Origin: City Lights was known as Charlie Chaplin's greatest film. Charlie Chaplin produced, directed, edited, made music, and created the screenplay for this film. He also acted in the film as its main character, "The Tramp". "The Tramp" first appeared in 1914 and was depicted as a man with baggy pants, a tight coat, a cane, large shoes, and a small hat. This movie was created as a silent film and came out in the U.S. in 1931. It was inspired by Frank Capra's previous film, The Strong Man, which came out in 1926. City Lights focused on the life of a lower class citizen and love.
Purpose: City Lights was made as a comedy and love film meant to entertain audiences. Charlie Chaplin was famous for his humor in films. He was one of the first men to begin created comical movies. The movie also focused on classes and how the lower-class was treated in society. City Lights was also one of the few silent movies of the time, since sound had come out. Chaplin didn't like sound films and prefered silent films.
Value: 1930-1940 was a time of development in film and social unrest. Sound films were being produced at this time, but Chaplin was one of the last directors to keep making silent films. He felt that the acting was lost when people began speaking instead of acting out words. People were also seperated between rich and poor. By Chaplin playing a poor individual one can see how the lower class was being treated. Also this made films more attractive towards the lower class rather than just the high class. This is the best representation of this time, because it marks the end of the silent film era and tells of the views of the time period.
Limitations: Although this film portrayed many views of the time, it contained some limits. The piece didn't allow for one to be able to see how the society might have actually been. Since the film was intended for humor, it is hard to tell which aspects of life were true. The rich perspective isn't shown very well in the film. Additionally, the film showed a biased opinion towards social divisions.
Other Famous Movies:
- Frankenstein- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN8K-4osNb0
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncMKymAOy1I
- The Adventures of Robin Hood- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ist_bZLP9u4
- Gone With the Wind- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mM8iNarcRc
- The Wizard of Oz- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43x9MzrJaQ0
I really like how much detail you give and you not only explained the movie but also the production and political events at the time. Adding sources would help you to have more ethos because right now we don't know where your information is coming from. Having the extra movies linked at the end is really cool and helps to explain the time period as a whole.
ReplyDeleteOverall: Good job subhan! You very clearly explained where each movie originated from and how the director's views were shown in the movies. You also had good points for the Purpose. Reading these in depth OPVL's makes me feel like you watched each of these movies all the way through. If you did, wow you are dedicated man. If you didn't, amazing work on evaluation! I agree with the comment above that adding sources that aren't other famous movies would be a good idea to show that people agree with you and help prove your evaluation correct. However, it was a good idea to have the other movies because it really gave me a sense of the time period and very much of what people thought about the period since you can tell that some of the other famous movies had similar themes.
ReplyDeleteGood job, love the dedication and interest you show by posting other links to movies. Also, like the connection you make of the time.
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