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DAVID THORBURN: This lecture
tonight is our last chance

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to pay attention to this process
I've been calling the Fred Ott

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00:00:34,940 --> 00:00:35,810
principal.

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00:00:35,810 --> 00:00:39,710
And forgive me for appearing
slightly repetitious

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about this.

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00:00:40,390 --> 00:00:43,510
But to me, it's an
essential aspect

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of our appreciation
of these early weeks,

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00:00:45,790 --> 00:00:50,100
to recognize that films like
The General, or Modern Times,

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00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:53,060
or the film we're going to
see next week, The Last Laugh,

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00:00:53,060 --> 00:00:56,700
Murnau's remarkable
silent film from Germany,

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00:00:56,700 --> 00:01:00,700
to recognize that these
astonishing, complex narratives

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00:01:00,700 --> 00:01:02,361
grew out of something
so primitive

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00:01:02,361 --> 00:01:04,360
and grew out of something
so primitive in such a

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00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:06,650
relatively short
time, is part of what

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00:01:06,650 --> 00:01:09,910
makes these early
films so interesting.

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00:01:09,910 --> 00:01:12,970
And the viewing you're
going to see tonight

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00:01:12,970 --> 00:01:18,030
is your last opportunity
to, in a concrete way,

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00:01:18,030 --> 00:01:21,510
experience something
of that process,

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00:01:21,510 --> 00:01:23,640
something of that
evolution for yourself.

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00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,300
Because the two Chaplain
shorts that you're

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00:01:26,300 --> 00:01:30,770
going to see, while they are, as
I indicated this afternoon, not

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00:01:30,770 --> 00:01:33,230
from the earliest stages
of Chaplin's work,

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00:01:33,230 --> 00:01:35,870
they're three or four
years advanced beyond that.

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00:01:35,870 --> 00:01:39,180
He's already mastered his
medium in certain ways.

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00:01:39,180 --> 00:01:41,230
And these shorts
are, in themselves,

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00:01:41,230 --> 00:01:42,890
very coherent and
interesting works.

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00:01:42,890 --> 00:01:46,100
And I hope you'll look at them
for their own intrinsic value.

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00:01:46,100 --> 00:01:48,300
But I also want
you to recognize,

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00:01:48,300 --> 00:01:51,720
as you think about those short
films, remarkable as they are,

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00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,860
how much richer, how
much more complex,

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00:01:54,860 --> 00:01:58,500
how much more demanding
and rewarding in many ways

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00:01:58,500 --> 00:01:59,550
Modern Times is.

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00:01:59,550 --> 00:02:01,740
And I think the same thing
could be said about all

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00:02:01,740 --> 00:02:02,790
of Chaplin's features.

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00:02:02,790 --> 00:02:06,170
There's an astonishing
distance between even the best

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00:02:06,170 --> 00:02:10,560
shorts or between most of the
best shorts and the features.

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00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:12,090
Some of the very
best shorts have

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00:02:12,090 --> 00:02:16,400
a kind of elegance
and purity, as well as

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00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,900
a level of comic
inventiveness that

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00:02:18,900 --> 00:02:20,920
makes them in their
own way almost

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00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:22,240
the equal of the features.

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00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:24,730
But, of course, even
the best of them

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00:02:24,730 --> 00:02:26,750
don't have quite the
reach or the resonance

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00:02:26,750 --> 00:02:29,850
of a film like Modern
Times or The Gold Rush.

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00:02:29,850 --> 00:02:34,170
One way we can perhaps clarify
some of what I've been saying,

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00:02:34,170 --> 00:02:36,210
and maybe also do
a bit more justice

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00:02:36,210 --> 00:02:39,220
to poor Buster Keaton, who
I think in many ways is

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an equally remarkable artist
and in a technical sense

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00:02:42,730 --> 00:02:46,140
an even more interesting
director than Chaplain himself,

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00:02:46,140 --> 00:02:48,310
is to begin with a
comparison of the two.

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Not so much because the
comparison will really

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illuminate weaknesses
in one or the other,

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but the contrast
between them I think

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will help to clarify
what are some

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of the essential qualities
in each of these director's

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work in films.

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00:03:04,712 --> 00:03:06,420
And I hope that you'll
sort of think back

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00:03:06,420 --> 00:03:08,550
to the Keaton material
you saw last week as I'm

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making these comparisons.

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00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:13,804
One way to think about the
differences between Chaplin

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00:03:13,804 --> 00:03:15,470
and Keaton, and also
to think about what

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00:03:15,470 --> 00:03:17,410
is essential about
both of them, is

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to talk about the way they
deal with objects and the role

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that objects have
in their films.

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In Keaton's case, we might
say that the basic objects

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of interest are usually
massive and gigantic things,

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00:03:34,870 --> 00:03:40,060
whole houses, locomotives,
as in The General,

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00:03:40,060 --> 00:03:42,950
an ocean liner as
in The Navigator.

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And Keaton was interested
in intricate systems

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and in the intricacy with
which these systems operated.

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And he liked to pose
his Buster character

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against these massive systems,
to see whether Buster could

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survive them and to
show us certain aspects,

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both of Buster's
resourcefulness and power

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to muddle through, but
also his comic inadequacy

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00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,080
and comic failings as well.

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00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,840
And a number of the most
dramatic and famous bits

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from The General could be said
to crystallize this principle.

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Think of that magnificent joke.

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It's more than a joke.

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00:04:20,220 --> 00:04:23,630
That cosmic joke, that
vision of experience,

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00:04:23,630 --> 00:04:31,330
that existential
mockery, but also

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affectionate mockery
of human nature, that's

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00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:36,820
embedded in the cannon
sequence at the very beginning

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00:04:36,820 --> 00:04:40,540
of Keaton's most important film.

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You remember how that works.

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It's very funny at every level.

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But as Keaton first
fails to fire the cannon,

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then the second time
reloads the cannon

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with 10 times as
much powder, then

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gets stuck in
front of the cannon

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00:04:54,740 --> 00:04:56,448
and it looks as if
he's going to be shot.

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00:04:56,448 --> 00:05:00,540
But every move in
that sequence is

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full of amusing comic business.

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00:05:02,790 --> 00:05:05,270
But think of how
as the joke builds,

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00:05:05,270 --> 00:05:08,600
as it keeps topping
itself, something else

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00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:09,320
begins to happen.

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00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:11,630
What begins to emerge,
as I suggested last time,

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00:05:11,630 --> 00:05:14,230
is almost a kind of vision
of life, a vision of life

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00:05:14,230 --> 00:05:16,310
in which human agency matters.

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00:05:16,310 --> 00:05:17,780
You do have to
struggle and do what

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you can to try to save yourself
or accomplish your ends.

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00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:23,430
But then when your
ends are accomplished,

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even when things work out almost
exactly as you had planned,

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00:05:26,700 --> 00:05:27,730
remember what happen.

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The cannon does fire.

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It doesn't shot at poor Buster,
who runs away from it and hides

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00:05:32,130 --> 00:05:35,030
in the cowcatcher of
the engine to avoid it.

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But why doesn't it go?

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Because at a certain
moment, the train

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just happens to go around the
bend and geography and physics

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00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:44,950
collaborate with
the Keaton character

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in order to create a shot
that actually does almost

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00:05:47,470 --> 00:05:49,210
hit the engine he's pursuing.

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00:05:49,210 --> 00:05:51,790
And it certainly
persuades the people

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00:05:51,790 --> 00:05:53,500
he's pursuing that
they are being

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00:05:53,500 --> 00:05:57,510
chased by more than one man.

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00:05:57,510 --> 00:06:00,360
And, in fact, remember
when the cannon fires

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00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,370
and we see that the outcome
that results is pretty

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00:06:03,370 --> 00:06:06,030
much the outcome that the
Buster character intended,

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00:06:06,030 --> 00:06:08,100
there's a double comedy
there, isn't there?

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00:06:08,100 --> 00:06:10,810
And it's a metaphysical
or an existential comedy.

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00:06:10,810 --> 00:06:13,230
Because what that joke is
saying is, of course, what

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the whole film
also says and what

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many other individual crescendo
jokes, we might call them,

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also say in the film.

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Which is that we get through
in life by muddling through,

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by working hard, by engaging in
all kinds of sometimes almost

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obsessive labor in order
to accomplish our ends.

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But in the end, when we
do accomplish our ends,

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it's not entirely because of us.

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It's because of accident.

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00:06:40,337 --> 00:06:41,920
And when we don't
accomplish our ends,

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00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,810
it's also because of
accident often, as well as

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because of our human frailty.

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So there really is a kind
of complex understanding

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00:06:49,650 --> 00:06:52,620
of the world implicit
in the kinds of jokes

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00:06:52,620 --> 00:06:56,332
that Keaton manages to
tell us, as if there's

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00:06:56,332 --> 00:06:58,040
a sort of understanding
or interpretation

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00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:02,720
of life embedded in the
best moments of The General.

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00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,700
And this kind of
vision of experience

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wouldn't really be
possible if Keaton

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was as interested in individual
encounters with small objects

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as Chaplain is.

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Because the distinction
between Keaton and Chaplain

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in terms of the way
they use objects

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is that Chaplain is in love
not with large, gigantic

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structures, but with tiny ones.

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He wants to see how Charlie
manipulates his cane.

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00:07:28,050 --> 00:07:34,130
He wants to watch Charlie
interact with a hamburger

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or with a shoe that he is
pretending is a turkey dinner,

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00:07:37,290 --> 00:07:41,840
in a fragment from
a late film of his

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that I'm going to show you
I hope in a few moments.

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So if objects in Keaton
are massive and systemic

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00:07:49,990 --> 00:07:52,340
in a certain way,
the objects that

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are most characteristic
of Chaplin's world

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00:07:54,730 --> 00:07:56,500
are small and manageable.

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And the interactions between
the Chaplain character

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and these objects are often an
occasion for the exploration

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00:08:04,550 --> 00:08:06,630
of character.

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When the Tramp character
encounters a particular object,

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one of the things he is
characteristically tempted

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to do is to transform its
use, is to make it useful

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00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:16,980
some other purpose.

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00:08:16,980 --> 00:08:20,280
As if in the contest between
Charlie and the world,

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00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:22,370
Charlie has some
transcendent power

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00:08:22,370 --> 00:08:25,300
to allow his
optimism to transform

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a recalcitrant reality, to
make the reality kind of bend

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00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:29,180
to him.

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00:08:29,180 --> 00:08:31,664
And it becomes
especially poignant,

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00:08:31,664 --> 00:08:34,039
as you'll see in the passage
from The Gold Rush I'm going

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00:08:34,039 --> 00:08:35,460
to show you in a little while.

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00:08:35,460 --> 00:08:37,130
It becomes especially
poignant when

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we understand how minimal are
the constellations that Charlie

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finds.

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00:08:41,330 --> 00:08:43,770
When he transforms this
shoe into a turkey dinner,

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00:08:43,770 --> 00:08:45,139
he's actually starving.

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00:08:45,139 --> 00:08:47,180
And although it may
psychologically help him out,

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00:08:47,180 --> 00:08:49,930
we can see his resilience
facing hunger and making

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00:08:49,930 --> 00:08:53,044
the shoe do for a meal.

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00:08:53,044 --> 00:08:55,460
So what is expressed there is
something of the character's

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00:08:55,460 --> 00:08:57,730
imaginativeness,
but also something

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00:08:57,730 --> 00:08:59,640
of his resilience and optimism.

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00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,560
Because when he encounters
the world, his relation to it

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00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:04,830
is one of a magician
or a transformer.

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00:09:04,830 --> 00:09:08,200
He's always trying to impose
his imagination on the world.

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00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,957
And if you watch
Chaplin's films--

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00:09:11,957 --> 00:09:14,290
this is true of his shorts
as well as his longer films--

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00:09:14,290 --> 00:09:16,620
if you watch Chaplin's
interactions with objects

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00:09:16,620 --> 00:09:19,500
closely, you will
see a continual drama

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00:09:19,500 --> 00:09:22,900
in which the imaginative
world of the Tramp

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00:09:22,900 --> 00:09:25,490
is in some sense in
a kind of conflict,

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00:09:25,490 --> 00:09:27,810
or a kind of
collision, or at least

201
00:09:27,810 --> 00:09:30,810
a kind of angry conversation
with the world in which

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00:09:30,810 --> 00:09:33,884
the objects of the world are,
although they may resist,

203
00:09:33,884 --> 00:09:36,240
are constantly
under the pressure

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00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:39,330
of the transformative power
of Charlie's optimism,

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00:09:39,330 --> 00:09:41,250
resilience, and imagination.

206
00:09:41,250 --> 00:09:43,950
So it's small objects
in Chaplain that matter.

207
00:09:43,950 --> 00:09:46,950
And they declare for
character, rather than

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00:09:46,950 --> 00:09:50,010
for some cosmic
understanding of the world.

209
00:09:50,010 --> 00:09:52,830
We can get at another
fundamental difference

210
00:09:52,830 --> 00:09:57,990
and some of the strengths
and the alternate kinds

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00:09:57,990 --> 00:09:59,790
of strengths of both
Keaton and Chaplin

212
00:09:59,790 --> 00:10:03,100
by talking about the different
protagonists or heroes that are

213
00:10:03,100 --> 00:10:04,820
characteristic of their works.

214
00:10:04,820 --> 00:10:07,160
In Chaplin's case, let's
start with Chaplain,

215
00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:10,940
we often have heroes who have
grand visions, or schemes,

216
00:10:10,940 --> 00:10:12,350
or hopes.

217
00:10:12,350 --> 00:10:14,170
They tend to be
chivalric characters.

218
00:10:14,170 --> 00:10:17,680
So sometimes the project they
take on is rescue the damsel,

219
00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:19,990
protect the woman.

220
00:10:19,990 --> 00:10:23,780
In the first feature-length film
or nearly feature-length film

221
00:10:23,780 --> 00:10:26,470
that Chaplin made-- it
was a film called The Kid.

222
00:10:26,470 --> 00:10:28,370
And it actually
involves a child.

223
00:10:28,370 --> 00:10:32,020
The kid of the title is a
young boy, an urchin, very much

224
00:10:32,020 --> 00:10:36,400
like the real Chaplain in
his childhood in London.

225
00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,010
And the Tramp character,
who is himself starving,

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00:10:39,010 --> 00:10:41,340
encounters the kid and
has to protect him.

227
00:10:41,340 --> 00:10:44,360
So it's actually a
story of maternal--

228
00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:46,450
there's a maternal quality
to Charlie in this.

229
00:10:46,450 --> 00:10:48,920
He's much more like a mother
than he's like a father.

230
00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,850
But anyway, it's in a certain
sense a kind of sentimental

231
00:10:52,850 --> 00:10:56,490
parenting fable, in which
we see starving, miserable,

232
00:10:56,490 --> 00:11:00,250
down-at-the-heels Charley
defending a person who's even

233
00:11:00,250 --> 00:11:04,010
more vulnerable and even weaker,
even less able to take care

234
00:11:04,010 --> 00:11:06,250
of himself than Charlie is.

235
00:11:06,250 --> 00:11:10,240
And although it is a deeply
sentimental film in many ways,

236
00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:15,470
it also was a film that provides
another occasion in which we

237
00:11:15,470 --> 00:11:18,540
can see the Tramp character's
imaginativenes operating.

238
00:11:18,540 --> 00:11:21,360
Because as I suggested
this afternoon,

239
00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:24,310
one way you can also see it
operating in chase sequences

240
00:11:24,310 --> 00:11:28,140
because he makes such amazing
split second decisions

241
00:11:28,140 --> 00:11:31,200
about how to elude his pursuers.

242
00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:33,890
And often those decisions
reveal his intelligence

243
00:11:33,890 --> 00:11:35,480
and his improvisatory quickness.

244
00:11:38,270 --> 00:11:40,650
So almost everything that
happens in a Chaplain film

245
00:11:40,650 --> 00:11:44,760
returns in some sense to our
sense of the Tramp's character.

246
00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:49,025
And we feel that especially
strongly I think in The Kid

247
00:11:49,025 --> 00:11:50,650
because one of the
things that happen--

248
00:11:50,650 --> 00:11:52,520
I think The Kid is 1921.

249
00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:54,600
And one of the things
that happens in The Kid

250
00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:56,710
is that we see Charlie
exceeding himself

251
00:11:56,710 --> 00:11:59,720
in imaginative
resourcefulness because he now

252
00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,560
has to protect a child.

253
00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:04,940
And what you feel is
that his compassion

254
00:12:04,940 --> 00:12:08,720
and his protective instincts
mobilize a resourcefulness

255
00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,980
and an intelligence that
you can't help but recognize

256
00:12:11,980 --> 00:12:13,901
and you can't help but see.

257
00:12:13,901 --> 00:12:16,400
And so that in a certain sense,
there's a grand scheme here,

258
00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:19,920
protect a child, save a child's
life, or protect an orphan,

259
00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:25,980
or protect a young
damsel in distress

260
00:12:25,980 --> 00:12:29,910
from bandits and outlaws,
that sort of thing.

261
00:12:29,910 --> 00:12:32,440
And then Chaplain himself,
the character himself,

262
00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:36,600
often has grandiose visions
of wealth or of success.

263
00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,360
Some of his films,
as in Modern Times,

264
00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:44,010
include dream sequences or
fantasy sequences, very, very

265
00:12:44,010 --> 00:12:45,270
clever, intelligent sequences.

266
00:12:45,270 --> 00:12:46,990
Because you can tell
that they are taking

267
00:12:46,990 --> 00:12:48,910
place in a subjective
realm, itself

268
00:12:48,910 --> 00:12:54,250
a kind of thematic
and technical advance

269
00:12:54,250 --> 00:12:55,540
in the making of movies.

270
00:12:55,540 --> 00:12:58,220
That Chaplin found ways
to introduce images

271
00:12:58,220 --> 00:13:00,130
that the audience would
recognize instantly

272
00:13:00,130 --> 00:13:02,190
as taking place, not
in the real world,

273
00:13:02,190 --> 00:13:05,470
but in the subjective life
of the characters as part

274
00:13:05,470 --> 00:13:12,950
of his achievement as
much as a mature director.

275
00:13:12,950 --> 00:13:16,860
So the Chaplain hero is
often an ambitious character,

276
00:13:16,860 --> 00:13:18,330
although he often fails.

277
00:13:18,330 --> 00:13:19,840
He has large ambitions.

278
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:21,600
He has chivalric tendencies.

279
00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:27,850
He's hopeful, resilient, in many
ways grandiose and sentimental.

280
00:13:27,850 --> 00:13:29,630
And the Keaton
character couldn't

281
00:13:29,630 --> 00:13:32,110
be more opposite in some ways.

282
00:13:32,110 --> 00:13:35,570
He has sometimes been called
wrongly the great stone face.

283
00:13:35,570 --> 00:13:37,660
But he's a character who
sort of muddles through

284
00:13:37,660 --> 00:13:40,290
without any grand schemes.

285
00:13:40,290 --> 00:13:41,720
The Keaton character
usually isn't

286
00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:42,900
trying to do anything more.

287
00:13:42,900 --> 00:13:44,730
The largest thing
he ever tries to do

288
00:13:44,730 --> 00:13:48,224
is impress a woman,
as he does in Cops.

289
00:13:48,224 --> 00:13:49,640
Mostly what he's
just trying to do

290
00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:52,290
is survive, get through the
day, get around the corner,

291
00:13:52,290 --> 00:13:56,500
keep this ship from sinking,
keep this locomotive

292
00:13:56,500 --> 00:13:58,170
on the track.

293
00:13:58,170 --> 00:14:00,060
One might even say that
in The General, which

294
00:14:00,060 --> 00:14:04,720
is his most grandiose plan
in all of Keaton's films,

295
00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:07,620
what the Buster character does
in The General is the most

296
00:14:07,620 --> 00:14:08,810
ambitious and remarkable.

297
00:14:08,810 --> 00:14:11,450
He's going to
recapture his train.

298
00:14:11,450 --> 00:14:13,464
He's chasing the
Union army as if he's

299
00:14:13,464 --> 00:14:14,630
fighting the war on his own.

300
00:14:14,630 --> 00:14:16,470
But it's important
to realize how

301
00:14:16,470 --> 00:14:19,260
we're supposed to understand
that in a deeply comic way

302
00:14:19,260 --> 00:14:22,480
because the Keaton character is
so wedded to his engine that's

303
00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:27,152
really not thinking about
any more marshal victory

304
00:14:27,152 --> 00:14:28,780
or winning the war.

305
00:14:28,780 --> 00:14:31,410
What he wants to do
is recover his engine.

306
00:14:31,410 --> 00:14:33,310
So even there, there's
a kind of smallness,

307
00:14:33,310 --> 00:14:37,960
a kind of lack of ambition,
a lack of grandiosity

308
00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,290
to what the Keaton
character is doing.

309
00:14:41,290 --> 00:14:43,000
So he wants to
just survive and do

310
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,190
a task, again a
very sharp contrast.

311
00:14:46,190 --> 00:14:48,120
The treatment of women,
a third category,

312
00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:52,470
might be a way of seeing
them in sharp distinction

313
00:14:52,470 --> 00:14:54,080
to each other.

314
00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:55,800
Chaplin's treatment
of women is deeply

315
00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:57,220
sentimental and chivalric.

316
00:14:57,220 --> 00:14:59,940
They're almost always, with
the partial exception of Modern

317
00:14:59,940 --> 00:15:01,760
Times-- and I'll talk
about that briefly

318
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:05,140
in a moment-- they're almost
always treated sentimentally

319
00:15:05,140 --> 00:15:08,110
and as characters
who need protection,

320
00:15:08,110 --> 00:15:10,370
who are weak and vulnerable,
as well as beautiful

321
00:15:10,370 --> 00:15:12,480
and stand for some
kind of purity.

322
00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:16,210
They are an inheritance or a
vestige of the Victorian ideal

323
00:15:16,210 --> 00:15:17,455
of women.

324
00:15:17,455 --> 00:15:19,080
They were put on
pedestals because they

325
00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:20,690
were too pure for the world.

326
00:15:20,690 --> 00:15:23,650
And they were also too weak
to open doors for themselves.

327
00:15:23,650 --> 00:15:26,160
They had to have men
do that for them.

328
00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,960
So Chaplain's female characters,
with the partial exception,

329
00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,690
dramatically partial exception
of the gamin in the film you're

330
00:15:33,690 --> 00:15:36,500
going to see tonight,
tend to be of this sort,

331
00:15:36,500 --> 00:15:37,750
Victorian stereotypes.

332
00:15:37,750 --> 00:15:41,010
And his treatment of them
is deeply sentimental.

333
00:15:41,010 --> 00:15:44,520
If you think about the treatment
of the heroine in The General,

334
00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:48,420
you'll see how dramatically
Keaton diverges from this view.

335
00:15:48,420 --> 00:15:50,870
Remember, Keaton is not
making fun of women in that.

336
00:15:50,870 --> 00:15:54,140
He's making fun of the
Victorian stereotype of women

337
00:15:54,140 --> 00:15:56,220
that appears in so many movies.

338
00:15:56,220 --> 00:15:58,372
So when the Keaton
character picks up

339
00:15:58,372 --> 00:16:00,330
that woman when she's
hiding in the potato sack

340
00:16:00,330 --> 00:16:02,790
and throws over his
shoulders, and throws her

341
00:16:02,790 --> 00:16:05,330
onto the pile as if she's
another sack of potatoes,

342
00:16:05,330 --> 00:16:09,370
or later in the film
when the Keaton heroin

343
00:16:09,370 --> 00:16:11,540
begins to do such stupid
things that you begin

344
00:16:11,540 --> 00:16:13,760
to realize that she is
one of the great airheads

345
00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:15,365
in the history of movies.

346
00:16:15,365 --> 00:16:17,720
Do you remember some of
the tricks she pulls?

347
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:21,370
Like she ties a willow
tree across the tracks.

348
00:16:21,370 --> 00:16:23,030
She tries a rope
across the tracks

349
00:16:23,030 --> 00:16:26,140
to stop the next train
from catching up with them.

350
00:16:26,140 --> 00:16:28,990
Or she sweeps out-- do you
remember this business-- where

351
00:16:28,990 --> 00:16:33,280
she sweeps out in the
cabin of the engine

352
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,910
while poor Buster is struggling
to keep the engine going?

353
00:16:35,910 --> 00:16:39,415
She doesn't like a little
bit of soot on the floor.

354
00:16:39,415 --> 00:16:41,120
Keaton makes fun of this figure.

355
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:42,590
But he's not making
fun of women.

356
00:16:42,590 --> 00:16:45,520
He's not making fun of
actual living females.

357
00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:47,940
He's making fun of the
stereotype of women

358
00:16:47,940 --> 00:16:50,960
that appears not
only in the movies,

359
00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:55,130
but also appears in sort of
the popular conception of what

360
00:16:55,130 --> 00:16:55,730
women are.

361
00:16:55,730 --> 00:16:57,340
In any case, we
can see how deeply

362
00:16:57,340 --> 00:17:01,390
mocking and unsentimental
Keaton's treatment of women is.

363
00:17:01,390 --> 00:17:08,000
One final contrast that I think
is helpful and interesting

364
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,730
might be the contrast
that we might

365
00:17:10,730 --> 00:17:13,540
generate if we tried to
describe the visual style

366
00:17:13,540 --> 00:17:14,839
of each director.

367
00:17:14,839 --> 00:17:19,300
Chaplin favors close shots
and emphasizes character.

368
00:17:19,300 --> 00:17:22,230
He aims for a totally
realistic style

369
00:17:22,230 --> 00:17:24,680
in which you're oblivious
to the camera's presence.

370
00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:26,640
You're not supposed to
think about the camera.

371
00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:30,580
He wants to create a camera that
is as transparent as possible.

372
00:17:30,580 --> 00:17:33,950
You're supposed to just
focus on the action.

373
00:17:33,950 --> 00:17:36,850
Chaplain's idea is that his
camera is a window on reality.

374
00:17:36,850 --> 00:17:40,840
And he doesn't want the
window or the window pane

375
00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,720
to be part of your understanding
of what you're watching.

376
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:50,920
There's something social
and character-oriented

377
00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,250
in Chaplin's visual
style and especially

378
00:17:54,250 --> 00:17:56,650
in his preference for
closeups which reveal

379
00:17:56,650 --> 00:17:58,880
the psychology of character.

380
00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:01,680
The contrast with
Keaton is very dramatic.

381
00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:05,470
Keaton is a more interesting
director in a technical sense.

382
00:18:05,470 --> 00:18:07,240
He'll mix his shots
much more often.

383
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:08,350
He'll use closeups.

384
00:18:08,350 --> 00:18:10,520
But he also loves long
shots and middle shots,

385
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,180
depending on the effect
he's looking for.

386
00:18:13,180 --> 00:18:16,100
If you think about what a
master he is of the long shot,

387
00:18:16,100 --> 00:18:18,100
think of the moment, for
example, in The General

388
00:18:18,100 --> 00:18:19,940
where the camera
backs up far enough

389
00:18:19,940 --> 00:18:22,480
so that we can see
Buster working furiously

390
00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:26,393
on the car that carries
the wood, the wood

391
00:18:26,393 --> 00:18:29,640
carrier on his train, working
furiously with his head down,

392
00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:32,774
while we see the train move
across the battle line.

393
00:18:32,774 --> 00:18:34,315
So that he ends up
in enemy territory

394
00:18:34,315 --> 00:18:36,000
and he doesn't even know it.

395
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:37,590
So there's a kind
of cosmic joke.

396
00:18:37,590 --> 00:18:40,170
And again, it's a joke that's
only possible in the movies.

397
00:18:40,170 --> 00:18:43,660
I mean it's a joke that partly
depends upon the camera's

398
00:18:43,660 --> 00:18:46,320
position, its power
to photograph motion,

399
00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:50,240
and the fact that
it can encompass

400
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:52,550
a much larger
mise-en-scene that is ever

401
00:18:52,550 --> 00:18:55,250
possible in a live theater.

402
00:18:55,250 --> 00:18:58,460
So it's a technically
interesting achievement.

403
00:18:58,460 --> 00:19:00,430
But it's also a morally
interesting achievement

404
00:19:00,430 --> 00:19:01,990
because what does it dramatize?

405
00:19:01,990 --> 00:19:04,310
The usual trick, the
usual thing we know

406
00:19:04,310 --> 00:19:05,610
about the Buster character.

407
00:19:05,610 --> 00:19:08,310
He's mostly oblivious to
the dangers around him.

408
00:19:08,310 --> 00:19:11,580
And often the comedy in
Keaton comes from the fact

409
00:19:11,580 --> 00:19:14,340
that he's oblivious
to his narrow escapes,

410
00:19:14,340 --> 00:19:15,620
as we've said before.

411
00:19:15,620 --> 00:19:19,380
So Keaton uses mixed shots.

412
00:19:19,380 --> 00:19:21,510
He's much more interested
in creating an aura

413
00:19:21,510 --> 00:19:24,450
of authenticity in his filming.

414
00:19:24,450 --> 00:19:28,560
The General especially alludes
to documentary photography

415
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:30,280
made during the Civil War.

416
00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,740
And some of the
images are actually

417
00:19:32,740 --> 00:19:35,050
recreations of Matthew
Brady photographs,

418
00:19:35,050 --> 00:19:37,230
very famous Matthew
Brady photographs.

419
00:19:37,230 --> 00:19:39,440
It was very important
for Keaton to create

420
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,350
these realistic effects,
this sense of realism,

421
00:19:43,350 --> 00:19:46,140
because so many of his
most magnificent jokes

422
00:19:46,140 --> 00:19:48,780
depend on your recognition
that it's actually happening.

423
00:19:48,780 --> 00:19:52,620
That he's not using
process shots.

424
00:19:52,620 --> 00:19:55,150
Think of, for example, of
the unbelievable engineering

425
00:19:55,150 --> 00:19:59,030
feat that was involved in the
final crash of the train, when

426
00:19:59,030 --> 00:20:01,490
the bridge burns at
the end of The General.

427
00:20:01,490 --> 00:20:04,260
Remember, there's no
digital animation then.

428
00:20:04,260 --> 00:20:06,910
When Keaton did that, if
he didn't get on the camera

429
00:20:06,910 --> 00:20:08,882
the first time, that was it.

430
00:20:08,882 --> 00:20:10,840
And, in fact, it's
incredibly beautifully done,

431
00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:11,760
It happens perfectly.

432
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:13,700
There's something
almost graceful

433
00:20:13,700 --> 00:20:16,850
about that
catastrophic sequence.

434
00:20:16,850 --> 00:20:20,060
It's so well done, in fact, it
even holds up today in an era

435
00:20:20,060 --> 00:20:22,800
when we are so used to
special effects of a much more

436
00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,660
dramatic and astonishing kind.

437
00:20:25,660 --> 00:20:28,790
There are no special
effects in that sequence.

438
00:20:28,790 --> 00:20:30,630
It depended on a
mastery of knowing

439
00:20:30,630 --> 00:20:33,780
where to put the camera; a
kind of engineer's mastery

440
00:20:33,780 --> 00:20:37,250
of various individuals
and machines

441
00:20:37,250 --> 00:20:40,210
that were in motion at the
same time; perfect timing, so

442
00:20:40,210 --> 00:20:42,280
that the bridge had
to actually burn down

443
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,610
at just the right moment for
the train to come over it.

444
00:20:44,610 --> 00:20:46,335
There was no margin
for error there.

445
00:20:46,835 --> 00:20:50,130
Again and again,
Keaton's comedy shows

446
00:20:50,130 --> 00:20:52,340
us this level of
technical, as well as

447
00:20:52,340 --> 00:20:54,760
intellectual or
thematic mastery.

448
00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:56,540
Because, of course,
that moment when

449
00:20:56,540 --> 00:20:58,840
the train crashes
into the canyon

450
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,530
isn't just a magnificent
visual moment

451
00:21:01,530 --> 00:21:03,840
and a magnificently
comic thwarting

452
00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:06,010
of the expectations
of the generals

453
00:21:06,010 --> 00:21:07,550
who are running the thing.

454
00:21:07,550 --> 00:21:10,560
But that moment
is also completely

455
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,140
consistent with the
mock heroic interests,

456
00:21:13,140 --> 00:21:17,230
the mock heroic themes
of the movie as a whole.

457
00:21:17,230 --> 00:21:21,030
And what I'd like to
do now is concretize

458
00:21:21,030 --> 00:21:25,720
and embody the arguments
I've been making very briefly

459
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,610
and inadequately by having
you look at three scenes, one

460
00:21:29,610 --> 00:21:35,450
from Keaton, two from Chaplain,
that can help ground what I've

461
00:21:35,450 --> 00:21:38,990
been saying in particular
images, in particular moments.

462
00:21:38,990 --> 00:21:42,100
The first scene is a scene that
I wanted to show you last week

463
00:21:42,100 --> 00:21:43,600
and didn't have time.

464
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,790
I think of it in a certain
sense as a particularly clear

465
00:21:46,790 --> 00:21:50,180
embodiment of what we might
call the Keaton vision.

466
00:21:50,180 --> 00:21:53,360
And it's a sequence
that violates

467
00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:55,640
one of Keaton's deepest
principles at the very end.

468
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:56,980
And I'm a little sorry it does.

469
00:21:56,980 --> 00:21:58,920
And the sequence
is harmed by that.

470
00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:01,360
There is a special effect in it.

471
00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:02,970
And it's too bad that there is.

472
00:22:02,970 --> 00:22:05,580
But it's one of the very
rare such moments in Keaton.

473
00:22:05,580 --> 00:22:07,160
Keaton tried never to do that.

474
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,180
And as I mentioned to you,
sometimes very dangerous things

475
00:22:10,180 --> 00:22:11,160
happen to Keaton.

476
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:13,000
And they happen in reality.

477
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,350
And he was often begged, when he
became a director of features,

478
00:22:17,350 --> 00:22:18,519
to not do his own stunts.

479
00:22:18,519 --> 00:22:19,435
But he always refused.

480
00:22:19,435 --> 00:22:20,810
And he always did
his own stunts.

481
00:22:20,810 --> 00:22:23,530
He broke his neck when he
was making The General.

482
00:22:23,530 --> 00:22:27,230
And any continued filming
with a broken neck

483
00:22:27,230 --> 00:22:28,780
for part of the time.

484
00:22:28,780 --> 00:22:30,610
He didn't quite realize
how seriously he

485
00:22:30,610 --> 00:22:32,306
was injured when that happened.

486
00:22:32,306 --> 00:22:33,680
If you think back
to The General,

487
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,140
you might actually be
able to figure out--

488
00:22:36,140 --> 00:22:40,210
it happens relatively early in
the film when he hurt himself.

489
00:22:40,210 --> 00:22:41,710
When he's on the
hand car, when he's

490
00:22:41,710 --> 00:22:43,959
chasing on the hand car and
he falls off the hand car.

491
00:22:43,959 --> 00:22:48,690
And he actually did real harm
to himself in that sequence.

492
00:22:48,690 --> 00:22:51,390
So this first sequence,
it comes from Cops.

493
00:22:51,390 --> 00:22:53,310
And in many ways,
I think it embodies

494
00:22:53,310 --> 00:22:56,970
that kind of aversion of the
trajectory or crescendo joke

495
00:22:56,970 --> 00:22:58,310
I was talking about earlier.

496
00:22:58,310 --> 00:23:00,640
It's a small version
of the cannon joke

497
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:02,287
that you see in--
or jokes plural,

498
00:23:02,287 --> 00:23:04,120
because there's another
joke with the cannon

499
00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:07,520
in the second half of the film--
that I've talked about earlier.

500
00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:08,500
Let's show it, Greg.

501
00:23:09,290 --> 00:23:11,250
And, of course, this is
the moment where Keaton

502
00:23:11,250 --> 00:23:12,914
is in flight from the police.

503
00:23:12,914 --> 00:23:13,955
The cops are chasing him.

504
00:23:13,955 --> 00:23:16,290
He runs up this teeter-totter.

505
00:23:16,290 --> 00:23:17,170
He runs up a ladder.

506
00:23:17,170 --> 00:23:22,300
It turns out to
be like a seesaw.

507
00:23:22,300 --> 00:23:25,230
And there we see
the Buster character

508
00:23:25,230 --> 00:23:27,550
trying to elude cops who
come up on either side

509
00:23:27,550 --> 00:23:30,510
of the teeter-totter.

510
00:23:30,510 --> 00:23:33,280
You see his acrobatic qualities.

511
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,060
But part of what makes
it good is that we

512
00:23:36,060 --> 00:23:37,660
know he's improvising here.

513
00:23:37,660 --> 00:23:38,710
He's in trouble.

514
00:23:38,710 --> 00:23:40,340
People on both ends
now are after him.

515
00:23:40,340 --> 00:23:41,740
How can you escape this?

516
00:23:45,620 --> 00:23:51,230
Teeter-totter up and down, it
seems as if there's no escape.

517
00:23:51,230 --> 00:23:52,990
It's almost as if
every cop in the city

518
00:23:52,990 --> 00:23:56,660
is now after poor
Buster, massive forces

519
00:23:56,660 --> 00:24:03,660
arrayed against the lone
hero, a key to his comedy.

520
00:24:03,660 --> 00:24:05,790
And, of course, that's
the process shot.

521
00:24:05,790 --> 00:24:08,115
But it is a very
witty way to end.

522
00:24:08,115 --> 00:24:09,586
I mean what does it depend on?

523
00:24:09,586 --> 00:24:10,960
Among other things,
an engineer's

524
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:12,480
understanding of
the laws of motion.

525
00:24:15,450 --> 00:24:17,450
Many of Keaton's
jokes depend on a kind

526
00:24:17,450 --> 00:24:23,230
of collaboration with gravity
and call attention to that.

527
00:24:23,230 --> 00:24:25,620
So it seems as if
there's no escape.

528
00:24:25,620 --> 00:24:28,360
And he does not escape
because of anything that he

529
00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:29,810
himself has really done.

530
00:24:29,810 --> 00:24:30,910
It's contingent.

531
00:24:30,910 --> 00:24:32,110
It's accidental.

532
00:24:32,110 --> 00:24:33,430
But he does escape, right.

533
00:24:33,430 --> 00:24:36,650
It's as if the universe
sometimes , not always,

534
00:24:36,650 --> 00:24:38,520
conspires to help us.

535
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,010
If we try hard,
sometimes it'll help us.

536
00:24:41,010 --> 00:24:42,110
Sometimes it won't.

537
00:24:42,110 --> 00:24:45,530
We're mostly foolish
characters muddling through.

538
00:24:45,530 --> 00:24:47,110
The jokes say that
again and again.

539
00:24:47,110 --> 00:24:49,460
It's a vision of life.

540
00:24:49,460 --> 00:24:53,470
Now, I want to contrast
this kind of joking

541
00:24:53,470 --> 00:24:55,010
and this kind of style.

542
00:24:55,010 --> 00:24:58,790
Again, for that effect
to work, the camera

543
00:24:58,790 --> 00:25:01,170
had to be pretty far back.

544
00:25:01,170 --> 00:25:04,210
It depended on your seeing
the seesaw going up and down.

545
00:25:04,210 --> 00:25:06,410
It depended on your
seeing the cops

546
00:25:06,410 --> 00:25:08,660
on either side of the ladder.

547
00:25:08,660 --> 00:25:14,660
So in that sense, it's a
characteristic Keaton moment,

548
00:25:14,660 --> 00:25:16,280
a characteristic Keaton passage.

549
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:20,745
I want to show you two passages
from feature films of Chaplin's

550
00:25:20,745 --> 00:25:22,620
that I think are those
characteristic moments

551
00:25:22,620 --> 00:25:23,119
of Chaplin.

552
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:25,840
And you'll see how they fit
into what I've already said.

553
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:27,630
First, a scene
from The Gold Rush.

554
00:25:27,630 --> 00:25:30,290
And let me set it up for you.

555
00:25:30,290 --> 00:25:32,110
One of the delightful
and important things

556
00:25:32,110 --> 00:25:34,590
about the Tramp's character,
as I mentioned this afternoon,

557
00:25:34,590 --> 00:25:39,590
is after a while-- Chaplain
made a total of 81 films.

558
00:25:39,590 --> 00:25:41,635
The vast majority of
them were silent films.

559
00:25:44,860 --> 00:25:48,690
After the first couple
of films that he made,

560
00:25:48,690 --> 00:25:52,560
the Tramp character began to
elaborate itself and proceed

561
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:54,350
by a principle of accretion.

562
00:25:54,350 --> 00:25:56,190
That's very important
for us to be aware of.

563
00:25:56,190 --> 00:25:57,890
Because think of
what this means.

564
00:25:57,890 --> 00:26:00,620
If the audience for
Modern Times had

565
00:26:00,620 --> 00:26:05,690
seen 50 Chaplin shorts or most
of Chaplin's movies-- and this

566
00:26:05,690 --> 00:26:06,820
would have been true.

567
00:26:06,820 --> 00:26:09,580
In 1936, the vast majority
of the movie audience

568
00:26:09,580 --> 00:26:11,610
would have lived
through the silent era

569
00:26:11,610 --> 00:26:14,910
and certainly would have known
a great many Chaplin films.

570
00:26:14,910 --> 00:26:16,950
So when they came
to see Modern Times,

571
00:26:16,950 --> 00:26:20,340
they had in their memory
banks all these other stories

572
00:26:20,340 --> 00:26:21,159
about the Tramp.

573
00:26:21,159 --> 00:26:23,200
And, in fact, they didn't
have to wait for Modern

574
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:25,810
Times for this effect to occur.

575
00:26:25,810 --> 00:26:28,330
As the Tramp begin to
generate a kind of reputation

576
00:26:28,330 --> 00:26:30,350
and more and more people
came to watch him,

577
00:26:30,350 --> 00:26:33,650
what began to happen was that
each subsequent adventure

578
00:26:33,650 --> 00:26:36,000
of the Tramp got richer,
not because of anything

579
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:37,770
inherent in the
new adventure, but

580
00:26:37,770 --> 00:26:40,210
because the previous adventures
lay behind it and were

581
00:26:40,210 --> 00:26:43,620
part of the Tramp's
ongoing identity.

582
00:26:43,620 --> 00:26:46,260
So as the audience became
more familiar with the Tramp

583
00:26:46,260 --> 00:26:50,180
and as Chaplin's gifts
for dramatizing character

584
00:26:50,180 --> 00:26:52,560
and for making
movies enlarged, so

585
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:54,750
did the resonance of
the Tramp as a figure.

586
00:26:54,750 --> 00:26:56,590
And I should have
said this afternoon

587
00:26:56,590 --> 00:26:58,660
because it's the deepest
explanation for why

588
00:26:58,660 --> 00:27:03,330
the Tramp became a mythic
figure, why the Tramp became

589
00:27:03,330 --> 00:27:07,690
such a memorable
and powerful icon.

590
00:27:07,690 --> 00:27:09,440
And in this sequence,
you're going

591
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:13,480
to see one of the classic
instances of the Tramp's

592
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:17,980
resilient imaginativeness in the
face of difficulty and danger.

593
00:27:20,650 --> 00:27:23,430
In The Gold Rush, the
identity that Charlie

594
00:27:23,430 --> 00:27:26,340
takes on-- by the time he comes
to make his feature films,

595
00:27:26,340 --> 00:27:32,210
there are dozens and dozens,
30, 40 short films in the past.

596
00:27:32,210 --> 00:27:35,420
And all of those identities,
all of those adventures,

597
00:27:35,420 --> 00:27:38,190
feed into and inform
the more recent ones.

598
00:27:38,190 --> 00:27:43,040
When the audience then comes to
watch Modern Times and The Gold

599
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:47,090
Rush, it has that
history behind it.

600
00:27:47,090 --> 00:27:49,370
In this particular
film, Charlie takes

601
00:27:49,370 --> 00:27:55,520
on the identity of a '49er, not
a football player but a miner,

602
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,700
who's gone to Alaska for
the Alaska gold rush.

603
00:27:58,700 --> 00:27:59,910
We've seen him as a waiter.

604
00:27:59,910 --> 00:28:01,510
We've seen him as
a ship builder.

605
00:28:01,510 --> 00:28:04,470
We've seen him as a
pawn broker's assistant.

606
00:28:04,470 --> 00:28:08,300
We've seen him in a whole
range of other jobs.

607
00:28:08,300 --> 00:28:10,540
And until Modern
Times, each film,

608
00:28:10,540 --> 00:28:13,190
even the feature-length
films, only

609
00:28:13,190 --> 00:28:15,390
show Charlie in one occupation.

610
00:28:15,390 --> 00:28:17,240
It's only in Modern
Times where we see him

611
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:18,285
in multiple occupations.

612
00:28:18,285 --> 00:28:21,080
It's one of the things that
marks Modern Time's greater

613
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,900
complexity from
the earlier film.

614
00:28:24,900 --> 00:28:27,100
So what's happened,
he goes to Alaska.

615
00:28:27,100 --> 00:28:29,100
He finds himself
stuck in a cabin

616
00:28:29,100 --> 00:28:31,310
after a terrible
avalanche and snowstorm.

617
00:28:31,310 --> 00:28:33,380
He's stuck in the
cabin without food,

618
00:28:33,380 --> 00:28:35,530
with a massive,
gigantic fellow, one

619
00:28:35,530 --> 00:28:37,790
of his favorite antagonists.

620
00:28:37,790 --> 00:28:39,450
Mack Swain, there's a name.

621
00:28:39,450 --> 00:28:42,640
And Chaplain certainly chose him
because he was so humongously

622
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:45,815
large that when he was
juxtaposed against Charlie,

623
00:28:45,815 --> 00:28:48,980
he looked even more menacing.

624
00:28:48,980 --> 00:28:51,890
Well, in the sequence
you're about to see

625
00:28:51,890 --> 00:28:56,570
Charlie is confined in a
cabin, in a horrible snowstorm,

626
00:28:56,570 --> 00:28:59,400
starving, with this
gigantic fellow, who's

627
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,800
beginning to look at Charlie as
if he might be a tasty morsel.

628
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:04,050
And it's Thanksgiving.

629
00:29:04,050 --> 00:29:05,191
It's Thanksgiving.

630
00:29:05,191 --> 00:29:06,940
They're about to have
Thanksgiving dinner.

631
00:29:06,940 --> 00:29:08,200
What are they going to do?

632
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,300
Watch Charlie's
imaginative response.

633
00:29:11,300 --> 00:29:12,126
OK, Greg.

634
00:29:15,528 --> 00:29:18,444
[MUSIC PLAYING]

635
00:29:28,180 --> 00:29:31,260
Even before this, we've seen
the Mack Swain character

636
00:29:31,260 --> 00:29:34,400
look at Charlie with
a kind of hungry eye.

637
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:35,900
And you'll see him
do it again here.

638
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,190
Watch how Charlie interacts
with particular objects,

639
00:29:45,190 --> 00:29:46,065
with small objects.

640
00:29:48,740 --> 00:29:51,905
What he's done is he's cooked
a boot, one of their shoes.

641
00:29:59,740 --> 00:30:01,110
The shoelaces become spaghetti.

642
00:30:25,595 --> 00:30:27,220
Did you see the
subtlety of that moment

643
00:30:27,220 --> 00:30:29,475
where Charlie look frightened?

644
00:30:29,475 --> 00:30:31,290
Watch the range of
emotions that he's

645
00:30:31,290 --> 00:30:32,490
able to express in his face.

646
00:30:44,470 --> 00:30:45,900
Now, you see how
he uses closeups,

647
00:30:45,900 --> 00:30:47,150
how it's a drama of character.

648
00:30:51,154 --> 00:30:53,540
You see now, he lacks
Charlie's imaginativeness.

649
00:30:53,540 --> 00:30:55,880
So he doesn't survive as well.

650
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:57,943
It's almost like
mind over matter.

651
00:30:57,943 --> 00:31:00,860
It's that quality in
the Chaplain character,

652
00:31:00,860 --> 00:31:02,430
I think, more than
any other, that

653
00:31:02,430 --> 00:31:04,000
explains why people loved him.

654
00:31:16,379 --> 00:31:18,420
You see, if you act like
you're eating good food,

655
00:31:18,420 --> 00:31:19,640
you almost are.

656
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:27,380
All right.

657
00:31:27,380 --> 00:31:28,500
That's enough Greg.

658
00:31:28,500 --> 00:31:29,500
You get the idea.

659
00:31:29,500 --> 00:31:30,610
It's a remarkable film.

660
00:31:30,610 --> 00:31:31,443
And you get an idea.

661
00:31:31,443 --> 00:31:34,450
Now, the next sequence I want
to show you is in some sense

662
00:31:34,450 --> 00:31:36,990
even more powerful.

663
00:31:36,990 --> 00:31:41,740
It's less comic, although
there are comic elements in it.

664
00:31:41,740 --> 00:31:45,680
It's Chaplain at
his most dramatic.

665
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:50,840
And it's the final sequence of
the film City Lights, the film

666
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,860
that precedes Modern Times.

667
00:31:53,860 --> 00:31:54,950
Five years separate them.

668
00:31:54,950 --> 00:31:58,150
But it's the last film he
made before Modern Times.

669
00:31:58,150 --> 00:32:00,940
And it's essentially
an urban drama,

670
00:32:00,940 --> 00:32:02,840
in which the Tramp
character finds himself

671
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,350
protecting a vulnerable woman.

672
00:32:05,350 --> 00:32:09,480
And the woman he's protecting
is a blind flower girl.

673
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:10,070
She's blind.

674
00:32:10,070 --> 00:32:15,280
And so she's even more
vulnerable and deserving

675
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:20,797
of protection than a sighted
flower girl would be.

676
00:32:20,797 --> 00:32:22,630
So Charlie sort of takes
her under his wing.

677
00:32:22,630 --> 00:32:25,550
And because she's
blind, she doesn't

678
00:32:25,550 --> 00:32:27,100
realize-- there's
a kind of trick

679
00:32:27,100 --> 00:32:28,720
in the beginning, a
visual trick, that

680
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:30,300
makes the blind
flower girl believe

681
00:32:30,300 --> 00:32:32,470
that Charlie is a wealthy man.

682
00:32:32,470 --> 00:32:34,240
And Charlie allows
her to believe this.

683
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:35,552
He's the Tramp.

684
00:32:35,552 --> 00:32:37,510
But he allows her to
believe that he's wealthy.

685
00:32:37,510 --> 00:32:39,060
And he visits with her.

686
00:32:39,060 --> 00:32:42,300
And she has an aged
mother, something

687
00:32:42,300 --> 00:32:44,400
like the character you
see in The Immigrant,

688
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:46,420
who dies in the
course of the film.

689
00:32:46,420 --> 00:32:51,610
And the second
subplot in the film

690
00:32:51,610 --> 00:32:54,430
has Charlie befriending
a very wealthy man, who

691
00:32:54,430 --> 00:32:58,500
is incredibly nice to him when
he's drunk and kicks him out

692
00:32:58,500 --> 00:33:00,100
of his life when he's sober.

693
00:33:00,100 --> 00:33:03,690
And his irrationality is
part of Chaplin's critique

694
00:33:03,690 --> 00:33:07,210
of capitalism, I think,
because he's a rich man.

695
00:33:07,210 --> 00:33:08,990
But when he's drunk,
he loves Charlie.

696
00:33:08,990 --> 00:33:10,800
And he gives Charlie
money and so forth.

697
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,300
But Charley uses this
to get a fortune.

698
00:33:13,300 --> 00:33:17,010
And he sees an article in a
newspaper about a Swiss doctor

699
00:33:17,010 --> 00:33:18,780
who can fix blindness.

700
00:33:18,780 --> 00:33:23,380
And he sends the flower girl
to Switzerland or someplace.

701
00:33:23,380 --> 00:33:25,170
And she has the operation.

702
00:33:25,170 --> 00:33:27,670
She has her sight regained.

703
00:33:27,670 --> 00:33:31,700
And the Tramp character has
had his usual misadventures.

704
00:33:31,700 --> 00:33:33,550
And he's just
getting out of prison

705
00:33:33,550 --> 00:33:35,000
at the very end of the film.

706
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:36,530
So the encounter
he's going to have

707
00:33:36,530 --> 00:33:38,960
with the now sighted
flower girl, which

708
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,050
is the very climax of City
Lights-- this encounter

709
00:33:42,050 --> 00:33:44,610
that he's going to have
with her is an encounter

710
00:33:44,610 --> 00:33:47,912
in which he and the audience
know perfectly well who

711
00:33:47,912 --> 00:33:48,870
all the characters are.

712
00:33:48,870 --> 00:33:51,520
But she has never set
eyes on Charlie before.

713
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:57,270
And she has the idea that
her benefactor, the man who

714
00:33:57,270 --> 00:33:59,900
sent her for the operation
and restored her sight,

715
00:33:59,900 --> 00:34:02,890
is a wealthy and
handsome fellow.

716
00:34:02,890 --> 00:34:04,945
Here is the ending
of City Lights.

717
00:34:08,722 --> 00:34:11,202
[MUSIC PLAYING]

718
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:18,870
So for the audience, this
moment has tremendous poignance

719
00:35:18,870 --> 00:35:20,650
because the audience
is aware of things

720
00:35:20,650 --> 00:35:23,090
that the female character
is not aware of it.

721
00:35:23,090 --> 00:35:27,320
That there's her benefactor,
this shabby little tramp.

722
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,210
So her condescension
to him in this sequence

723
00:35:30,210 --> 00:35:31,980
has tremendous poignance
for the audience.

724
00:35:34,540 --> 00:35:36,970
And look at the closeup
on Charley here,

725
00:35:36,970 --> 00:35:38,270
Charley sees who it is.

726
00:35:38,270 --> 00:35:39,550
Charlie knows who it is.

727
00:35:47,204 --> 00:35:49,620
The only thing that's wrong
with this ending is the titles

728
00:35:49,620 --> 00:35:51,480
are unnecessary.

729
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:53,670
The faces are so eloquent,
they're unnecessary.

730
00:35:56,570 --> 00:36:00,400
The words aren't needed.

731
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:01,825
In fact, the words
even simplify.

732
00:36:05,910 --> 00:36:07,410
Can you see how
Charley's expression

733
00:36:07,410 --> 00:36:11,410
involves pride, as well as
affection and a kind of love.

734
00:36:11,410 --> 00:36:14,647
He's incredibly excited
and happy to see her

735
00:36:14,647 --> 00:36:15,605
and to see her sighted.

736
00:36:47,990 --> 00:36:50,120
See the power of a closeup.

737
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,280
She suddenly realizes
who it is from touch.

738
00:37:01,620 --> 00:37:04,830
The least necessary intertitle
in the history of movies

739
00:37:04,830 --> 00:37:05,766
is about to appear.

740
00:37:13,190 --> 00:37:14,747
But look at the closeups here.

741
00:37:14,747 --> 00:37:16,163
Look at the art
of these closeups.

742
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:21,290
Another unnecessarily line.

743
00:37:42,950 --> 00:37:45,300
There are people who have
said that that last closeup is

744
00:37:45,300 --> 00:37:48,020
the most eloquent closeup
in the history of movies.

745
00:37:48,020 --> 00:37:49,360
It might be true.

746
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:51,050
Because the
complexity of emotion

747
00:37:51,050 --> 00:37:52,980
that's playing across
Charlie's face there--

748
00:37:52,980 --> 00:37:54,521
it's hard for people
who haven't seen

749
00:37:54,521 --> 00:37:55,990
the whole film to
fully grasp it,

750
00:37:55,990 --> 00:37:57,470
although I tried to set it up.

751
00:37:57,470 --> 00:37:59,220
It's partly that he
knows there can never

752
00:37:59,220 --> 00:38:00,490
be anything between them.

753
00:38:00,490 --> 00:38:02,680
It's partly that he's
full of joy over the fact

754
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:04,230
that he's been able to help her.

755
00:38:04,230 --> 00:38:07,990
But there's also a sense of
their inevitable separation,

756
00:38:07,990 --> 00:38:09,480
of the differences between them.

757
00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:11,480
And that's part of
what's reflected

758
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:12,760
in that closeup at the end.

759
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:15,170
And another thing I would
call your attention to,

760
00:38:15,170 --> 00:38:16,720
part of Chaplin's
subtly, is look how

761
00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:19,670
he doesn't hold it too long.

762
00:38:19,670 --> 00:38:21,830
A truly sentimental
director would

763
00:38:21,830 --> 00:38:26,100
have held his final
shot, Charley's face,

764
00:38:26,100 --> 00:38:27,810
twice as long,
three times as long.

765
00:38:27,810 --> 00:38:30,140
But do you notice how
wasn't there for very long?

766
00:38:30,140 --> 00:38:34,575
His hand was over here and
then the screen goes blank.

767
00:38:34,575 --> 00:38:36,950
He doesn't milk the moment,
even though it's an immensely

768
00:38:36,950 --> 00:38:37,741
complicated moment.

769
00:38:37,741 --> 00:38:39,987
But the most important thing
to say about this scene

770
00:38:39,987 --> 00:38:41,570
is that it's a scene
that's played out

771
00:38:41,570 --> 00:38:43,300
by the drama of the face.

772
00:38:43,300 --> 00:38:46,990
It shows how Chaplin had reached
a point by the time he reached

773
00:38:46,990 --> 00:38:49,580
his maturity in the
1920s, had reached

774
00:38:49,580 --> 00:38:51,850
a point where he
could create films

775
00:38:51,850 --> 00:38:55,890
in which closeups on
expressive actors' faces,

776
00:38:55,890 --> 00:38:58,980
and especially closeups
on the Tramp's face,

777
00:38:58,980 --> 00:39:02,530
could reveal worlds of meaning.

778
00:39:02,530 --> 00:39:04,820
The range of contradictory
feelings and meanings

779
00:39:04,820 --> 00:39:07,790
that run across the
theater of Charley's face

780
00:39:07,790 --> 00:39:10,180
in these final
sequences of City Lights

781
00:39:10,180 --> 00:39:13,990
are proof of the eloquence
of the silent film

782
00:39:13,990 --> 00:39:17,740
and are a particularly
distinctive signature instance

783
00:39:17,740 --> 00:39:18,790
of Chaplin's art.

784
00:39:18,790 --> 00:39:20,800
Well, in the time
I have remaining,

785
00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:23,320
what I'd like to do is talk
very quickly about Modern Times

786
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,700
itself, the great
masterpiece that you're

787
00:39:25,700 --> 00:39:27,750
going to be seeing
in a few minutes,

788
00:39:27,750 --> 00:39:30,510
as a way of sort of setting
up some of the things for you

789
00:39:30,510 --> 00:39:32,260
to watch for.

790
00:39:32,260 --> 00:39:35,480
But I feel badly
that I couldn't do

791
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,310
this fully enough with
The General, which

792
00:39:37,310 --> 00:39:38,832
is an equally complex film.

793
00:39:38,832 --> 00:39:40,290
And I only have a
few minutes here.

794
00:39:40,290 --> 00:39:43,960
So I can hardly do full justice
to the astonishing richness

795
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:45,786
and complexity of Modern Times.

796
00:39:45,786 --> 00:39:47,160
But I want to call
your attention

797
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:48,960
to certain features
in it and count

798
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,840
on your being as attentive
and generous in your viewing

799
00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:53,130
as you possibly can.

800
00:39:53,130 --> 00:39:55,550
I'm sure you'll pick up
other things as well.

801
00:39:55,550 --> 00:39:57,890
First, the context of the film.

802
00:39:57,890 --> 00:39:59,070
I've already mentioned this.

803
00:39:59,070 --> 00:40:00,500
So I don't have to spend
a lot of time on it.

804
00:40:00,500 --> 00:40:02,960
But it's very interesting and
significant that the film was

805
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:07,690
made in 1936, released in 1936,
something like seven or eight

806
00:40:07,690 --> 00:40:09,210
years into the sound era.

807
00:40:09,210 --> 00:40:11,320
There hadn't been any
silent films made.

808
00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:13,710
Now, I'm not saying that
Modern Times is actually

809
00:40:13,710 --> 00:40:14,730
a truly silent film.

810
00:40:14,730 --> 00:40:15,290
It's not.

811
00:40:15,290 --> 00:40:16,560
It has a soundtrack.

812
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:18,440
And the soundtrack
is complex and rich.

813
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:20,130
And I'll say at
least a word about it

814
00:40:20,130 --> 00:40:23,540
before I'm finished here.

815
00:40:23,540 --> 00:40:26,050
But in every
fundamental respect,

816
00:40:26,050 --> 00:40:29,350
Modern Times wants its
viewers to think of it

817
00:40:29,350 --> 00:40:30,860
as a silent film.

818
00:40:30,860 --> 00:40:33,000
It invokes the
tradition of silent film

819
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:35,300
and especially the
tradition of Chaplin films,

820
00:40:35,300 --> 00:40:37,230
to which it
systematically alludes

821
00:40:37,230 --> 00:40:39,440
in virtually every frame.

822
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,980
So the context for
the film is first is

823
00:40:43,980 --> 00:40:46,430
that it is in a certain
way a kind of silent film.

824
00:40:46,430 --> 00:40:48,740
There is no synchronous
dialog in it.

825
00:40:51,525 --> 00:40:54,050
There are sound
effects-- and, of course,

826
00:40:54,050 --> 00:40:58,660
there's music-- a soundtrack
the Chaplain arranged

827
00:40:58,660 --> 00:40:59,510
very complexly.

828
00:40:59,510 --> 00:41:01,760
And it's a very rich soundtrack.

829
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:05,540
But there's no synchronous
dialogue until the very end.

830
00:41:05,540 --> 00:41:07,570
At the very end, there
is synchronous dialogue.

831
00:41:07,570 --> 00:41:09,530
And it's Charley who speaks it.

832
00:41:09,530 --> 00:41:13,185
In fact, the film was advertised
as follows in many newspapers.

833
00:41:13,185 --> 00:41:16,070
It was, "The Tramp speaks."

834
00:41:16,070 --> 00:41:19,630
Well, watch for what happens
when the Tramp speaks.

835
00:41:19,630 --> 00:41:22,950
It's one of the film's
great and serious jokes.

836
00:41:22,950 --> 00:41:24,169
He does speak at the end.

837
00:41:24,169 --> 00:41:25,210
And it's the only moment.

838
00:41:25,210 --> 00:41:27,474
You do hear dialogue
elsewhere in the film.

839
00:41:27,474 --> 00:41:28,640
I'm getting ahead of myself.

840
00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:30,348
This is what I wanted
to say about sound.

841
00:41:30,348 --> 00:41:33,151
But you don't see
synchronous dialogue.

842
00:41:33,151 --> 00:41:35,150
You don't see people
moving their lips and words

843
00:41:35,150 --> 00:41:35,983
coming out of there.

844
00:41:35,983 --> 00:41:37,740
You see people on
a screen talking

845
00:41:37,740 --> 00:41:39,600
or you hear people
on a radio talking.

846
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:43,030
But you don't see someone on
screen actually moving his lips

847
00:41:43,030 --> 00:41:45,570
and words, sound coming
out, until the very end,

848
00:41:45,570 --> 00:41:47,220
when Charlie does his song.

849
00:41:47,220 --> 00:41:48,189
He sings a song.

850
00:41:48,189 --> 00:41:49,980
He plays a waiter near
the end of the film.

851
00:41:49,980 --> 00:41:51,900
And he sings a song.

852
00:41:51,900 --> 00:41:53,502
And he tells a
story with the song.

853
00:41:53,502 --> 00:41:54,460
Watch for what happens.

854
00:41:54,460 --> 00:41:55,450
So the Tramp does talk.

855
00:41:55,450 --> 00:41:59,630
But it's a wonderful comic joke.

856
00:41:59,630 --> 00:42:02,880
Another aspect of the
context of Modern Times

857
00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:05,090
is it takes place
during the Depression.

858
00:42:05,090 --> 00:42:07,400
But the subject
matter of Modern Times

859
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:10,900
was Chaplin's typical
subject matter.

860
00:42:10,900 --> 00:42:12,340
It was about the Depression.

861
00:42:12,340 --> 00:42:14,000
It was about hunger,
about misery,

862
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:18,620
about someone who can't find a
job, about two homeless people,

863
00:42:18,620 --> 00:42:20,720
about the conflict
between capital and labor,

864
00:42:20,720 --> 00:42:22,840
about the irrationality
of both sides.

865
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,360
It was literally about
the turmoil and trouble

866
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:27,850
that was going on during
the Great Depression.

867
00:42:27,850 --> 00:42:30,030
Many people predicted,
not only that the film

868
00:42:30,030 --> 00:42:32,480
would fail because it was
really essentially a silent film

869
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:35,000
in an era when no one was
interested in silent film

870
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,940
anymore, but also that it would
fail because it was rubbing

871
00:42:37,940 --> 00:42:40,110
the audience's noses
in the very experiences

872
00:42:40,110 --> 00:42:41,870
they were trying
to escape when they

873
00:42:41,870 --> 00:42:44,490
came to the movies, the
escapist theory of why

874
00:42:44,490 --> 00:42:46,020
people attend films.

875
00:42:46,020 --> 00:42:47,770
Of course, both
predictions were mistaken.

876
00:42:47,770 --> 00:42:51,420
Modern Times was a significant
commercial success,

877
00:42:51,420 --> 00:42:53,590
partly because Chaplin was
very clever in the way he

878
00:42:53,590 --> 00:42:55,270
did his exhibition of the film.

879
00:42:55,270 --> 00:42:57,540
He released it first,
not in mass release,

880
00:42:57,540 --> 00:42:59,590
but to elite feeders,
which charged

881
00:42:59,590 --> 00:43:02,426
quite a great deal of money,
and then slowly allowed

882
00:43:02,426 --> 00:43:04,300
the film to reach larger
and larger theaters.

883
00:43:04,300 --> 00:43:07,000
He anticipated certain
modern marketing methods

884
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:08,560
with the release
of Modern Times.

885
00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:11,190
And, of course, by
1936, Charlie Chaplin

886
00:43:11,190 --> 00:43:15,100
was an internationally famous
figure, of such stature.

887
00:43:15,100 --> 00:43:18,560
He was about the only figure,
maybe apart from D.W. Griffith,

888
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:21,080
about whom people had begun
to write essays calling him

889
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:22,010
an artist.

890
00:43:22,010 --> 00:43:25,360
So Chaplain occupied
a unique place.

891
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:28,280
And that was also part
of why Modern Times was

892
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:29,990
waited for so fully.

893
00:43:29,990 --> 00:43:32,740
So the context of Modern
Times is important.

894
00:43:32,740 --> 00:43:35,650
There's something brave and
surprising about the fact

895
00:43:35,650 --> 00:43:38,230
that it was about the
miseries of the Depression

896
00:43:38,230 --> 00:43:41,200
during the Depression, that it
was essentially a silent film

897
00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:42,620
in the middle of the sound era.

898
00:43:42,620 --> 00:43:45,810
Both very bold decisions
on Chaplin's part,

899
00:43:45,810 --> 00:43:51,620
both characteristic of his
ambitiousness as an artist.

900
00:43:51,620 --> 00:43:56,590
Like Keaton's The General, we
could certainly call this film

901
00:43:56,590 --> 00:44:01,350
also a culminating text,
a summarizing text,

902
00:44:01,350 --> 00:44:02,710
in several senses.

903
00:44:02,710 --> 00:44:05,890
It's a culminating text in
terms of Chaplin's work.

904
00:44:05,890 --> 00:44:07,380
And I've already
talked about that.

905
00:44:07,380 --> 00:44:10,130
Every single person coming
to see Modern Times, who

906
00:44:10,130 --> 00:44:12,270
had any experience
with the movies before,

907
00:44:12,270 --> 00:44:15,360
would recognize in
Modern Times situations

908
00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:19,090
and even physical spaces that
had occurred in earlier Chaplin

909
00:44:19,090 --> 00:44:19,870
films.

910
00:44:19,870 --> 00:44:21,530
So there was almost
a sense in which

911
00:44:21,530 --> 00:44:25,870
Modern Times was a reprise of
the whole career of the Tramp.

912
00:44:25,870 --> 00:44:27,400
And I mentioned
that Modern Times

913
00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:30,960
shows us the Tramp for the first
time in multiple jobs Having

914
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:36,240
multiple sources of-- and, in
fact, multiple misadventures.

915
00:44:36,240 --> 00:44:39,200
He goes to jail more
than once in the film.

916
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,350
We find him in a factory
more than once in the film

917
00:44:41,350 --> 00:44:42,020
and so forth.

918
00:44:42,020 --> 00:44:45,830
So there's a sense in which
the various separate episodes

919
00:44:45,830 --> 00:44:51,620
of Modern Times, taken together,
dramatize, in small, the whole

920
00:44:51,620 --> 00:44:53,570
of the Tramp's career.

921
00:44:53,570 --> 00:44:57,150
And there are many specific
bits of business and scenes

922
00:44:57,150 --> 00:45:00,560
in Modern Times that are
little repetitions, or echoes,

923
00:45:00,560 --> 00:45:06,020
or reprises of earlier Chaplin
films, which have caused

924
00:45:06,020 --> 00:45:10,170
a shock of recognition in
the audience, a happy kind

925
00:45:10,170 --> 00:45:11,177
of recognition.

926
00:45:11,177 --> 00:45:12,510
There are many examples of that.

927
00:45:12,510 --> 00:45:15,010
There are many earlier films
which deal with restaurants.

928
00:45:15,010 --> 00:45:16,635
You'll see some of
them from the shorts

929
00:45:16,635 --> 00:45:18,480
that you've looked
at, certain echoes.

930
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:23,360
I won't talk about any of them
beyond mentioning that there's

931
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,987
a remarkable sequence in
the film-- if we have time,

932
00:45:25,987 --> 00:45:26,820
I'll show it to you.

933
00:45:26,820 --> 00:45:29,140
But we probably won't
have time-- in which

934
00:45:29,140 --> 00:45:31,240
we see Charlie on skates.

935
00:45:31,240 --> 00:45:34,941
And that scene alludes
to a whole short

936
00:45:34,941 --> 00:45:37,190
that Chaplain had made, in
which he plays a waiter who

937
00:45:37,190 --> 00:45:38,900
has to serve people on skates.

938
00:45:38,900 --> 00:45:40,720
And you'll see that he
has to do that again

939
00:45:40,720 --> 00:45:41,820
at the end of the film.

940
00:45:41,820 --> 00:45:43,204
He sort of reprises that role.

941
00:45:43,204 --> 00:45:44,620
And then there's
an earlier moment

942
00:45:44,620 --> 00:45:46,740
in the film where we see
Chaplin states as well.

943
00:45:46,740 --> 00:45:50,560
But the main point is that
virtually every moment

944
00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:53,740
in Modern Times has some
counterpart in an earlier

945
00:45:53,740 --> 00:45:54,770
Chaplain short.

946
00:45:54,770 --> 00:45:57,270
So there would have been a sense
of the audience coming back

947
00:45:57,270 --> 00:45:59,650
to Charlie, returning
to the world

948
00:45:59,650 --> 00:46:02,290
that Charlie stood
for, when they

949
00:46:02,290 --> 00:46:05,010
came to watch Modern Times.

950
00:46:05,010 --> 00:46:07,130
So it's a culmination
of Chaplin's career.

951
00:46:07,130 --> 00:46:09,740
But it's also in a deep
sense, like The General,

952
00:46:09,740 --> 00:46:11,490
a culmination of silent film.

953
00:46:11,490 --> 00:46:13,886
And it would have had
that nostalgic affect.

954
00:46:13,886 --> 00:46:15,510
It would have had
that nostalgic effect

955
00:46:15,510 --> 00:46:18,780
on the original audience.

956
00:46:18,780 --> 00:46:22,120
Most of the original audience
would have recognized the film

957
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:27,730
as an embodiment of a phase of
movie going that had passed.

958
00:46:27,730 --> 00:46:32,910
And we should watch it
in that way as well.

959
00:46:32,910 --> 00:46:34,511
I want to say a word
about the Gamin.

960
00:46:34,511 --> 00:46:36,760
That's the character, the
female character in the film

961
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:38,230
because she
represents an advance

962
00:46:38,230 --> 00:46:40,510
over any previous Chaplin movie.

963
00:46:40,510 --> 00:46:46,280
As I suggested earlier,
in most Chaplin films,

964
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:48,900
women are relatively
stereotyped and don't

965
00:46:48,900 --> 00:46:50,770
play very active roles.

966
00:46:50,770 --> 00:46:52,490
This is the first
film in which there's

967
00:46:52,490 --> 00:46:56,090
a woman who seems to be in
some sense the Tramp's equal,

968
00:46:56,090 --> 00:46:57,510
in many ways more
than his equal.

969
00:46:57,510 --> 00:46:58,420
She has more energy.

970
00:46:58,420 --> 00:47:00,030
She's a bit younger.

971
00:47:00,030 --> 00:47:01,406
You might watch
for the ambiguity

972
00:47:01,406 --> 00:47:02,321
in their relationship.

973
00:47:02,321 --> 00:47:04,420
Is it a sexual relationship,
a romantic relation?

974
00:47:04,420 --> 00:47:05,350
Probably not.

975
00:47:05,350 --> 00:47:07,730
Charlie's a lot
older than the Gamin.

976
00:47:07,730 --> 00:47:10,210
In real life, he was
having an affair with her,

977
00:47:10,210 --> 00:47:13,130
I might mention to you.

978
00:47:13,130 --> 00:47:16,110
In fact, he was famous
for having relations

979
00:47:16,110 --> 00:47:19,690
with young women, especially
his young actresses.

980
00:47:19,690 --> 00:47:22,810
And there were scandals
connected to Chaplin's name

981
00:47:22,810 --> 00:47:24,740
partly because of this.

982
00:47:24,740 --> 00:47:26,180
And Paulette
Goddard, the actress

983
00:47:26,180 --> 00:47:28,980
who plays the
Gamin in this film,

984
00:47:28,980 --> 00:47:32,590
entered on a career
of great fame

985
00:47:32,590 --> 00:47:35,330
in the movies, partly
because of this role.

986
00:47:35,330 --> 00:47:38,730
And you could see how expressive
and remarkable her face is.

987
00:47:38,730 --> 00:47:40,420
This is the first
female character

988
00:47:40,420 --> 00:47:44,950
who has energy, will, who has
a kind of aggressive capacity

989
00:47:44,950 --> 00:47:47,560
to be resilient and
care for herself.

990
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:50,290
And that represents a tremendous
advance in Chaplin's work.

991
00:47:50,290 --> 00:47:53,850
She's the first sort of
semi-independent female

992
00:47:53,850 --> 00:47:54,860
in Chaplin's work.

993
00:47:54,860 --> 00:47:56,234
And you can see
in a certain way,

994
00:47:56,234 --> 00:47:57,840
she's a kind of
partner for Chaplin.

995
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:00,590
When this film ends with
Charlie and the Gamin

996
00:48:00,590 --> 00:48:03,670
walking down the road
toward an unknown future,

997
00:48:03,670 --> 00:48:06,270
the only difference between
that ending and the ending

998
00:48:06,270 --> 00:48:08,740
we normally see in
a Chaplain short

999
00:48:08,740 --> 00:48:10,500
is that Chaplain
is usually alone

1000
00:48:10,500 --> 00:48:12,500
when he walks down the
road toward the mountains

1001
00:48:12,500 --> 00:48:13,360
in the distance.

1002
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:15,350
And in this film,
he is has partner.

1003
00:48:15,350 --> 00:48:17,640
So there's a slight
suggestion of,

1004
00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:20,280
if not exactly hopefulness,
at least the resilience,

1005
00:48:20,280 --> 00:48:22,010
of the capacity to survive.

1006
00:48:22,010 --> 00:48:24,150
You have someone to help you.

1007
00:48:24,150 --> 00:48:27,717
And you might watch the way the
Paulette Goddard character is

1008
00:48:27,717 --> 00:48:28,550
treated in the film.

1009
00:48:28,550 --> 00:48:31,120
Because she actually
represents something new

1010
00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:33,510
in Chaplin's work,
a real advance

1011
00:48:33,510 --> 00:48:37,610
in his understanding of how to
deal with female characters.

1012
00:48:37,610 --> 00:48:43,810
A new kind of respect for
women show up in this film.

1013
00:48:43,810 --> 00:48:45,570
I've mentioned the
soundtrack before.

1014
00:48:45,570 --> 00:48:47,510
But I want to quickly
call your attention

1015
00:48:47,510 --> 00:48:48,800
to two features of it.

1016
00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:53,075
One is that Chaplin arranged
the sound track very carefully.

1017
00:48:53,075 --> 00:48:54,450
And what you'll
notice if you pay

1018
00:48:54,450 --> 00:48:58,470
attention is that the
soundtrack has what

1019
00:48:58,470 --> 00:49:05,900
we might call a quality in
which particular themes recur

1020
00:49:05,900 --> 00:49:09,150
when certain characters
appear on screen.

1021
00:49:09,150 --> 00:49:12,300
And you begin to
associate certain melodies

1022
00:49:12,300 --> 00:49:13,670
with certain characters.

1023
00:49:13,670 --> 00:49:15,540
And you should watch
the way this unfolds.

1024
00:49:15,540 --> 00:49:19,990
I mean the melody that's played
behind the Chaplain character

1025
00:49:19,990 --> 00:49:22,830
was actually a popular
song of the day, entitled,

1026
00:49:22,830 --> 00:49:25,980
although the words are never
sung in the film, "Hallelujah,

1027
00:49:25,980 --> 00:49:27,380
I'm a Tramp."

1028
00:49:27,380 --> 00:49:29,130
And it was a song
about being free,

1029
00:49:29,130 --> 00:49:31,860
and not having to worry
about working, and riding

1030
00:49:31,860 --> 00:49:32,910
the rails, and so forth.

1031
00:49:32,910 --> 00:49:34,130
Hurray, I don't have a job.

1032
00:49:34,130 --> 00:49:37,437
Hurray I'm a free,
in those ways.

1033
00:49:37,437 --> 00:49:39,770
But each of the characters,
each of the major characters

1034
00:49:39,770 --> 00:49:42,730
in the film, has a musical theme
associated with him or her.

1035
00:49:42,730 --> 00:49:45,200
And you should watch the
way they sort of meld in

1036
00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:47,360
and blend together.

1037
00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:50,010
Chaplain took the sound in
the film very seriously.

1038
00:49:50,010 --> 00:49:52,470
I've mentioned
the talking theme.

1039
00:49:52,470 --> 00:49:54,450
Watch the mocking
way in which talk

1040
00:49:54,450 --> 00:49:58,730
itself, speech, is dealt
with in the soundtrack.

1041
00:49:58,730 --> 00:50:01,350
You might want to talk about
this in your recitations.

1042
00:50:01,350 --> 00:50:03,170
But ask yourself
what's going on there?

1043
00:50:03,170 --> 00:50:07,440
Why would Chaplain, in
the end, denigrate talk?

1044
00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:09,580
I think the answer is obvious.

1045
00:50:09,580 --> 00:50:11,160
The Tramp is a silent character.

1046
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:16,020
It's as if this is the revenge
of silent film on talkies.

1047
00:50:16,020 --> 00:50:18,920
It's as if the film is saying
talk is crap, talk is silly,

1048
00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:19,880
talk is ridiculous.

1049
00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:21,130
Who needs talk?

1050
00:50:21,130 --> 00:50:24,070
Watch how the film repeatedly
makes fun of talking

1051
00:50:24,070 --> 00:50:31,590
or shows talking as
inadequate or unnecessary.

1052
00:50:31,590 --> 00:50:33,280
And also the way
the film associates

1053
00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:35,113
talkies with something
else that the film is

1054
00:50:35,113 --> 00:50:39,440
very hostile to, which is
mechanized industrialization.

1055
00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:41,920
The film is a critique
of the excesses

1056
00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:44,190
of capitalism and the
excesses especially,

1057
00:50:44,190 --> 00:50:47,260
the tedium of factory work.

1058
00:50:47,260 --> 00:50:53,060
And talk and talking
films are associated

1059
00:50:53,060 --> 00:50:55,950
with what the film identifies
as evil or dangerous,

1060
00:50:55,950 --> 00:50:57,969
as you'll see.

1061
00:50:57,969 --> 00:50:59,510
But there's also a
moment in the film

1062
00:50:59,510 --> 00:51:01,339
that-- I won't show it to you.

1063
00:51:01,339 --> 00:51:03,630
But I'll mention it and ask
you to watch for it-- where

1064
00:51:03,630 --> 00:51:04,589
we can see another way.

1065
00:51:04,589 --> 00:51:06,338
It's only one of the
ways in which Chaplin

1066
00:51:06,338 --> 00:51:07,170
manipulates sound.

1067
00:51:07,170 --> 00:51:09,880
And it's an interesting moment
because it's easy to miss,

1068
00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:11,760
easy not to register
what's happening there.

1069
00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:13,800
There's a moment in the
center of the film where

1070
00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:16,960
Charlie and the Gamin escape
their difficulties briefly.

1071
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:20,760
Charlie gets a job as a night
watchman in a department store.

1072
00:51:20,760 --> 00:51:23,170
And the department store
is like capitalist heaven.

1073
00:51:23,170 --> 00:51:26,749
They've been living hand
to mouth, nearly starving.

1074
00:51:26,749 --> 00:51:28,790
And they find themselves
in the department store.

1075
00:51:28,790 --> 00:51:29,490
There's food.

1076
00:51:29,490 --> 00:51:30,510
There are beds.

1077
00:51:30,510 --> 00:51:32,270
There are beautiful
warm clothes.

1078
00:51:32,270 --> 00:51:33,390
There are toys.

1079
00:51:33,390 --> 00:51:34,820
There are even roller skates.

1080
00:51:34,820 --> 00:51:36,778
And there's a moment when
Charlie and the Gamin

1081
00:51:36,778 --> 00:51:39,580
exploring the store, having
this exciting experience

1082
00:51:39,580 --> 00:51:42,460
with all these goods,
which they are deprived of.

1083
00:51:42,460 --> 00:51:44,469
It's not an accident
that that scene is

1084
00:51:44,469 --> 00:51:45,760
at the very center of the film.

1085
00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:48,330
Almost all the scenes on either
side of the department store

1086
00:51:48,330 --> 00:51:51,280
scene rhyme with
each in certain ways,

1087
00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:53,210
as an aspect of the
structure of the film.

1088
00:51:53,210 --> 00:51:54,543
And I'll come to that in second.

1089
00:51:54,543 --> 00:51:56,160
I'll conclude with that point.

1090
00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:58,400
But the department store
scene is the only one that

1091
00:51:58,400 --> 00:51:59,720
doesn't have any counterpart.

1092
00:51:59,720 --> 00:52:01,470
It's right at the very
center of the film.

1093
00:52:01,470 --> 00:52:03,580
And what one can feel
is the way in which

1094
00:52:03,580 --> 00:52:07,580
that dramatizes the
injustice, the sense of haves

1095
00:52:07,580 --> 00:52:10,850
and have nots that is at the
center of the film's meaning.

1096
00:52:10,850 --> 00:52:13,930
The film is always in some
sense interested in that topic.

1097
00:52:13,930 --> 00:52:16,960
So there's a moment when
the Gamin and Charlie

1098
00:52:16,960 --> 00:52:18,620
find themselves in this store.

1099
00:52:18,620 --> 00:52:20,560
Charlie, in his exuberance
and high spirits,

1100
00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:23,180
straps on roller skates
and begins skating around.

1101
00:52:23,180 --> 00:52:25,030
And if you listen
to the soundtrack,

1102
00:52:25,030 --> 00:52:27,480
you'll see the soundtrack is
very beautiful and gentle.

1103
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:29,310
And you know, dah.

1104
00:52:29,310 --> 00:52:32,220
It's very calming and exciting.

1105
00:52:32,220 --> 00:52:33,810
And as Charlie is
skating, the camera

1106
00:52:33,810 --> 00:52:35,220
shows that, in
fact, he's skating

1107
00:52:35,220 --> 00:52:36,770
in a very dangerous area.

1108
00:52:36,770 --> 00:52:38,740
The store is partly
under construction.

1109
00:52:38,740 --> 00:52:40,660
And on one point,
while he's skating,

1110
00:52:40,660 --> 00:52:42,330
he puts a blindfold on.

1111
00:52:42,330 --> 00:52:44,930
And he's still
skating very calmly,

1112
00:52:44,930 --> 00:52:46,290
and beautifully, and gracefully.

1113
00:52:46,290 --> 00:52:49,425
And the soundtrack under it is
very graceful and appropriate

1114
00:52:49,425 --> 00:52:50,680
to his feelings.

1115
00:52:50,680 --> 00:52:53,590
But what the camera
shows, what you see,

1116
00:52:53,590 --> 00:52:55,680
is him coming near
the edge of an abyss.

1117
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:57,100
Actually, it's a platform.

1118
00:52:57,100 --> 00:52:59,810
He might fall three stories
down into the lower story.

1119
00:52:59,810 --> 00:53:02,860
And he's not aware of it
because he's blindfolded.

1120
00:53:02,860 --> 00:53:04,446
And the sound-- and
then, of course,

1121
00:53:04,446 --> 00:53:06,820
there's a certain moment where
he takes the blindfold off

1122
00:53:06,820 --> 00:53:08,517
and he sees that
he's about to fall.

1123
00:53:08,517 --> 00:53:09,350
And he gets nervous.

1124
00:53:09,350 --> 00:53:12,330
And he suddenly is no
longer so graceful.

1125
00:53:12,330 --> 00:53:14,690
It's kind of a minor joke.

1126
00:53:14,690 --> 00:53:17,500
But what's really
interesting about the moment

1127
00:53:17,500 --> 00:53:20,560
is to think about what Chaplain
is doing with the soundtrack.

1128
00:53:20,560 --> 00:53:22,720
Because when you reflect
on it, what you realize

1129
00:53:22,720 --> 00:53:25,360
is that what Chaplain has
done with that soundtrack

1130
00:53:25,360 --> 00:53:28,060
is have it reflect not
the external reality

1131
00:53:28,060 --> 00:53:31,170
that we're all watching, but
the inner feelings that Charlie

1132
00:53:31,170 --> 00:53:31,730
is feeling.

1133
00:53:31,730 --> 00:53:33,340
What he's done is
he's discovered

1134
00:53:33,340 --> 00:53:36,400
a way-- it's a simple point,
but it's a brilliant discovery.

1135
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:38,220
He's discovered a way
to use the soundtrack

1136
00:53:38,220 --> 00:53:39,740
to express a subjective state.

1137
00:53:42,270 --> 00:53:44,090
And what he's also
discovered, of course,

1138
00:53:44,090 --> 00:53:45,260
is that-- although
other people had

1139
00:53:45,260 --> 00:53:46,510
discovered this principle too.

1140
00:53:46,510 --> 00:53:48,930
But Chaplin's using it
with great intelligence.

1141
00:53:48,930 --> 00:53:52,130
He's discovered that the
soundtrack and the visual track

1142
00:53:52,130 --> 00:53:54,300
don't have to
absolutely coincide.

1143
00:53:54,300 --> 00:53:56,470
That they can report
different emotions

1144
00:53:56,470 --> 00:53:58,990
or cause different
kinds of reaction.

1145
00:53:58,990 --> 00:54:02,360
And that what you get when
you have this disjunction

1146
00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:04,420
is something much more complex.

1147
00:54:04,420 --> 00:54:06,660
We see Charlie is
skating in danger.

1148
00:54:06,660 --> 00:54:08,370
But his obliviousness
to the danger

1149
00:54:08,370 --> 00:54:11,030
is partly registered by
the music, which tells us

1150
00:54:11,030 --> 00:54:12,850
not about what's
happening outwardly,

1151
00:54:12,850 --> 00:54:14,867
but what's happening
inside Charlie.

1152
00:54:14,867 --> 00:54:16,950
And there are other moments
like this in the film,

1153
00:54:16,950 --> 00:54:18,450
not necessarily
with the soundtrack,

1154
00:54:18,450 --> 00:54:20,970
but in other ways, in
which the subjective states

1155
00:54:20,970 --> 00:54:22,707
of the characters are explored.

1156
00:54:22,707 --> 00:54:24,290
Pay attention to
those because they're

1157
00:54:24,290 --> 00:54:26,970
very remarkable and interesting
moments, in which Chaplain

1158
00:54:26,970 --> 00:54:31,820
is expanding the
repertoire of film.

1159
00:54:31,820 --> 00:54:34,110
The structure of the film
is especially interesting.

1160
00:54:34,110 --> 00:54:36,690
And I won't say more
about it, than to say

1161
00:54:36,690 --> 00:54:38,820
if you watch closely
what you will see

1162
00:54:38,820 --> 00:54:42,550
is the structure is a profound
structure of repetition.

1163
00:54:42,550 --> 00:54:45,720
As in The General,
the film's first half

1164
00:54:45,720 --> 00:54:48,360
is revisited in the
film's second half.

1165
00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:51,627
It's as if the film is based
on a series of rhyming scenes.

1166
00:54:51,627 --> 00:54:53,210
In the first half
of the film, there's

1167
00:54:53,210 --> 00:54:55,510
a fantasy sequence in
which we see Charlie

1168
00:54:55,510 --> 00:54:59,530
and the Gamin inside a kind
of cabined environment,

1169
00:54:59,530 --> 00:55:01,040
inside a kind of domestic scene.

1170
00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:02,750
It's actually a
fantasy scene, in which

1171
00:55:02,750 --> 00:55:06,505
Charlie imagines a suburban
heaven for him and the Gamin.

1172
00:55:06,505 --> 00:55:08,130
In the second half
of the film, there's

1173
00:55:08,130 --> 00:55:10,830
an actual cabin in the mud
flats that they live in.

1174
00:55:10,830 --> 00:55:13,370
And those two scenes are
sort of in conversation

1175
00:55:13,370 --> 00:55:14,500
with each other.

1176
00:55:14,500 --> 00:55:18,210
There are two extended
sequences in factories

1177
00:55:18,210 --> 00:55:21,120
and involving the
malfunctioning of machinery.

1178
00:55:21,120 --> 00:55:23,980
And what you'll notice,
if you pay close attention

1179
00:55:23,980 --> 00:55:26,590
to the film, is that this
principle of rhyming scenes

1180
00:55:26,590 --> 00:55:30,150
creates a situation in which
in the second half of the film

1181
00:55:30,150 --> 00:55:32,580
you partly feel that
you're revisiting

1182
00:55:32,580 --> 00:55:35,640
scenes and experiences
that you've had before.

1183
00:55:35,640 --> 00:55:37,800
And one of the reasons
that this is a useful

1184
00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:41,110
and an important idea is that if
you think about Charlie's life

1185
00:55:41,110 --> 00:55:44,400
and you think about the previous
history of Chaplin's career

1186
00:55:44,400 --> 00:55:46,990
as a director and as an
actor, what you realize

1187
00:55:46,990 --> 00:55:49,560
is that in a deep sense
what Modern Times is doing

1188
00:55:49,560 --> 00:55:52,180
is replicating the history
of Charlie's career.

1189
00:55:52,180 --> 00:55:56,040
Because Charlie has
held a series of jobs.

1190
00:55:56,040 --> 00:55:58,790
Charlie has been in
15, or 20, or 40,

1191
00:55:58,790 --> 00:56:01,390
or a hundred different
environments.

1192
00:56:01,390 --> 00:56:05,320
And in virtually every
case or in every case,

1193
00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:06,640
the ending has been the same.

1194
00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:10,900
He has been released into an
ambiguous kind of homelessness

1195
00:56:10,900 --> 00:56:12,780
and freedom at the
end of the film.

1196
00:56:12,780 --> 00:56:15,800
There's something footloose,
homeless, and unfinished

1197
00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:16,940
about Charlie's life.

1198
00:56:16,940 --> 00:56:19,070
And after a while, you
come to realize you

1199
00:56:19,070 --> 00:56:21,850
this would have
been true by 1920,

1200
00:56:21,850 --> 00:56:23,460
if you had paid
attention to the 30

1201
00:56:23,460 --> 00:56:26,870
or so other Chaplin shorts
that already existed.

1202
00:56:26,870 --> 00:56:29,130
The fact is that it's
an endless process.

1203
00:56:29,130 --> 00:56:31,610
So another thing that the
structure of Modern Times

1204
00:56:31,610 --> 00:56:35,250
manages to dramatize, maybe
more deeply and powerfully

1205
00:56:35,250 --> 00:56:38,790
than any prior Chaplin film has
been able to do exactly because

1206
00:56:38,790 --> 00:56:41,830
of this mirror structure,
is that this principle

1207
00:56:41,830 --> 00:56:43,780
of repetition never
ends, that Charlie

1208
00:56:43,780 --> 00:56:45,250
is on a kind of treadmill.

1209
00:56:45,250 --> 00:56:50,260
And, of course, Charlie revisits
scenes and repeats actions

1210
00:56:50,260 --> 00:56:51,720
that we'd seen
earlier in the film

1211
00:56:51,720 --> 00:56:54,020
because his life is a
series of repetitions.

1212
00:56:54,020 --> 00:56:56,550
Because the film's
vision of social life

1213
00:56:56,550 --> 00:56:59,780
for a character like Charlie
is one that's so mordant.

1214
00:56:59,780 --> 00:57:02,550
What he's suggesting is things
are hard, things are tough.

1215
00:57:02,550 --> 00:57:05,469
This man's homelessness, this
man's hunger, will never abate.

1216
00:57:05,469 --> 00:57:07,510
He's going to have a
struggle for his whole life.

1217
00:57:07,510 --> 00:57:10,790
But we don't despair because
the Chaplain character

1218
00:57:10,790 --> 00:57:12,810
himself doesn't despair.

1219
00:57:12,810 --> 00:57:17,087
So pay attention to the way the
structure embodies the meaning.

1220
00:57:17,087 --> 00:57:18,920
The point I'm making
now, and I'll come back

1221
00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:21,280
to this later in the course,
the point I'm making now

1222
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:23,210
is a way of talking
about what could

1223
00:57:23,210 --> 00:57:25,910
be called the film's
commitment to the principle

1224
00:57:25,910 --> 00:57:28,080
of organic form.

1225
00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:33,080
When the structure of a text is
organic, what is meant by that

1226
00:57:33,080 --> 00:57:37,880
is that the structure
itself embodies meaning.

1227
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:40,950
That the way the
text is organized

1228
00:57:40,950 --> 00:57:43,332
carries the themes of the text.

1229
00:57:43,332 --> 00:57:45,540
And if you think about the
structure of Modern Times,

1230
00:57:45,540 --> 00:57:49,790
you'll see that it's a
marvelously distilled instance,

1231
00:57:49,790 --> 00:57:53,500
a marvelously clear instance, of
the principle of organic form.

1232
00:57:53,500 --> 00:57:55,910
What happens to
Charlie serially is

1233
00:57:55,910 --> 00:57:57,760
more meaningful in a
way than what happens

1234
00:57:57,760 --> 00:57:59,350
to him in a single episode.

1235
00:57:59,350 --> 00:58:01,584
And the fact that
we have this sense

1236
00:58:01,584 --> 00:58:04,000
that things are repeating,
that Charlie is on a treadmill,

1237
00:58:04,000 --> 00:58:07,100
that he lives a cyclical life,
that he'll always have moments

1238
00:58:07,100 --> 00:58:12,270
of hope and hopelessness, that
he'll have momentary times when

1239
00:58:12,270 --> 00:58:14,840
he finds a place to live
or find sufficient food.

1240
00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:17,240
But that it will
always be temporary.

1241
00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:19,150
That his life is
always on the road.

1242
00:58:19,150 --> 00:58:22,370
That his life is
always in process.

1243
00:58:22,370 --> 00:58:23,970
And that, at the
same time, he never

1244
00:58:23,970 --> 00:58:26,230
lets himself completely despair.

1245
00:58:26,230 --> 00:58:30,270
There's always a moment where
his resilience reasserts

1246
00:58:30,270 --> 00:58:30,870
itself.

1247
00:58:30,870 --> 00:58:32,650
Where those elements
are embedded

1248
00:58:32,650 --> 00:58:34,750
in some sense in
the very structure,

1249
00:58:34,750 --> 00:58:36,390
the very organization
of the film.

1250
00:58:36,390 --> 00:58:37,790
And I urge you to watch it.

1251
00:58:37,790 --> 00:58:40,840
What's been embedded or implied
in a good deal of what I've

1252
00:58:40,840 --> 00:58:44,670
been saying tonight
also has to do

1253
00:58:44,670 --> 00:58:48,030
broadly with what might
be called as the director

1254
00:58:48,030 --> 00:58:50,510
Chaplin's complexity.

1255
00:58:50,510 --> 00:58:52,970
Almost every moment in
Chaplin, and certainly

1256
00:58:52,970 --> 00:58:55,120
almost every moment
in Modern Times,

1257
00:58:55,120 --> 00:58:57,270
has the kind of
multiplicity, or density,

1258
00:58:57,270 --> 00:58:59,700
or texture that I've
been describing to you

1259
00:58:59,700 --> 00:59:02,630
as the mark of a serious film.

1260
00:59:02,630 --> 00:59:04,700
The mark of what I want
to call a work of art.

1261
00:59:04,700 --> 00:59:07,660
And if you pay attention,
one of the things you'll find

1262
00:59:07,660 --> 00:59:10,710
is that even the moments that
seem on the surface to be

1263
00:59:10,710 --> 00:59:12,240
the simplest ones, are not.

1264
00:59:12,240 --> 00:59:13,909
Or even the
implications in the film

1265
00:59:13,909 --> 00:59:15,200
that seem the simplest are not.

1266
00:59:15,200 --> 00:59:18,150
Just one example, the film's
critique of capitalism,

1267
00:59:18,150 --> 00:59:21,560
of a certain kind of excessive
form of industrial capitalism,

1268
00:59:21,560 --> 00:59:24,305
is obvious and very deep.

1269
00:59:24,305 --> 00:59:30,020
I mean the film is deeply
hostile to the dehumanization

1270
00:59:30,020 --> 00:59:32,620
that work on the assembly
line generates for people.

1271
00:59:32,620 --> 00:59:37,130
And Chaplain works wonderfully
comic variations on this idea.

1272
00:59:37,130 --> 00:59:40,385
And yet if you think of
the film in a simple way,

1273
00:59:40,385 --> 00:59:43,050
if you think in the
film in a simple way

1274
00:59:43,050 --> 00:59:46,262
as a kind of Marxist
or left-wing screed,

1275
00:59:46,262 --> 00:59:47,220
you're really mistaken.

1276
00:59:47,220 --> 00:59:48,520
And some people did, in fact.

1277
00:59:48,520 --> 00:59:52,650
And Chaplain was hounded
out of the United States

1278
00:59:52,650 --> 00:59:54,700
later in his career,
in part because he

1279
00:59:54,700 --> 00:59:58,180
was associated with what we
thought to be left-wing causes.

1280
00:59:58,180 --> 01:00:00,835
But Chaplin's socialism was
of a particularly sentimental

1281
01:00:00,835 --> 01:00:01,335
variety.

1282
01:00:01,335 --> 01:00:04,170
And he was certainly no
systematic communist.

1283
01:00:04,170 --> 01:00:06,400
But the most important
thing about Chaplain

1284
01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:07,251
is his complexity.

1285
01:00:07,251 --> 01:00:09,500
Because if you look closely
at the film, one of things

1286
01:00:09,500 --> 01:00:11,990
you'll find that it isn't just
capital that's criticized.

1287
01:00:11,990 --> 01:00:13,480
It's also labor.

1288
01:00:13,480 --> 01:00:16,200
There's a wonderful moment in
the film when Charlie finally,

1289
01:00:16,200 --> 01:00:20,420
after times of difficulty,
reads in the newspaper

1290
01:00:20,420 --> 01:00:22,299
that the factory
is hiring again.

1291
01:00:22,299 --> 01:00:23,215
And he's very excited.

1292
01:00:23,215 --> 01:00:24,330
And he leaves the Gamin.

1293
01:00:24,330 --> 01:00:27,730
They'd been living in their
little sort of idyllic cabin

1294
01:00:27,730 --> 01:00:30,634
in the mud flats in the
second half of the film.

1295
01:00:30,634 --> 01:00:31,925
And he runs out to the factory.

1296
01:00:31,925 --> 01:00:33,210
And he gets hired.

1297
01:00:33,210 --> 01:00:35,680
And just as he's about
to start his work,

1298
01:00:35,680 --> 01:00:39,870
the workers go on strike and
his life is destroyed again.

1299
01:00:39,870 --> 01:00:43,620
And, in fact, the
truth of the matter

1300
01:00:43,620 --> 01:00:46,620
is that Chaplain is an
equal opportunity insulter.

1301
01:00:46,620 --> 01:00:49,200
He thinks that labor
is just as stupid.

1302
01:00:49,200 --> 01:00:52,270
Organized labor is just as
foolish, just as misguided

1303
01:00:52,270 --> 01:00:53,180
as capital.

1304
01:00:53,180 --> 01:00:56,500
Something of the complexity
of his social vision

1305
01:00:56,500 --> 01:00:57,630
is reflected there.

1306
01:00:57,630 --> 01:01:00,650
And something of the complexity
of his moral and psychological

1307
01:01:00,650 --> 01:01:04,940
vision is reflected in the
way the Tramp interacts

1308
01:01:04,940 --> 01:01:05,830
with the Gamin.

1309
01:01:05,830 --> 01:01:08,650
And in the way in which both the
Tramp and the Gamin together,

1310
01:01:08,650 --> 01:01:10,170
at different
moments in the film,

1311
01:01:10,170 --> 01:01:11,517
try to buck each other up.

1312
01:01:11,517 --> 01:01:14,100
So we see that there are moments
in which each character falls

1313
01:01:14,100 --> 01:01:17,410
into a kind of despair in
the face of the difficulties

1314
01:01:17,410 --> 01:01:19,820
that they encounter
and in which they

1315
01:01:19,820 --> 01:01:22,630
are helped by their partner.

1316
01:01:22,630 --> 01:01:27,360
So there's a kind of
complexity or maturity

1317
01:01:27,360 --> 01:01:29,540
in Chaplin's way
of understanding

1318
01:01:29,540 --> 01:01:32,900
even the social difficulty,
the social evils,

1319
01:01:32,900 --> 01:01:35,140
the social problems
that he recurrently

1320
01:01:35,140 --> 01:01:36,970
dramatizes in his film.

1321
01:01:36,970 --> 01:01:40,350
For those of you who have never
seen a Chaplin film before,

1322
01:01:40,350 --> 01:01:42,950
and especially those of you who
have never see Modern Times,

1323
01:01:42,950 --> 01:01:44,700
let me conclude by
saying I'm a little bit

1324
01:01:44,700 --> 01:01:47,800
jealous of the opportunity
you have to see

1325
01:01:47,800 --> 01:01:49,270
this film for the first time.

1326
01:01:49,270 --> 01:01:51,020
It's one of the very
few silent films

1327
01:01:51,020 --> 01:01:54,540
I think-- I think The General is
also one-- that actually stands

1328
01:01:54,540 --> 01:01:55,090
on its own.

1329
01:01:55,090 --> 01:01:57,840
That's worth watching,
even without any arguments

1330
01:01:57,840 --> 01:02:01,020
about its artifactual value.

1331
01:02:01,020 --> 01:02:04,340
I wish you the joy of
this remarkable film.