‘Modern Times’: A Satire on Industrial Revolution

‘Modern Times’ is 1936 satirical comedy written and directed by Charlie Chaplin. This was his sixth film as a director. Charlie Chaplin was not only a director, but also an actor, writer and composer. He is one of the most important names in the history of cinema and anyone having any connection with cinema is aware about his genius. The film was also screen "out of competition" at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. The film is often listed in hundred best films ever made in the history of cinema by many critics. This film features the famous character of The Tramp played by Chaplin himself. Here, the tramp is struggling with newly arrived machines of industrial era and the 'great depression', a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The opening line of the film says, "Modern times, a story of industry, of individual enterprise - humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness." In this film, audience can, for the first time, hear the voice of Charlie Chaplin in 'The Nonsense Song'. The music was also composed by Chaplin himself. 

The film is about the lower class life of the Tramp who works with machines in a factory. The opening frame shows a flock of sheep walking, and then the flock blurs into factory workers running to the factories. Metaphorically, this makes the statement about herd mentality and sheepish behavior of modern middle and lower class people. In the factory, the workers job is so fast and mechanical that they do not even get time to look at the colleague working beside him. The time for loo and smoke is also noted separately. And they are constantly monitored by the Boss from his office. They get lunch-time during which workers eat their lunch-boxes. But, according to management it consumes too much time and hence they are planning to install the feeding machine, and on this specific day, there is a demo of machine. The Tramp is selected to perform demo on. But, the machine mal-functions and it wastes Tramp's lunch-time too. Working too mechanically, even without food affects the mental conditions of Tramp and started considering everything as machine. He is sent to hospital, where he is cured and returns to normal life. 

The outside world is now full of protests and unemployment. The tramp is arrested as he accidentally crosses a communist protest. Unlike others, he lives a happy life in the prison. But, due to his accidental heroism, he is to be released from the jail. He tries to convince the authorities to stay in jail, but it was all futile. He gets a job, but he causes a major accident there and loses it. Determined to go back in jail, he makes few attempts in which confessing a crime that he did not do to go to jail and save the girl who did it. But, he is unsuccessful again. Finally, he eats enormous amount of food at a cafeteria and refuses to pay. He is arrested and put in a paddy wagon in which he meets that girl, the Gamin, again. The wagon meets an accident, and on Gamin's persuasion Tramp escapes with her. 

Tramp and Gamin dream about their future, the dream of a common-man. They have a house, surrounded by a garden from which they can pluck and eat fresh fruits. They have food. Before meal, Tramp calls a cow through whistle, cow stands at door, Tramp put a vessel and taps the cow and she gives milk direct into the vessel, once the vessel is full, Tramp taps again and cow walks away, and then the couple is shown eating happily together. This dream is central to the movie, the dreams, and aspirations and hard-work in pursuit for a happy meal. 

The Tramp gets a job at a departmental store as a night watch-man. He gets Gamin in the store as well, and they enjoyed food and toys and lavish bedroom displays. The burglars break into the store and started stealing stuff, one of them is Big Bill who used to work with Tramp at the factory. They enjoy beer together. But, in the morning when Tramp comes to his senses, the store was looted. He loses his job and goes to jail again. After 10 days, when he is released, Gamin takes him to a broken and abandon hut, as their new house. The next day, factories reopen and Tramp gets a job as an assistant of a mechanical. Again he makes mistakes, but before the end of the day workers union decides to go on strike again and he's jobless again. In the conflict with Police, he accidentally hits a policeman and sent to jail again.

After two weeks, when he comes out, Gamin is there to receive him and tells him that she has got a job as a cafe dancer and for tramp also, she has arranged a job of a waiter and singer. They started their life again, but one night police arrives to catch Gamin and both of them escapes. The film ends as they are walking on the road at dawn. 

Chaplin had an option to use dialogues in the movie, instead of making it a silent movie. But, Chaplin believed that if the character of Tramp speaks on screen, then he would lose his universal appeal. This was the last film featuring Tramp. Tramp's 'Nonsense song' also makes a statement that talking in one language is meaningless to all the others. And Tramp's silence on stage makes him speak a universal language.

Though the movie is a comedy, it deals with some of the very serious topics of its time like riots, strikes, unemployment, poverty, tyranny of automation and depression. The idea was conceptualized when Chaplin was on world-tour following the premier of ‘City Lights’. During this tour he met some of the most important personalities of the time like Winston Churchill, Bernard Shaw, Einstein, and Mahatma Gandhi. This was his first-hand encounter with economic and political consequences of Great Depression. 

The film has a very simple story. It begins at morning and ends at dawn, which is yet another beginning, a hope. So many tools have been used to satirize and convey the idea. As mentioned in the beginning about the flock of sheep, then use of feeding-machine is yet another advance towards the mechanical life. All the machines in the movie are shown bigger and larger than humans, and the humans are becoming a farce in front of and in operating the machines. These symbols clearly talks about the superiority of the machines as compared to human workers. But, at the same time it says quite clearly that machinery for profit has put humans out of work and hence created the conflicts and protests. The dream says that modern man wants everything with minimum effort. Even Tramp says after the dream, "We'll get a home, even if I have to work for it." So, basically he wants everything without the work, to become rich overnight is still a dream of billions of modern-men.

Published in: The Hills Times – Heritage June 29, 2017. Page No. 07