Please post your comments here by Wednesday October 22 at 8pm.
(Be ready to snort popcorn out of your nose. So so funny.....)
Include in your response (though perhaps obvious) some comment on the effect of mechanization on society at that time.
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26 comments:
Oliver Young:
In my opinion the inventions and technology that have invented have made things worse for us as human beings, because the world went and got itself into a big hurry,I mean we want every thing right now, I mean heaven forbid we have to wait twenty five seconds for our precious internet.
In the movie it was funny but also vey true that bosses will do any thing to their employees to try and make money off of them, yeah its all about that almighty dollar.
I have to admit the character that Charlie Chaplin plays is very animated, he could be compared to modern day characters such as Kramer on Seinfeld, which is quite an accomplishment for back in his day.
OLiver Young:
This is a comment about the Film the "The Great Gatsby" starring Robert Redford:
Well in my opinion this film was about a mysterious character named Gatsby that every one seemed to be secretly mesberized by. As far as the filmmaking is concerned and the story line is well thought out, Most of the film is spent building the character of Gatsby up, every one in the film seemed to know him or at least know of him, which made him all the more mysterious, which i feel was a nice touch, keep the audience guessing until the near end nice touch.
Regarding Chaplin's Modern Times film. Totally hilarious and I could relate with him about the management at work --- it resembles mine, it sucks big time. Anyways this film was worth my time. Chaplin ranks up there in my list along with the Three Stooges.
I don't know where we are in the time line but this movie compared to Birth of a Nation is ten times better. The film of Modern Times is smooth, it is not choppy. It has good transitions, fade in and fade out and smooth text. The text in the film is a lot better,clear and easier to read compared to Birth of a nation. I'm not sure if we have made it that far in the time line with technology but I think in the beginning of the film the fly was a visual effect.
One huge thing I realized about this movie compared to last week movie is that this movie has copyrights.It hard to tell because it a black and white film but this film has a lot of good lighting in it compared to last week movie which had crappy lighting.I notice this film has a lot of sound effects, better music and has voice over in it.Overall with little dialogue, and no color this film is pretty good.
Major Carter
I got the impression that Charlie view modernization as silly and could be unnecessary. The scene with the automatic feeder should machinery as silly. Also, when Charlie got a nervous breakdown from working with the machines, it conveyed the message that machines were more bother than what they are worth.
The scene with the conveyer belt reminded me of I Love Lucy. It was a classic scene for her show. I wonder if they got the idea from Charlie.
Charlie also made "nose powder" seem like it is good, because he became courageous after using it.
I thought the movie was comical and not predictable in all of the scenes. The story line moved along at a good pace. The ending was like American films. It showed hope and happiness
Modern times is already making statements about our nation that are sure to scar it in the future. employers trying to eliminate worker freedoms in order to increase overhead, overworked under paid employees, new gadgets constantly being built in order to increase productivity. this movie appeals to the vastly emerging middle-class worker who actually spent money on watching films such as these and who also would soon be involved in the bitter union organizations to combat workplace brutality. the fact that this is about the industrial revolution and makes statements such as these says that this piece is an example of art mimicking life, all the while using film as the medium to do it.
Modern Times kept me entertained the entire time I was watching it. Even though there was no spoken diolouge the visual gags were enough to speak for themselves.
While the movies was highly humorous it also spoke of some highly important and very relevant issues of the time. Sad as it seems the regular food and shelter of jail was preferable to starving on The streets unemployed.
As I watch this film I can' help wondering if society is begining to fall into the same patterns now. With technology on the rise it becomes easier and easier to replace manpower with machine power. Where do you draw the line? Is saving time and money worth it if it costs people their jobs? After a product is useless if there is no one making money in order to buy it.
This movie made me think more critically about the world and that was quite a pleasant suprise.
Hello All -
Thanks for keeping up on the viewing and the insightful commentary. I'm sorry to miss the discussion, (but, frankly, it feels great to be out of the country).
It's a big wide beautiful world; glad we can be part of it together.
ps. Let's check back in with Chaplin at the end of his life and see where these ideas led him, k?
stay well.
enjoy Thursday.
see you soonish,
LH
Modern Times is still relevant today with its theme and imagery. I think we are total slaves to machines and to technology that always seems like it’s looming over us.
Chaplin’s physical comedy is some of the most brilliant things I’ve seen on film, and his choreography and timing play like a ballet made for laughs. Chaplin straddles the line of subtly and absurdity, and his movie observes human behavior with insightful wit and does it without being overly sentimental or feeling contrite.
I like how the tramp wanders from situation to situation, not totally mastering the environment he’s in, but always willing to try and never without heart.
Amber Garcia:
Modern times was a complete transformation compared to last week movie. this weeks was comical and engaging rather a documentary about the tragedy we already know. i mean sure this movie had a heartfelt story behind it, but at least is was able to be laughed off.
i mean what else can you do let the depression suck you in if you get knocked down just get right back up and keep on laughing.
i throughly enjoyed this weeks film.
I found this movie very comical in such ways even compared to funny movies today. The quality of film of "Modern Times" is much better then last weeks movie. Also the transitions from scenes and acting is overall better.
The fact that machines technology is getting stronger and bigger everyday is shown in this movie but in a comical way. Modern Times was a great movie and kept me interested the whole time but also made me look back and see how hard those times were. To think jail was better off living in then the outside life caught me by surprise.
Overall I enjoyed the movie very much and think Charlie Chaplin was a very great comedian and actor of the time.
Modern Times was a billion times better than Birth of a Nation, especially considering it was made only about 20 years later. I enjoyed the sound effects , cinematography, and transitions (which were hugely improved from last week’s film). The subject matter is relevant today just as much as it was back in the 30‘s. I think the whole “technology taking over our lives” theme will be relevant forever because we keep inventing new technology and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. The whole scene with the machine that feeds you was really funny and impressive. It tells a lot about the kind of world we live in. We want everything done for us by machines and that’s just sad and kinda gross because it’s like the ultimate in laziness.
I thought that modern times was actually a very interesting movie. I liked how it had sound even though there was no spoken dialogue. It helped me to pay attention to the whole thing. Charlie Chaplin is a funny little man even though he ends up with the little orphan girl. I didn't like how it didn't really finish the story, like what happened to her little sisters?
The film making is definitely a step up from Birth of a Nation. They added in the voice over for the talking salesman machine and added sound effects. This all helped me stay awake this time. It is a movie I would watch again.
Its so amazing though, to see how far we have come. We think about those things now and its just an easy afterthought, but back then they had to come up for ways to make it happen in the first place. Back then they invented, now we just glamorize everything.
Modern Times is hilarious as well as ominous. I really dig on the messages the movie is conveying with streamlining the workflow which is what our economy and market is all about. It's unfortunate that most things, and it's ever increasing, are losing their "human touch"
There were a few parts of this movie that I couldn't help but laugh. Unfortunately there were other parts of this movie that I was quite bored. I was intrigued by the singing at the end. What language was that in, by the way?
It felt a little long, and early in the movie there was sound to it, which got me interested. Then through the stretch of it the sound really was toned out and most of it was pretty silent. The effects had sound, like the gun blasting or the whistle blowing. It seemed that Chaplin used sound in this movie sparingly. Almost as if he was experimenting with sound instead of using it the whole time.
Chaplin's animation is just exuberant. Its in his face, its in his whole body. There is no doubt that he was very good with his work. Overall I enjoyed the movie.
The chick looks like Molly Shannon though. I was expecting her to shove her hands into her arm pits then sniff them quickly.
-Jeremy K
this movie was funny and i think that it is ironic how some of the things in it still apply today. For example, the opening scene where it shows everyone off to work and it is busy and hectic, and everyone is almost like machines working trying to make a living and they are exhausted by it. Time seems to pass fast, and it was almost as if Charlie Chaplin liked being in jail as oppose to the real world because it was calmer than having a job. It was not until he fell in love did he really find a purpose to bring food to the table. The film was interesting to watch and funny.
Samantha Brick:
I enjoyed 'Modern Times' way more than 'Birth of a Nation'. Chaplin was a genius. Not only was he able to make people laugh without having to resort to crude humor (like a lot of films today) but he was also able to tell a story that ended up being relative even today. Technology is an ever growing and evolving facet of society and Chaplin was able to demonstrate the extremes of it while still making light of the situation. The story was easy to follow even though there wasn't much dialogue and only the occasional text. And the shots and camera angles helped a lot with the progression of the film and kept the audience's attention in a positive way.
Modern Times was so funny. I think that what helped me keep my attention. I love that it has no words but it’s that funny. I do like it more than the last movie cause it was easier to understand. The story had enough flow to keep you watching.
The movie has no words, but the funny expressions and the comedic motions make up completely for that. To me the movie is well done in my opinion. For its time it’s got some great picture detail and the sets and places they filmed we so well picked. The movie was so true about jobs and money and the world of machines.
The parts were the girl grabs the bananas and starts to eat them had me laughing so hard. It said nothing but yet it had a thousand words. The movie just has that effect on people. I hope the other movies are this entertaining.
Modern Times is an amazing pice of film making. Chaplin is a master story teller. The way he incorporated the social issues of the industrialization of the work place and the impact in had on the every day person was very interesting. I found the story to relevant to today and the economic crisis this country is facing. In that, unemployment is on the rise and many people (as in the movie) will soon be with out a job. Chaplin's comedy is definitely the silver lining of this bleak period of time.
Modern Times
I must admit watching this movie was truly entertaining; I was completely entranced from beginning to the end. I give it up to Charlie Chaplin; I didn’t realize what a genius this man was, way ahead of his time. I had my doubts before I pressed play but all that faded as I was gripped by the raw reality of the struggles that existed then and continue to be relevant. Unemployment, poverty, police brutality, organized strikes, workplace abuses, were all issues tackled in this film. These issues were presented in the perspective of the average hard working American trying to survive. I was extremely impressed with the effects created in such a technology limited time, huge monitors, and the crash scene just to mention a few. Modern Times was a tactful piece of comedy. I loved it!!
This movie was definately better than last weeks. Very smooth transitions and cleaner text helped to keep my attention.The whole theme of technology taking over is still relevant today and thats what makes this film great.
Modern Times was of course funny, it was Charley Chaplin…even though he was poor he made the best out of it. Half the time he was arrested, it was because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought it was really cute story. I was surprised it had some voice over and when he was singing at the end, it looked like the mouth matched his singing.
It really showed the impact of machineries in that time period and what was going on in society at that time. It showed a little bit of communism issues, factory strikes, abundance of homeless people, and lack of work showing how the economy was at the time.
The scene where the sales people came to the first factory he worked at, trying to sell them a ridiculous machine that fed people, really showed how society was pushing new technology.
When the guy got stuck inside the big machine, it showed that people were still getting use to using these big machines and being clumsy doesn’t help.
Chaplin was certainly well in tune with the reaction he created from his actions on screen, from his single eyebrow lifts in his facial expressions to his waddle with the pointed out duck-feet. Working in the factory and standing at the nuts and bolts belt was reminiscent of the chocolate scene Lucille Ball had performed in one of her episodes on I Love Lucy. (Wonder if there was any influence?) He appeared to be a master of developing simple situations into animated chaos. I'm not sure if it was just the black and white element, but the sets appeared to be simple, yet well thought out and easy to understand and see, kind of like his acting, animated yet simple. I enjoyed watching the mechanic and his assistant work their way through the big gears. Funny, all that slapstick. Good stuff.
I don't think it really makes any sense to compare this to the other film that we watched because they're completely different films. and of course have been made later when filmmaking has become a little bit more refined definitely gives MODERN TIMES an advantage.
I think as a filmmaker I can learn a lot from these silent films. Nowadays we take dialogue for granted, instead of showing, we tell, and in some cases we tell too much. In MODERN TIMES they use very little dialogue and SHOW us the story. Of course they use music and sound effects to ENHANCE the story, but we're getting our story from what we see, not the words that we hear. I personally would like to study silent films more just so that I can better understand storytelling with little to no dialogue.
I enjoyed watching this film... it was simply hilarious. It had me very tuned in with charlie chaplin character. The cinematography work was done nicely and flowed really well compared to Birth of a nation and the lighting was well lit and easy to follow the story a whole lot better.
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