Hello Readers! This blog is in response to the Thinking Activity assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Department of English, MKBU. In this blog I am going to present a frame study of the film 'The Modern Times' by Charlie Chaplin, For a better understanding about the setting of the 20th century.
Introduction:-
Charlie Chaplin:- ( 1889-1977 )
Charles Chaplin was an English comic actor, filmmaker and composer who rose to fame in the era of Silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona. From childhood he showed so much poverty in his life. His mother too suffered from mental problems. He used to wander everywhere for food. His acting career was difficult. It could be the reason that he chose silent movies. And we got Charlie Chaplin as the satirist who can satire without saying any words. He received an Honorary Academy Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures, the art form of this century" in 1972 as part of a renewed appreciation for his work. His Notable works are as below.
- Modern Times
- The Great Dictator
- The Kid
- City Light
- Limelight
- The Gold Rush
- The Circus
- The Tramp
Frame Study :-
A frame is a single image of Film. A frame study is the study or understanding of the frame by a camera which is describing or indicating a lot of things to actually understand the meaning behind the fixed camera image.
The Modern Times:-
Modern Time is a 1936 American Satirical romantic black comedy film. It is written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in which his iconic Little Tramp struggles to survive in the modern, industrialised world. The film is a commentary on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the Great Depression - conditions created, in Chaplin's view, by the efficiencies of Modern industrialization.
It is notable for being the last time that Chaplin portrayed the Tramp character and for being the first time Chaplin's voice is heard on film. In 1989, Modern Times was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "Culturally" historically, or aesthetically significant.
Frame 1
The movie begins with this frame of a clock. The clock is a suggestion of a mechanical life. It symbolises how time controls us and How they control us. It also symbolises how we live a mechanical life from morning to night. Earlier people used to work in the sun setting. When the sun rises people start working and when it sets they stop working. But now clocks take the place of the sun. In the industrial world life becomes artificial. So we can say that by this frame people are controlled by the Mechanical world.
Frame 2
In the beginning of the movie there comes a second frame of a herd of sheep. And in the fade in transition comes the frame of a people who are moving in a crowd with one destination that is industry. This frame symbolises that people don't have different ideologies. We can also say that a herd of sheep follows the order given by a shepherd similarly a crowd of people follows the order given by their owner of industry. We can say that 'Shepherd flow'.
Frame 3
This frame suggests the mind power rulling over muscle power. A physically powerful man is nothing in front of the industry. Now machine do everything and there is no need for men to show physical strength as such. In monarchy muscle power was force, strength with its help kings ruled their nation but in the 20th century mind power ruled to muscle power. So we can say that in Modern Times only money power and mind power speaks.
Frame 4
This frame suggests technology development and machines. These are called Automatic food feeding Machines. The failure of machines shows the failure of humanity. It shows the rise of 20th century. We can observe that technology is not used to make life easy but to increase the physical workload of the workers. So we can say that if you have no proper knowledge of machines you can not use them properly.
Frame 5
This frame suggests the social economic condition of the society. This girl is stealing the food. They don't have anything to eat and the condition is the people had to steal the food for their living. Comparing it with present times we can see that even today, a crore of people need to give free food for their living because they are not employed and don't have money even for buying food. This is a reality of 20th century.
Frame 6
This frame suggests how industrialization was at the peak in the period that the unemployed working class people had to fight for their liberation, for their employment. They have no food to eat, no shade to live in which shows the image of the 20th century; the working class didn't have even the basic amenities of life like Roti, Kapda or Makan. It shows the social condition of the 20th century.
Frame 7
This is the last frame of the movie. It shows hope. The Tramp walks down a road into the unknown, is more than a reprise of Chaplin's signature finale. This long road of hope always helps us to keep living.
Thus, we can say that Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times present bitter realities of the time in which he lived. It is an entertaining piece but also serves as a political and social commentary criticising the flourishing industrialization, commercialization and big business America.
(Click here ) For the understanding about the another Frame Study of the Movie 'The Great Dictator'.
Frame : 7
Words: 953
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