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Charlie Chaplin is known as one of the original Auteurs of the film industry for the time and dedication he put in to his craft. At the height of his career, he simultaneously directed, produced written and acted in his movies. Inarguably the greatest character he played in his life is ‘the Tramp’ which is also his creation. The Tramp appeared as the main character in several films such as ‘The Kid’ (1921) ‘The Circus’ (1928), ‘City Lights’ (1931) and ‘Modern Times’ (1936) respectively and ‘Modern Times’ is known as the movie where the Tramp last appeared. The advent of motion pictures with human voices signaled the end of silent era movies and ended the careers of many actors. Even though Charlie Chaplin was one of the most celebrated artists of that bygone era and one of the last holdouts against talking pictures, he is still beloved all across for his signature style and demeanor which made him stand out amongst other similar comedic acts such as Buster Keaton and Stan Laurel. Even though he faded away with the end of the silent film era, the Tramp is still known as the quintessential product of the silent era. The nature of silent films, made it possible for the use of title cards written using different languages which made these films accessible to people of all countries worldwide. This is one of the main reasons why the Tramp was thought to be by many was devoid of any nationality. Charlie Chaplin’s greatest creation is more than a shabbily dressed character who makes us laugh with slapstick comedy, there is a much more complex character lies beneath through whom Chaplin used to tell us his amazing stories.
There are numerous characteristics of the Tramp that made him a stand out among many other famous comedic acts of that age. First, the Tramp had an outstanding physical appearance which still can easily grab a viewer’s attention. He was small in stature, mostly wore a ragged black suit typical of that period, baggy pants which were sometimes tattered with large shoes, and he always wore his signature bowler hat and he also used a cane to walk. The Tramp’s most distinguishable feature is his toothbrush moustache, which made him an instantly recognizable character to a large number of people. The Tramp overall seemed like the embodiment of poverty which was so common at the time. Second, the Tramp’s personality is not only fascinating but also his greatest strength. On the surface, the Tramp may seem like a childish, fun-loving and extremely mischievous person who at the same time doesn’t want to work and doesn’t turn down any work that comes his way. He is constantly a flirty man who never turns down a drink as long he is not paying for it. He also might seem like an anti-authoritarian figure who seems to get into trouble with the police and other authority figures in almost every shot. On the other hand, if looked closely, the full picture of the man starts to emerge. Even though the Tramp suffers from poverty, he acts everyway like a perfect gentleman who is above his social class. The Tramp never passes an opportunity to save someone from any distress. In movies like ‘Modern Times’ (1936) and ‘City Lights’ (1931) he goes out of his way save poor people from authority figures and a drunk man who was going to commit suicide. He also manages to be a very kind and generous person despite his financial situation. In ‘City Lights’ (1931), he goes through many trials and tribulations to get the money for a blind girl’s eye operation and in ‘The Kid’ (1921) he takes in an abandoned child and raises him as his own. He also wasn’t afraid of expressing his emotions. It is not easy to not be overwhelmed with emotion by seeing the closing shot of Chaplin’s face in the movie ‘City Lights’ (1931) where the girl he saved from a life of blindness recognized him by holding his hands. All of these characteristics not only made him one of the most lovable fictional characters of all time and the shots of him always fighting larger men than him made him seem like an underdog who can everybody root for.
Charlie Chaplin taught us many life lessons through his films, especially the ones where the Tramp was the main character. First, the Tramp taught us always to have a positive outlook on life. The final title card of the movie ‘Modern Times’ stated “Buck up -Never say die. We’ll get along!”, which at the same time summarized Charlie Chaplin’s intent for making his last film using the Tramp character and defined the character himself. Also, in that film he taught to value the worth of human imagination, and defending a person’s individual liberties (Saporito). Second, the Tramp taught us to value human life and not to dehumanize the poor and downtrodden. All of the films where the Tramp is the protagonist, is about loosely or wholly about people who suffered from the poverty and massive unemployment problems of that era in America. With those movies Chaplin tried to give a voice to those people and show us that they are just human beings who are trying to get by and are not the useless eaters as some of the people in power make them out to be. In a way, Chaplin’s silent films gave the poor a voice they never had
In conclusion, Charlie Chaplin has made us laugh and cry for years using the art he put out in the world. Even though almost all of his movies are quickly approaching the hundred-year mark, they are still relevant to this day because of the human values they try to instill in us. In my opinion, because of the hard work and dedication Chaplin put into his films, people of every generation will easily appreciate his efforts and understand the moral lessons he wanted to teach us with his wonderful body of work.
Works Cited
- Chaplin, C., et al. (2010). Modern times. [New York, NY], Criterion Collection.
- Chaplin, C. The Kid.
- Chaplin, C. City Lights.
- Saporito, Jeff. ‘How Does ‘Modern Times’ Define the Core Values of Chaplin’s Little Tramp Character | Screenprism’. Screenprism.Com, 2019, http://screenprism.com/insights/article/how-does-modern-times-define-the-meaning-of-chaplins-little-tramp-character
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