Charlie Chaplin Characteristics

It started out with GW Griffith. He was the director of many movies and short films. His early work in short films “were the first to combine all the new narrative devices, including cross-cutting, multiple camera positions, inter-titles, and close-ups.” (Matthew Hunt) GW Griffith is considered the first modern director. A household comedian name Charlie Chaplin was a very early actor in the history of cinema. Originally Charlie Kaplan was in London but around 1910 he immigrated to America. In America Charlie Chaplin starred in many silent movies. One of the movies he is most well-known for is “the tramp” this movie gained him worldwide popularity and became the world’s most recognizable actor. Soon GW Griffith noticed and began to work with Charlie Chaplin. After creating some more films “Chaplin founded the independent studio United Artists in 1919.” (Matthew Hunt) between 1908 in 1911 there was a very short period called the Brazilian cinema. During the short time some very popular productions were

In “A Century of Cinema”, Susan Sontag explains how cinema was cherished by those who enjoyed what cinema offered. Cinema was unlike anything else, it was entertainment that had the audience feeling apart of the film. However, as the years went by, the special feeling regarding cinema went away as those who admired cinema wanted to help expand the experience.

At the end of World War I, an excited America was poised for a cultural renaissance; patriotism was on the rise, the strong concept of Manifest Destiny had passed its peak of influence, and, most importantly, there had not been a clear shift in culture for decades. The Jazz Age of the 1920s was about to dawn, bringing with it youthful, risqué morals and a carefree look on life. From these ideals, a new, strongly American form of entertainment would emerge: musical theatre. Most commonly found in New York City on Broadway even to this day, musical theatre became an escape from reality and an entry into the imagination. The grand and splashy components that make up what is considered a classic Broadway musical can ultimately be traced back to Cole Porter. Porter’s writing, albeit at times controversial or raunchy, was able to harness the frantically beating heart of the Jazz Age and turn it into treasured shows. Using his unique melodies, romantic or idealistic lyrics, and his pioneering of writing about the human experience, Cole Porter shaped American music and theatre from the 1920s through the 1940s.

Charlie Chaplin, or the “Little Tramp”, led a life many referred to as a Cinderella story. Chaplin was the son of a poor London family, who were entertainers. As a child, at an early age, he also performed, and made his stage debut in 1894. He began his career when he played a paperboy in the film Sherlock Holmes. He also worked as a mime in Vaudeville theatres in London, until he left for America. When Chaplin arrived in the States, he joined the Karno Pantomime Troupe, and toured with them for six years. This experience led him to branch out on his own, making his own films. One of these films was City Lights. Many say that this film and others, lead him to be one the most successful film stars of his time. “Chaplin dedicated himself to perfecting every scene during both the writing process and on set, sacrificing his personal life during production” (Eggert, 2006).

In Perks of Being a Wallflower Charlie was alone and to himself after his friend had died.(pg-137) Charlie says “Nobody has call me since that night. I don’t blame them. I have spent the whole vacation reading Hamlet.” The coach in the movie was excluded at first because nobody wanted him in the town because people thought he was not qualified to be a coach. In the book Perks of Being a Wallflower Charlie was excluded. After his friend died Charlie did not want to talk to anyone at all. He was being bullied for that and being made fun of his lifestyle and his coming of age. He was made fun of because of the way he was. Patrick told Charlie to stay away from Sam and soon after the whole friend group had shunned him.that he had shunned him because of a truth or dare game that he had participated

The movie Sunset Boulevard written by Billy Wilder highlights the screenwriter’s potential of making a reflexive film more than focusing on the style and aesthetics. The movie revolves around the life of a fallen silent movie star, Norma Desmond, and her fame delusions. With the introduction of the sound in the film industry, she is brushed off and forgotten not only by her associates but also by her dear fans. This lifestyle change caused her to be drawn into the world of superstardom and luxury that she developed for herself in mind. Her universe involved her mansion full of photos framed of her memories and herself in her past. She identifies very strong with her condition that once it is

From a young age Charlie enjoyed two activities, which were baseball and singing. Growing up he was on the baseball team and

Although vaudeville seemed to be a long standing staple in our society, like all good things, it must come to an end. the decline and death of vaudeville appears certain, clear and inevitable. From the performers point of view, there was no perspective other than the "here and now" of their lives. Each day seemed to differ little from the previous, and speculation about the future was, as ever, informed by hear say and past experience. As an array of specialty acts, vaudeville was an enterprise without name that, over many years, could be found in the marketplaces of Asia and Europe. It eventually spread around the world to the farthest corners of Australia and Africa. Performers worked when and where they could, quite often in undesired locations. A certain cliché attached to performing in bed and breakfast's, saloons and public houses after their owners added stages and audience pits set apart from the tavern. It soon became quite taxing for performers to not only live the same shows everyday, but to move on and find other work after they were no longer needed in vaudeville shows. Still, this was not the only reason for the demise of vaudeville, although it played a large part. The largest contributing factor was the invention of the motion picture in the 1930's. There was no longer a need for people to be entertained by a comical, musical, circus style side show. Now they found a more intimate and fascinating way of enjoying a performance. The first

Conformity is a dominating theme from start to finish and seen in several of the characters, but Charlie falls victim to this often. Beginning with him meeting Sam and Patrick, it can be said that he never says no to anything, he just goes along with it to stay friends. Two prime examples of this are: the drugs/drinking and the relationship that Mary Elizabeth forced onto Charlie. The first example is the drugs and the drinking; perceived as conformity, since they did not force either of the items down his throat. Identification is changing personal beliefs to be like the influencer, which is a primary motivator for Charlie’s actions. Charlie is compliant when Mary Elizabeth forces a relationship onto him, which is another example of conformity. Compliance motivates by either a reward or a punishment and in this case, both motivate Charlie. He states in the movie that he just accepted being her boyfriend

Charlie Chaplin’s iconic Tramp character is often someone to laugh with, or laugh at, but not necessarily someone you learn from. The Tramp character is impulsive and reckless, hardly the standard for model behavior. Despite this characterization, the Tramp’s role differs significantly in Easy Street. He is the hero that the titular street desperately needs, a place where the depraved and deprived struggle to survive. The use of social issues in Easy Street is not merely to use them for the jokes, but to lighten the burden surrounding the subjects, and in doing so providing a more hopeful perspective: one where these issues are not overwhelming and the solutions don’t seem Herculean, but instead are presented as being within the audience’s begging grasp. The film provides relief by portraying issues a general public can be dealing with, and not treating them as these daunting things to be intimidated by, but to laugh at, since they can be solved, as the Tramp demonstrates, through religion and labor.

Charlie Chaplin did not use sound to communicate to the audience in his movies. Despite the fact that there was no spoken language, his movies were sensational and the audiences loved them. Chaplin was thought of as cinema’s first genius and has been called the single most-influential artist in the history of motion pictures. I am researching Charlie Chaplin to learn how he became a sensational comedian and one of the best actors of all time.

He was also not afraid to get up in front of the whole school and defend his best friend. When Patrick was being called names and tripped for being gay, Charlie selflessly stood up for him, even though he knew people might even think he was gay for doing so. He always did what he wanted to do and never let anyone including himself stray from who they truly are. (Halfon, Malkovich, Smith & Chbosky, 2012) On another note, you have Ronnie. Most of the film he was portraying his ideal self. A prime example of this is when the report cards came in the mail for the semester. He and his family were sitting around the dinner table and his parents were reading his little brother's report card. Afterwards, they asked Ronnie where his were and he claimed he hadn’t received his report card and that it shouldn’t matter, because he was invariably a “straight-A” student. The truth was that he had received his report card, but since he was popular he chose to stop caring about his grades which caused them to drop dramatically. He cared more about being popular, than doing what he was actually capable of. (Mount & Rash, 1987)

My example that I will be using is Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin. Modern times is a film developed after the industrial revolution. It serves the purpose of critiquing capitalism and the social world. Modern Times begin with a factory worker who starts developing anxiety through the lack of breaks and repetitive work. When the Worker is on break, his boss is always keeping an eye on him and demands him to go back to work due to the loss of production. Soon after, the factory worker goes on lunch break, but is again distracted by his boss due to the desire to try out a new lunch contraption. At first, the new technology seems to work since the factory Worker was being fed. But, after a few seconds the contraption goes haywire and starts hurting the worker. The factory Worker goes back to work, but suddenly starts to mess up. He goes around ruining all his co-workers’ work and even get himself in prison. However, he ends up saving all the cops from the inmates’ revolution and is released early from jail. He does not want to leave since he is treated properly in jail and will be homeless in the outside world. He tries to get himself in prison again, but meets a beautiful woman Gamin who is also homeless and workless. They run off together and commit burglaries to feed themselves, but is soon discovered by the police. They manage to escape and run off to live in a small house by themselves. The factory Worker and the Gamin decides to have lunch together, but finds out that a

Every day millions of Americans go to theaters with their families to enjoy movies. Watching films has become one of the most popular activities to do. Although plenty of people know of Charlie Chaplin, most do not know any real information about him. Charlie Chaplin has been a major contributor to America’s advancement in the film industry from his innovative beginnings, and perseverance to improve and succeed, to his overall achievements in history.

The film remains Chaplin's one of the greatest achievements and it remains one of his popular film. (Back story source- Wikipedia)