"Making fun is serious business."

Week Two: Charlie Chaplin and Karl Marx

Feb 26, 2024

Dear readers,

Last week we looked at Decalog I, a deeply human film about an inquisitive, wonder-filled child whose metaphysical questions could not be answered by his father’s reductionist faith in scientific rationalism. If you missed Saturday’s discussion, do not fret! You can watch it HERE and HERE (I had some wifi issues, so it is in two parts). The film’s tragic ending reminds us that, as Francis Shaeffer wrote, “ideas have legs.” The beliefs that we internalize govern our decisions in embodied ways that move beyond abstraction to concrete reality. When speaking of the creation of his characters, director Krzysztof Kieślowski explains that he tries to get as close as possible to them because “he nearer I am to them, the more I discover mystery, phantasms, the imaginary, metaphysics. All this is inside us." There is a deeper truth to human existence, a complex spiritual reality that cannot be measured.

This mysterious, immeasurable essence to humanity is perhaps better alluded to in the arts than the hard sciences. Charlie Chaplin, the director of our next film, once stated that, “There are more valid facts and details in works of art than there are in history books.”

But what does the word “valid” mean here?

Chaplin seems to imply that art tells the truth in a way that transcends the mere “facts” that outline reality. He also said that, “The deeper the truth in a creative work, the longer it will live.” The “truth” he was speaking of was the truth of the human condition, including the ways that some humans gain and retain power by oppressing other humans. Chaplin’s brilliant and hilarious 1936 film film Modern Times examines the impetus and impact of these disparities.

Modern Times is our focus this week, and we will be discussing it on Zoom this Saturday, March 2, at 2 pm ET (Zoom link at end of email).

**Update: I just found the film free HERE on YOUTUBE!

The Little Tramp enters the machine. This is one of the most famous sequences in film history.

In Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx writes:

“The devaluation of the world of men is in direct proportion to the increasing value of the world of things.”

And in Marx’s philosophical writings–most famously The Communist Manifesto–he illustrates the ways in which the rise of capitalism parallels the dehumanization of the poor. Chaplin’s Modern Times uses clever, satirical humor to disclose what Chaplin saw as the empty promises of the American dream. Throughout the entire film, we see the injustice of class disparity, both in the life of the nameless central character (Chaplin plays this character in multiple films and refers to him as “The Little Tramp”) and his orphaned love interest (played by Paulette Goddard, Chaplin’s then wife).

The movie’s storyline and focus on class issues are very clearly manifestations of Marx’s ideas: “Unemployment is the vital question . . . Machinery should benefit mankind. It should not spell tragedy and throw it out of work.” The parallels are almost laughably obvious in parts.

But that is just the point. Chaplin explains that, “Humor is the ability to discern in a kindly way the folly in what is considered normal, sublime behavior, and to discern the discrepancy in what appears as a truth.” In this classic work of satire, Chaplin subverts the ways in which oppression and injustice have been normalized. His exaggerations disarm us and make us laugh, but the sad reality of the story being told is, at the same time, a gut-punch. This is the poignant beauty of satire.

Share The Empathetic Imagination

Chaplin used humor to tell the truth, and this truth was often somber, sad, and serious. “What a sad business, being funny” wrote Chaplin, one of the world’s greatest comic geniuses. He continues, reiterating that, “Making fun is serious business.”

Chaplin’s films were typically deeply moral, perhaps even parabolic. He did not see the world in black and white but recognized the ways in which our environment could either nurture or steal from our humanity.

“The world is not composed of heroes and villains, but of men and women with all the passions that God has given them. The ignorant condemn, but the wise pity.”

Before you watch Modern Times ( find out where to watch it HERE), I hope you will be able to take some time (about 45 minutes) to watch the following lecture on some of Karl Marx’s central ideas. I hope that watching this lecture will help you to enjoy an already brilliant film even more.

Here is the handout that I bring up on screen.

Marxreading

217KB ∙ PDF file

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As mentioned in the video, Chaplin was blacklisted during the McCarthy “Red Scare” era. You can read more about that here.

If you scroll down, you will find some questions that can help guide your viewing of the movie. But first, I just have to share this photo of Chaplin meeting Gandhi in 1931. Chaplin’s focus on human rights and justice prompted him to seek a meeting with the great pacifist leader.

Questions for Consideration:

Modern Times begins with this quote:“The story of industry, of individual enterprise - humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness”
How does the quote relate to the film’s opening images? How does it relate to the story as a whole?
Marx writes that the worker becomes a “commodity” and an “appendage of the machine.” How does Chaplin show both of these in the film?
In what ways does Chaplin depict what Marx would call “the alienation of the worker”?
How are the different dancing scenes subversive? What are they subverting?
Why does the Little Tramp feel more at home in prison?
What do we learn from the relationship and adventures of The Little Tramp together with the Gamin?
How did you feel when the film ended? Is there a resolution?
In the film’s ending, Chaplin uses an expected, “typical” Hollywood scene. Does it fit with the message and plot of the film? How does it relate to the Marxist critique included in the film?