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Individualism In Modern Times

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Modern Times The Great Depression was coined as the Great Depression for a reason. When the stock market crashed in 1929, many factory workers lost their jobs, the economy suffered severe inflation of prices, and the usual commodities, such as food and shelter, became harder to obtain. Hunger, poverty, and unemployment ravaged the broken economy and forced many out of their homes and into slums and on the streets. People struggled just to survive even to the next day. In addition to the already difficult proletarian life of the working class, the ever expanding realm of factories and machines forced skilled workers to become obsolete. Fordism and the Industrial Age caused the average working man to be highly replaceable. For example, if a worker sustained an injury on the job, and was no longer able to work, he would be sacked and a new man would be hired on the same day. These conditions created a cycle of poverty, which was nearly impossible to escape. Another side effect of the growing technological advances was the dehumanizing effects of the machine on man. As the Great Depression drew on, millions of Americans were sent into poverty and left unemployed and hungry. Many actors and filmmakers took it upon themselves to address these conditions. Charlie Chaplin was one such icon whose silent film, Modern Times set during the Great Depression Era, criticize and the effect of machine on man and individualism during the Industrial Revolution, and the rampant poverty in the

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