“摩登時代”英文觀后感

Charlie Chaplin rages against the machines in an anti-capitalist comedy featuring the Little Tramp alongside his real-life lover and soon-to-be wife, Paulette Goddard

Chaplin was in the midst of his anti-sound protest (during which he made silent films while other studios churned out talkies) when he made Modern Times - his most explicit statement against technological advancement and capitalism. It is, in fact, a quasi-sound film, but with all voices emanating from various machines instead of the actors, except for one moment when the Tramp sings a gibberish song.

That the machines can talk, yet the people don't, is all part of their dehumanising effect - early on, the Tramp works flat-out on a production line and when he can't keep up, he's sucked into the machine. His repetitive movements also give him a nervous twitch, even when he's not working, turning his body into an automaton that's out of his control. His only release is a nervous breakdown, during which he wreaks havoc in the factory, finally gaining control over the machines but ending up in jail. Modern Times was made in 1936, during the Great Depression, when industrialisation brought the threat of unemployment and poverty to the masses. The film starts out with a cynical pair of shots comparing sheep spilling out of their pen to jostling city workers, but while it portrays the detrimental effects of technology, it ultimately celebrates a triumph of the human spirit. The Tramp finds a kindred spirit in the form of 'the gamin' (Goddard) and together they try to fit in, taking jobs and living in a deteriorating shack. But with the authorities watching over them, it proves difficult even when they've found perfect jobs as entertainers.

The couple just aren't cut out for the rat race. In one early scene, the Tramp feeds some burglars in a department store he's supposed to be guarding because they're hungry people, just like he is. In the same way that Chaplin bypassed sound films by simply ignoring them, so the Tramp and the gamin avoid technology, conquering the industrial revolution by refusing to be part of it. They are “the only two live spirits in a world of automatons”.

Verdict

Sometimes sentimental yet highly comical, Chaplin's anti-industrialisation statement is wholly idealistic but its topical reflection on industrial paranoia still resonates today. Regarded as one of Chaplin's finest films.