SOCIAL ISSUES IN CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S 'MODERN TIMES'

A social issue is one that impacts a large number of people in a society. It is a collection of contemporary societal problems that many people are working to resolve.

One of Charlie Chaplin's many outstanding qualities is that his films continue to captivate and amaze audiences. Aside from "A King in New York" in 1957 and the terrible "A Countess from Hong Kong", Chaplin is most known for his  'Modern Times' which denoted the last screen appearance of the Little Tramp.  The millions of supporters who cheered him on during his Little Tramp days are mostly a memory anymore. 

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times is not only a great laugh but it also walks a thin line between absurdity and satire, as well as providing comments on the socio-economic aspects of American society in the 1930s, as well as the effects of the Great Depression.

The world into which the Tramp had been born, before the First World War, was not the same as the world into which he had been born. Then he had shared and represented the struggles of all oppressed people in a world that was only emerging from the nineteenth century. In the aftermath of America's Great Depression, when vast unemployment coincided with the massive rise of modern automation, he was shown dealing with a variety of issues in Modern Times.

This picture was also released during the "red scare," when Americans despised leftism and socialism, as well as anyone who cared about workers. During the 1930s, socialism was vilified, while capitalism was viewed with suspicion. If the Great Depression taught us anything, it was that capitalism may fail. It also showed the dehumanization of human beings.

Poverty, unemployment, strikes and strike breakers, political discrimination, monetary inequities, machine oppression, and narcotics are all examples of social problems. "The story of industry, of individual enterprise - humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness," reads the film's frightening opening title, which is followed by an emblematic juxtaposition of scenes of sheep being gathered and labourers overflowing out of a factory. Chaplin's character is first seen as a labourer who is driven nuts by his monotonous, harsh work on a conveyor belt and is used as a test subject for a machine that will look after workers while they work. In the beginning of the film, the theme of innovation enslaving and oppressing man is emphasised.

Chaplin shows how labour and capitalism value common sense over professional differentiation, depriving representatives of their independence and identity. Organizations and businesses say the experts, and other perspectives suggest that work eats its workers, mistreating and exploiting them until they are empty or crazy. These messages appear to be quite dreary and depressing, but that is not how Chaplin concluded the film. 

Regardless of any statements he wanted to make about course contrasts or working circumstances, the film ends on a positive note. The use of music creates a mood in which the Trump character decides that no matter how bad his life is, he can still be happy because of his love for the people around him.