Chaplin claims this movie has no social significance

While Chaplin may have stated that his films were not social commentary, it is quite likely that he only said so to give himself some room to backpedal if necessary. The focus on food, the excusing of theft due to need, and the fact that the only dialogue in Modern Times is via machinery all reflects the social woes of the Great Depression. After all, many people are barely getting by, and the rise of the machines would only deprive people of jobs and worsen the Depression. To be sure, all of this could be unintentional, but I doubt that.

Although this film has many comedic components, I believe that the humor is used to give a less serious effect to its underlying social significance. It is obvious that times were rough during the 1930s and Charlie Chaplin is able to show the ugly side of it all through comedy. He does not necessarily poke fun at those who are unemployed and are starving, but he does show that they are the majority and that it was very normal to be poor. There is an obvious social injustice and going hungry was a risky, but common lifestyle. Stealing becomes an appealing option, but are the standards changed on the morality of steaing if one is stealing purely to live? There are many scenes where the labor force is criticized and a transition is being made towards the industrial revolution, but the overall outcome of such a drastic change in unknown and very uncertain. By sending such messages through his film, Chaplin is able to enlighten many people about a serious issue in an entertaining manner.

Charlie Chaplin claimed that his films contained no social commentary and were made purely for the entertainment of his audiences. At first most people would say that that is completely absurd and that his films don’t contain social commentary at all, and I must agree that it is foolish to overlook the commentary that Chaplin has very blatantly put into his movies. Modern Times is obviously n movie with a lot of social commentary directed at the hard life the people had to face during the depression. However, Chaplin himself says, “to entertain is my first consideration.” Although Chaplin included social commentary into his movies, we must keep in mind that he felt that it was most important to entertain his audiences. It would be unfair and inaccurate to say that Chaplin made his films solely to persuade his audiences with social propaganda. His views were in the movie, but we must remember that he was not a socialist leader, but rather an entertainer.

Even though Charlie Chaplin claims that his movie has no social significance, it is clear that Modern Times does convey a message. Chaplin opens the movie by linking a heard of sheep to a crowd of people. In the film, Chaplin illustrates how industrialization makes humans become more like sheep. The people in power manipulate the social class who give up their individuality by working in factories. Also, Chaplin justifies stealing in the scene with the thieves, who are portrayed as good people that are desperate to feed their families.

I feel that in Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin wanted to express himself by his music, his movement and machinery instead of having dialogue. Since he is using the Industrial society, he uses a machine so only the boss could talk. He also uses employment in the factories. He works in a factory and he uses the time clocks as an improvement for using time cards. There is one scene where he is caught in a machine and that could be interpreted as a prisoner of the Industrial society. Since the Depression is in effect, he presents unemployment and the need for food and shelter. It is very hard to find work in these conditions. Even for Charlie. He meets the gamin who is very hungry and has a poor family. She is so poor that she steals a loaf of bread. She has to find work to support herself. They both imagine how they would want to live their lives together. After losing job after job, Charile gets a job as a waiter thanks to the gamin and she works as a dancer. They try to make their dreams of a nice home and better lives come true. Maybe he was trying to use expression of music, movement and the machinery to show that you don't necessarily need words to make a good movie.

It is quite obvious that Charlie Chaplin is attempting to reflect what American society was going through in the early 1930s, during the Great Depression. He is probably claiming that there is no social meaning portayed in Modern Times, but how could there not be? Every scene had socail significance! From Charlie working at the factory and his boss talking to the laborerers through a nmachine, to the gamin stealing food, and people unemployed-how is social significance not shown? Chaplin probably could say that there was no social attachment and he was just trying to entertain, but the comic relief isn't going to mask the real message that he is getting across. There are so many metaphors shown in the movie, for example, his boss got stuck inside a machine and this is a metaphor for saying how humans are enslaved to machines during the industrial Revolution. And why? Because everyone has to make a living and so we are basically sheep, following the herd, doing what everyone is doing.

Some people have mentioned the scene in which the mechanic gets stuck in the machine after Chaplin gets a job there. I agree with the comments about how human beings are 'trapped' by machines and the industrial society. However, I'd like to make a point that relates to the umemployment and the labor protests occasionally seen in the movie. During the lunch break, Chaplin feeds the man trapped in the machine. More analytically, machines are entirely dependent on the human being. I think Chaplin is making a statement about the collective bargaining power of labor unions. Humans are the ones pulling the levers, oiling the gears and fixing the kinks. Chaplin also uses machines to hisadvantage in the scene where he has a nervous breakdown and forces the men at the factory to work instead of catch him, by turning on the assembly lines. Even more, although all dialogue is done through machines such as radio or television, there is always a person doing the talking behind them. The problem is not the machines, but rather the industrialists on top.

Charlie Chaplain definitely has some social commentary in this movie. The movie is based on the fact that people are out of work and that they are forced to steal for food. The scene in the department store is one example. The three men seem like a band of thieves, but their reasoning for breaking into the store was because they were starving.
There was also social commentary about the use of machines. Chaplain shows that machines are taking over the lives of people. They are the center of what we do. People are trapped in the world of machines, which is exactly what Chaplain shows us in the factory scene.