SOCIAL ISSUES IN THE MODERN TIMES OF CHARLIE CHAPLIN

The movie titled as “Social issues in modern times of Charlie Chaplin” is set around the time of 1930's. It highlights the then faced hardships by the people of America after it hit The Great Depression. Throughout the movie, the one major issue faced by people which is showcased is that of unemployment. It begins on a note where Charlie is habituated to his monotonous job of tightening the screws so much so, that his hands do not even stop moving in the same manner and in the exact same direction, it seems that the screw drivers have been stuck to his hands by some glue. This depicts how despite the fact that the jobs of people aren’t yielding them happiness in any ways, they still continue doing it, just for the sake of earning a bread to eat daily. Another social issue that can be seen in the factories is that all the working labour or the management staff is hugely dominated by the males themselves. The only woman seen here is like a personal assistant to the boss of the company, and all she does is to pick up calls for him, opens the gate for clients to visit him and brings him food.

Charlie can be seen as of portraying the life of every common man of that time. One after the other, he needs to keep switching between jobs. Finding one is a difficult task, machines have taken over manual labor, and the economic depression has led to factories laying off their employees. The basic social issue seen here is that in the modern times, earning a living is not as easy as it seems. It also shows how in the modern times, or like any other time, sometimes people get punished for no mistake of theirs. In the movie, without any crime committed by him, in fact because of sheer overlooking of proper investigation by the police force, it was Charlie who was being jailed every now and then. Irony being, it was easier for a person in the modern times to survive in a jail than survive outside, for being jailed promised them with at least one-time meals. It is strange how finding a new job, workers going on strike, people being laid off and then finding another job has become a viscous cycle or loop, and no one seems to find a way out of it.

In the jail, there is a man who has been arrested for the smuggling of gun powder, highlighting two more important social issues: Narcotics and Smuggling.

A further ahead in the story enters a teenage girl, who doesn’t have a mother, and whose father is unemployed. She has two little sisters to feed, finding work is already tough, adding to the fact that she is a female. So as any other helpless person, she chooses the path of stealing, stealing food for herself and her family. It is commendable that charlie as a director beautifully showcases how certain circumstances make humans fearless. The girl doesn’t fear being imprisoned. After the demise of her father, it becomes the entire responsibility of the girl to look after her sisters and herself. The sisters are sent to an orphanage home under law, from where she escapes and tries to earn a living through the means of working.

Charlie and the girl meet, and start hustling together, to earn money and also to find a home. This again brings forward another social issue : Poverty. Everything here is interlinked, from the workers being layed off by factories to the workers drowning into the darkness of poverty. Finding a shelter has become a luxury.

However, things start falling into place, when the girl and charlie find the jobs of a dancer and a singer respectively. At the end of the story, charlie and the girl are seen holding hands, smiling, saying “We will get through it.”

The video ends with an extremely strong moral : No matter what hardships, no matter what social issues, if you hold a smile, have faith in yourself and keep moving forward, at the end of the day, you do get through the rough roads. This learning is still as important in our very own modern 21^st century, as much as it was in the modern times of Charlie Chaplin. It is strange how each of these social issues, from unemployment, narcotics, gender biases to poverty, still persist and the only thing that seems to keep changing is the definition of “modern times”.