Capitalism And Conflict Theory In Modern Times By Charles Chaplin

The film Modern Times, directed by Charles Chaplin, focuses on how a capitalistic society is conducive to conflict theory. The main characters are Chaplin who plays a factory worker, and Paulette Goddard who plays a young homeless women. The movie takes place in the United States during the Great Depression. Chaplin demonstrates on multiple occasions the difficulties people living in a capitalistic society face. All though this depiction of capitalism and conflict theory was illustrated nearly 80 years ago it is still present in today’s society.

When a society possesses a capitalistic economy it creates an uneven distribution of wealth among its citizens. The reason capitalism is extremely appealing is because in theory anyone can become wealthy and successful because industries are privately owned; however, if an individual does not have the
This is seen when Chaplin is held at gunpoint in a box store by three armed men. The men were not there to loot the store but instead consumed food and water. One of the men says to Chaplin “We Ain’t burglars. We’re hungry.” These men appeared earlier in the film working in the production factory alongside Chaplin proving that even though they were employed they still did not have enough money to survive. It is unfortunate that there was no form of social welfare during these times because if there had been individuals wouldn’t have felt the need to break the law in order to survive. An interesting scene that stands out in Modern Times is where one of the prisoners possesses cocaine; this scene was interesting because possession of illegal substances still occurs today in prisons. This portrayal is one of many others found in the film that still occur in today’s society; it is fascinating that the things portrayed in a film from nearly 80 years ago are still