This week we will be watching Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936).
Just as we spoke earlier about actively reading literature, we also
need to think about watching actively as well. Film is a text and it
demands to be interpreted critically just as any novel does. As we watch Modern Times, I want you to answer the following
questions. You will read these questions before attending our screening
and you will print these questions out and take notes as we watch the
movie. You will turn in the study questions the day we conclude our discussion.
Note: Our class is 80 minutes long. Modern Times is 86 minutes long. I will start class three minutes early and end it three minutes late so that we can watch the complete film in one sitting.
Study Questions:
1. Modern Times is a primarily silent film in the era of the talkie. What role does sound play in the film? Who speaks and when? How does the Tramp speak?
2. The film opens with a static image of a clock. Why might the film begin in this way?
3. Similarly, the film opens with these lines, "'Modern Times.' A story of industry, of individual enterprise -- humanity crusading in pursuit of happiness." What famous phrase does this intertitle recall? What point might Chaplin be making with this allusion?
4. Modern Times is in many ways about power. What sort of power is wielded by the film's antagonists? What type of power does the Gamin and the Tramp possess?
5. Compare and contrast the difference between the city and the country in the film. Why does Chaplin depict them in this manner?
6. Why does the film end where it does? What might be implied by the ending?
