The work is totally 'mind killing' and he becomes more and more possessed with the movements he execute (screwing mutters on pieces of machinery at an increasing speed) and when having his pauses, his body continues to do the same movements as on the assembly line. The monotony and stress creates a 'robotized' Charlie.
Not only is his work monotonous but he is also subjected to an experiment with a machine that force-feed him while working. The machine gives him food and dries his mouth of, first in a slow pace but problems occur, making the machine run amok and when this happens, Charlie also runs amok. He destroys different processes in the factory while going berserk and when he is finished, he is sent to a hospital for mental care.
Released from the hospital, he doesn't have a job to return to and the problems continues when he is being mistakenly arrested as an instigator in a Communist demonstration.
In jail he - again accidentally! - ingests cocain, believing it's salt, leading him to run amok again but this time he stops a jailbreak during his delirium, becomes a hero and is released.
Outside jail he meets a young girl (Paulette Godard) who is arrested for stealing bread. Charlie takes on the responsibility, saying that it was he who stole the bread, ending up in jail for the second time.
Released - once again! - the young girl is waiting for him and they try to make a living together.
They are not so succesful, not least Charlie who loses every job the girl finds him but they stick together and at the end we see them both wandering away in the distance, facing unkown adventures, troubles or happiness.
This is of course a very comical - sometimes hilariously funny - film but as with most films by Chaplin (or comedians in general), it has a serious purpose, displaying the disadvantages with the industrial revolution and the technical advancement. Most people within politics and science unexceptionally calls every new development 'progress' but as we know progress is not always something good, at least not intrinsically good.
In this case we can see that even if the industrial production is improved, meaning that products can be produced at a faster pace, people working within these industrial structures are being forgotten. They are treated as machines and the only thing being important is to become more productive and efficient.
Chaplin is inspired by 'Metropolis' (Fritz Lang), concerning the dystopian issue, this most notably in the beginning and indeed aesthetically. Lang's film was also a criticism towards the emerging industrial society and its 'mechanization', not only of the socieety but of the human life.
METROPOLIS, Fritz Lang (1926) - Ouverture. par cinemacinemas
Were they wrong when predicting this? No, I hardly think so. We have experienced an industrial and post-industrial development forcing people to become a part of this process and the ever increasing pace at which everything is done. This has lead to both physical and psychological problems and discontent, not being compensated by the growing wealth among individuals.
Today we see the same development in the factories in e.g. Asia, where many of the products being sold in the Occident, United States and the rest of the world, are produced during awful circumstances. In Europe and other so called 'developed' countries (economically developed, not intellectually), these problems have been addressed but still the working conditions are far from optimal. In France these has been evident when one after another among the employees at France Telecom, suicided last year and the previous years. This is not unique for that company.
In this film we see how two of the 'victims' of the, then, modern society, tries to create something of their own but how they fail to fit into the growing industrialized city and its different societal structures.
Overall Chaplin's film is reflecting a true image of how many people where treated and how they found it hard to adjuste to the changing lives in a 'developing' world.
Mentally this couple is sounder but physically they suffer. The suffering is also psychological of course, as the setbacks creates dispair.
Another cineast being inspired by this theme is of course Jacques Tati in his 'Play Time' and 'Trafic'. In those films - not least 'Play Time' - it's more the 'perfect' clean society being described, the perfectionism also being superficial, hiding dysfunctional persons and a dysfunctional society.
For a modern look at the 'perfect', superficial and emotionally 'turned off' society we can recommend the Norwegian film 'Den brysomme mannen' ('Norway of Life'/'The Bothersome Man') by Jens Lien.
Not only is his work monotonous but he is also subjected to an experiment with a machine that force-feed him while working. The machine gives him food and dries his mouth of, first in a slow pace but problems occur, making the machine run amok and when this happens, Charlie also runs amok. He destroys different processes in the factory while going berserk and when he is finished, he is sent to a hospital for mental care.
Released from the hospital, he doesn't have a job to return to and the problems continues when he is being mistakenly arrested as an instigator in a Communist demonstration.
In jail he - again accidentally! - ingests cocain, believing it's salt, leading him to run amok again but this time he stops a jailbreak during his delirium, becomes a hero and is released.
Outside jail he meets a young girl (Paulette Godard) who is arrested for stealing bread. Charlie takes on the responsibility, saying that it was he who stole the bread, ending up in jail for the second time.
Released - once again! - the young girl is waiting for him and they try to make a living together.
They are not so succesful, not least Charlie who loses every job the girl finds him but they stick together and at the end we see them both wandering away in the distance, facing unkown adventures, troubles or happiness.
This is of course a very comical - sometimes hilariously funny - film but as with most films by Chaplin (or comedians in general), it has a serious purpose, displaying the disadvantages with the industrial revolution and the technical advancement. Most people within politics and science unexceptionally calls every new development 'progress' but as we know progress is not always something good, at least not intrinsically good.
In this case we can see that even if the industrial production is improved, meaning that products can be produced at a faster pace, people working within these industrial structures are being forgotten. They are treated as machines and the only thing being important is to become more productive and efficient.
Chaplin is inspired by 'Metropolis' (Fritz Lang), concerning the dystopian issue, this most notably in the beginning and indeed aesthetically. Lang's film was also a criticism towards the emerging industrial society and its 'mechanization', not only of the socieety but of the human life.
METROPOLIS, Fritz Lang (1926) - Ouverture. par cinemacinemas
Were they wrong when predicting this? No, I hardly think so. We have experienced an industrial and post-industrial development forcing people to become a part of this process and the ever increasing pace at which everything is done. This has lead to both physical and psychological problems and discontent, not being compensated by the growing wealth among individuals.
Today we see the same development in the factories in e.g. Asia, where many of the products being sold in the Occident, United States and the rest of the world, are produced during awful circumstances. In Europe and other so called 'developed' countries (economically developed, not intellectually), these problems have been addressed but still the working conditions are far from optimal. In France these has been evident when one after another among the employees at France Telecom, suicided last year and the previous years. This is not unique for that company.
In this film we see how two of the 'victims' of the, then, modern society, tries to create something of their own but how they fail to fit into the growing industrialized city and its different societal structures.
Overall Chaplin's film is reflecting a true image of how many people where treated and how they found it hard to adjuste to the changing lives in a 'developing' world.
Mentally this couple is sounder but physically they suffer. The suffering is also psychological of course, as the setbacks creates dispair.
Another cineast being inspired by this theme is of course Jacques Tati in his 'Play Time' and 'Trafic'. In those films - not least 'Play Time' - it's more the 'perfect' clean society being described, the perfectionism also being superficial, hiding dysfunctional persons and a dysfunctional society.
For a modern look at the 'perfect', superficial and emotionally 'turned off' society we can recommend the Norwegian film 'Den brysomme mannen' ('Norway of Life'/'The Bothersome Man') by Jens Lien.
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