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Modern Times Viewer's Response
Modern Times prompts
Carefully read each question. Answers should be thoughtful, detailed and supported by specific references to the film. This will be graded on a scale of 1 to 4, 4 being the highest.
1. Modern Times(#78) is rated on the American Film Institutes top 100 American films made. Do you agree or disagree with the inclusion and placement within the list?
2. In Modern Times, why does the Tramp get into so much trouble? What does he want in life? How successful is he in the end? *
3. Why do you think Chaplin chose to make an almost entirely “Silent Film” when the technology to use sound was available to him?
4. What is your definition of the American Dream? To what extent is Modern Times a parody of the American Dream? Do you believe that Chaplin thinks the American Dream exists? *
5. The movie opens with the title superimposed over a clock face: “Modern Times. A story of industry, of individual enterprise – humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness.” How seriously does Chaplin take these words? What does the film tell us about modern times? *
6. Food is a persistent motif in Modern Times. In the Gamine’s first appearance, she is stealing food. In prison, the Tramp gets into trouble during lunchtime. In the factory, a mechanic is swallowed by his own machine and has to be fed while he is in it. How else is food represented in the film? What is the point of the emphasis on eating? *
7. Structurally, some critics see this movie as a loosely knit sequence of two-reelers. Others find broader, consistent patterns in Chaplin’s arrangement of the scenes. What structural patterns do you see in the film? How carefully constructed is it? *
* Taken from Reading the Movies: Twelve Great Films and How to Teach Them by William v. Costanzo