1997. Print.
Maland, Charles J. Chaplin and American Culture. 1989. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
This PBS documentary of Bob Hope as an entertainer was well done. It looks at Bob's contributions as an actor, comedian, dancer and humanitarian. The film's footage, from the early 1900's to present, is revealing to the eras of Bob Hope's career. It takes you through Bob's career in vaudeville, Broadway, radio, movies, television and live performances. As narrator Les Brown Jr. states " Bob Hope is an American icon and the only entertainer to be # 1 in all facets of the entertainment field". This documentary is proof that this statement is true.
The film had showed the conflict between television journalist Edward Murrow and the United States senator in the states of Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. Edward Murrow through his nightly news program "See It Now" to expose the scrutiny and criticism of McCarthy’s “red scare.” Murrow and his colleagues caused by the actions of a great disturbance at the time, and became the United States history of most according to the legendary moment.
Charles Albright was born in Amarillo Texas, an orphan, and adopted by Fred and Delle Albright. His mother was a schoolteacher whose influence eventually allowed Albright to skip two grades in school. As a child, Albright purchased his first gun and killed animals with it and practiced taxidermy with his mother. At just thirteen years old he began stealing and was arrested for the first time. He graduated high school at just fifteen years old and enrolled in pre-med training.
Lewis, J. (2008). American Film: A History. New York, NY. W.W. Norton and Co. Inc. (p. 405,406,502).
McKeod , Kembrew. “Cash, Johnny(1932-).” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Penedergast an Tome Pendergast. Vol. 1. 449-450. Student Resources. 4 Feb 2014
The Great Depression is when the film industry boomed with new types of movies like: gangster films and musicals. They were both born in the Great Depression. Most films show the hardships of the time period. Some of the films display this very well for example Modern Times staring Charlie Chaplin. One of the more well-known gangster films was The Public Enemy.. These films have very different views of the time period but still have things in common. This paper will compare Modern Times and The Public Enemy.
Charlie Sheen was born on September 3, 1965, in New York City. His father, Martin Sheen, at the time was an actor just breaking into the business with performances on Broadway. His mother, Janet Sheen, was a former New York art student who met Charlie's father right after he had moved to Manhattan. Martin and Janet had three other children, Emilio Estevez, Renée Estevez, and Ramon Estevez, all of whom became actors.
Ferrell, Robert H., and Peter Szatmar. "The Villains Of The 'Red Scares' Of 1950." Phi Kappa Phi Forum 90.3 (2010): 10-11. Business Source Complete. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
Classic film noir originated after World War II. This is the time where post World War II pessimism, anxiety, and suspicion was taking the world by storm. Many films that were released in the U.S. Between 1939s and 1940s were considered propaganda films that were designed for entertainment during the Depression and World War II. During the 1930s many German and Europeans immigrated to the U.S. and helped the American film industry with powerf...
...e American Dream. Larry Ceplair and Englund stated in the book The Inquistion in Hollywood, “The destruction of the motion picture Left not only transformed the political atmosphere in Hollywood, but also adversely affected the kind of product which the studios turned out. “ In the early 20th century Hollywood reframed from producing politically controversial films in fear of becoming a target of McCarthy or the HUAC. Anti-communism influences the films produced, films portrayed communism as evil and immoral. The films during the cold war certainly portrayed the political storm between the progressive left and the conservative right. Films such as Ninotchka in 1939, showed anti-communism, guilty of Treason 1949, showed an attack against communism, exploiting the evils of communism was shown in Docudrama. The Red Menace in 1949 showed the immense threat f communism.
Through these extensive genres, Welles made a brand of himself. He was known for playing in theaters, receiving the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the D.W. Griffiths Award, and was named number sixteen on the Fifty Greatest Screen Legends List of the American Film Institute. In Welles films, famous actors like Everett Sloane and Joseph Cotton made constant appearances. His filmin...
Silet, Charles L. P. "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of a Film Culture." MysteryNet. n.pag. Online. Internet. 2 Nov. 1999. Available: www.mysterynet.com/hitchcock/silet.shtml.
During the mid and late 1970’s, the mood of American films shifted sharply. People needed to get away from such negative memories as the Vietnam War, long gas lines, the resignation of President Nixon, and ...
Charlie Chaplin faced public backlash with his stance on World War I. In The Importance of Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Diamond says, "a British citizen had chosen not to leave the United States to fight for his native country" (58). Chaplin's actions caused British audiences to have mixed feelings about him. They loved his films, but disapproved of his non-participation in the war. However, British representatives said that Chaplin was more valuable as an entertainer than an infantryman (Diamond 58). So while the public disagreed with his non-participation, the British government backed him up.
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.