CHARLIE CHAPLIN: MODERN

TIMES
A REACTION PAPER
KRISTINE R. ASTORGA

BSA-V

2012-08689
At first, I kept on thinking how their Modern Times could still be OUR Modern Times.
Well, it might had happened during the 1930s, but it had almost parallel situations as to todays
generation. The first scene itself where a flock of sheep was compared to people who rushes
out of a subway depicts how animals, as well as people of the past and this generation are
similar in many ways as we struggle on our day-to-day lives and are continually eaten by a
system. A system full of inequality, social stratification issues; a system taken over by the
emerging technologies; a system that unfortunately kills the creativity and individualism of the
human race.
As the film goes, we see a comparison of how people with authority, power, and wealth
can simply manipulate those who belong to the working class society. We see that workers are
being trapped by the dogma on how they should carry out their work; and that as they do their
jobs, the monotonous feeling brings them emotional and mental issues. It is evident that the
workers operate together with the machines in numbers, where a thin line of separation exists.
The worker becomes an appendage of the machine. It dictates its furious pace, dehumanizes
individuals whose behavior resembles that of a robot. Basically, it crushes individuals. As
humans are also being treated like machines, they have lost the chance to unleash potentials,
creativity, and skills
IM ALSO GREATLY REMINDED OF THEIR DREAM OF HAVING AN IDEAL
MARRIED LIFE WHERE THE MAN LEAVING HOME AND GOES TO WORK,
AND THE WIFE STAYING AT HOME. IT MADE ME THINK HOW PEOPLE ALSO

DREAMS

ABOUT

THEIR

FUTURE.

GUESS

THAT

DESPITE

THE

CIRCUMSTANCES WE FACE, WE ALL HAVE THAT HOPE THAT WE GET TO

HAVE A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN WHILE HERE ON EARTH.

Lets not also forget how the saccharine rendition of the Smile theme masks what is
in fact a bittersweet end to this attempt at socially relevant comic realism as the couple have
turned their backs on modern times, and hope to find food, shelter and sustenance in some
other social order.
I LOVE HOW THE FILM TELLS US THAT HUMANITY SURVIVES THROUGH
HUMAN INTERACTION AND NOT THROUGH APPLICATION OF TECHNOLOGY
(WHICH

THIS

GENERATION

ALREADY

FORGOT).

EASILY

READ

BY

THE

PRESENCE OF THE GAMINE, CHAPLIN TELLS A STORY OF HOW PEOPLE GETS

BY INDEPENDENTLY.

Basically, the film shows how difficult is for people to have a perfect life they
dream. As Chaplin captures the despair of the lower classes, he also captured the
value of perseverance and tolerance at the end of the film. The last scene where he
and the gamine was walking in straight line shows how they are Waiting for new
problems to confront and overcome, and facing all those changes that bring the
modern times. Thus, the end encapsulates not only the overall message of the film
but also, to make us realize that happiness can be ultimately found deep within us,
and that we have freedom to be everything we want to be.