Unit I - Modern Times

Modern Times is a satire by Charlie Chaplin in 1936. The movie begins with a ticking clock. The clock most likely represents how everything had to do with time. "Time is Money" A short clip of a herd of sheep is shown, followed by a bunch of men in a group off to work at the factory. This is probably to show the men in a way "being herded into the factory." We see Charlie Chaplin at his station tightening bolts. He is forced to do repetitive tasks very quickly. This would be like a real factory in a way. Workers did the same mindless activity over and over all day, to efficiently achieve an end product. The scenes with Charlie's short break in the bathroom, as well as what we heard about the automatic feeding machine both go back to the "Time is money" Statement. The more time employees took off, the more money the company was loosing. We also see Charlie try and stop tightening the bolts, but he keeps repeating the actions. This is in a way showing how the tasks were almost dehumanizing, making the workers almost robot like, repeating the same task. The last thing I remember seeing is the scene with Charlie holding the flag, getting caught up in the striking workers. This is to show that the workers were not allowed to strike, since there was no union.