Looking back on "Lights"

Recently, CineVerse met to discuss the merits and pleasures of Charles Chaplin's "City Lights." Here's a quick summation of that yak-fest:

WHAT TECHNIQUES DOES CHAPLIN USE TO ENTERTAIN AND HUMOR AUDIENCES?

·       Pantomime: using facial expressions, gestures and body language without words to convey emotions and reactions. Example: The drunken Little Tramp

·       Slapstick: using comically exaggerated and boisterous actions or situations that defy the limits of our physical world for comic effect. Example: Being thrown into the water because the heavy rock is now tied around his body instead of the other man’s body.

·       Using objects that appear as other objects. Examples: the streamers that he thinks are spaghetti; the bald man’s head believed to be a party treat

·       Self-decprecation: many laughs come from the Little Tram trying to maintain his dignity despite his rags, small stature and laughable appearance. Example: the paper boys who tease him and the butler who throws him out of the mansion.

·       Humorous set pieces: self-contained, hilarious vignettes that, when strung together throughout a movie and interwoven with a central plot, help form a finished film. Example: the boxing match

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE QUINTESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CHAPLIN’S CLASSIC STYLE THAT HE TENDS TO EMPLOY THROUGHOUT HIS FILMS?

•        Pathos and sentimentality: his movies are emotionally manipulative
•        His feature-length films often play out as a series of episodes, sometimes only loosely connected, that can work as mini-movies within the larger film
•        The universality of the human experience: Chaplin was the master of silent cinema because he didn’t need words or talky exposition to elicit a strong emotional reaction in viewers; consequently, people from around the world who spoke different languages and may have been illiterate as well as young children could understand, appreciate and be entertained by his pictures.
•        Championing the underdog and the outsider: The Little Tramp character functions as a self-reliant, resourceful misfit who is not accepted in society; he learns to survive, thrive, and earn the companionship he needs through his humanistic qualities as well as quite a bit of sheer luck.

THIS FILM ATTEMPTS TO PLUMB SEVERAL THEMES. ARE ANY EVIDENT TO YOU?

·       The stark contrast between the haves and have-nots and between spiritual wealth and material wealth: characters lacking financial means in this film tend to be more well-rounded and spiritually enriched, while the millionaire, for example, lives a rich but vacuous lifestyle devoid of much meaning. This would have sent a powerful message during the depths of the Great Depression in 1931.

·       Life is worth living: This is the message the Little Tramp teaches both the Millionaire and the blind girl, to whom Chaplin’s character serves as a redeemer and savior.

·       The struggle to see and be seen: The Little Tramp is ignored and overlooked by society, but ironically a blind woman pays attention to him. She can’t see his destitution; she only sees his kindness and compassion.

DOES CITY LIGHTS RECALL ANY OTHER FILMS YOU’VE SEEN?

·       The Strong Man, a 1926 silent feature directed by Frank Capra about a modest man who falls for a blind woman

·       The Bride of Frankenstein, in which a hideous monster is befriended by a blind man

·       Mask, a movie about a teenage boy with a rare facial deformity who is in love with a blind girl

·       The Artist, a throwback film that won the Best Picture Oscar last year and pays homage to silent film comedy romances