Little Tramp Research Paper
The Little Tramp and the Big Machine
Modern Times is an emotional response, based always in comedy, to the circumstances of the times. In the early films, the Tramp was knocked around in a pre-war society of underprivileged among the other immigrants and vagabonds and petty miscreants. In Modern Times he is one of the millions coping with poverty, unemployment, strikes and strikebreakers, and the tyranny of the machine (Robinson 458-9).
When we first see the Tramp in his last film, 1936's Modern Times, he is, so to speak, "one of the millions:" he is not wearing his Tramp clothes. Charlie is working at the Electro Steel Company, dressed in overalls. If he is still recognizable as the Tramp it is because of his movements. However, these, …show more content…
But it is talking that is never done by humans: the boss speaks through a microphone; his face appears via a screen on the bathroom wall. The speech in Modern Times is a parody of speech (and perhaps a very pointed attack on the talkie); it indicates the displacement of people in a society in which the machine is dominant. The machinery at Electro Steel is massive: immense blocks of gears tower over and surround the human workers. Since the boss speaks through a machine to dictate the speed of the assembly line, it is as though the machinery is a contained system, all but capable of running itself. The workers in the factory are at its …show more content…
The salesmen do not give the sales pitch themselves; rather it is delivered by a "mechanical salesman" on a phonograph while they gesture at the machine. When the record ends the mechanical salesman suggests a demonstration "because actions speak louder than words."
Charlie is chosen as the guinea pig for this demonstration. The feeding machine consists of a turning table around which are laid soup, a sandwich, corn on the cob and pie. A mouth-wiping device is attached near the eater's headrest. Charlie's first few bites go well, then things go awry: the soup spills all over him, the corn on the cob spins madly, the pie goes in his face. After each calamity, the mouth-wiper appears on the scene to pat his mouth.
The boss refuses the salesmen, telling them their machine is "not practical." Is there practical machinery? Presumably, Electro Steel must maintain certain standards of efficiency. The boss repeatedly asks the main operator (who is, for some reason, shirtless) to increase the speed of the assembly line. Charlie is able to use the speed to his advantage by purposefully not keeping up and thus forcing his overseer to step in, since the machine stops for no
Modern Times is an emotional response, based always in comedy, to the circumstances of the times. In the early films, the Tramp was knocked around in a pre-war society of underprivileged among the other immigrants and vagabonds and petty miscreants. In Modern Times he is one of the millions coping with poverty, unemployment, strikes and strikebreakers, and the tyranny of the machine (Robinson 458-9).
When we first see the Tramp in his last film, 1936's Modern Times, he is, so to speak, "one of the millions:" he is not wearing his Tramp clothes. Charlie is working at the Electro Steel Company, dressed in overalls. If he is still recognizable as the Tramp it is because of his movements. However, these, …show more content…
But it is talking that is never done by humans: the boss speaks through a microphone; his face appears via a screen on the bathroom wall. The speech in Modern Times is a parody of speech (and perhaps a very pointed attack on the talkie); it indicates the displacement of people in a society in which the machine is dominant. The machinery at Electro Steel is massive: immense blocks of gears tower over and surround the human workers. Since the boss speaks through a machine to dictate the speed of the assembly line, it is as though the machinery is a contained system, all but capable of running itself. The workers in the factory are at its …show more content…
The salesmen do not give the sales pitch themselves; rather it is delivered by a "mechanical salesman" on a phonograph while they gesture at the machine. When the record ends the mechanical salesman suggests a demonstration "because actions speak louder than words."
Charlie is chosen as the guinea pig for this demonstration. The feeding machine consists of a turning table around which are laid soup, a sandwich, corn on the cob and pie. A mouth-wiping device is attached near the eater's headrest. Charlie's first few bites go well, then things go awry: the soup spills all over him, the corn on the cob spins madly, the pie goes in his face. After each calamity, the mouth-wiper appears on the scene to pat his mouth.
The boss refuses the salesmen, telling them their machine is "not practical." Is there practical machinery? Presumably, Electro Steel must maintain certain standards of efficiency. The boss repeatedly asks the main operator (who is, for some reason, shirtless) to increase the speed of the assembly line. Charlie is able to use the speed to his advantage by purposefully not keeping up and thus forcing his overseer to step in, since the machine stops for no