Charlie Chaplin & Silent Film Comedy

Period 1: Lab

Please work on your documentary film project, your film journal paper #1 (both due next class), or view clips/take notes on various topics already covered.

Peruse the handout on silent film comedy techniques/characteristics.

Comedy:

Much of comedy (reasons why we laugh) have to do with these things:

• Incongruity or Non sequitur. Humans are rational (supposedly) and laugh at anything that breaks a pattern or does not logically follow. Anything we are not expecting as a logical sequence creates incongruity, and so we laugh.
• Farce or physical humor (often pratfalls, slapstick, hurting people, etc.) What doesn't kill us makes us laugh. This is only funny if the victim is not really hurt (consider cartoons!) If the character/victim is killed and we laugh, we fall into black or dark humor (and bad taste!)
• Superiority vs. inferiority (we laugh at those weaker or in a worse situation than us). Usually an underdog or weaker protagonist gets to overcome a stronger opponent. This usually makes us feel better, and in a comedy plot, makes us feel stronger over our own oppression as viewers.
• Mistaken identity. Ever since farce and satirical plays from the Greeks and Roman theater, mistaken identity has been a constant element in farce.
• Absurdity (if it doesn't make sense, we laugh). Similar to incongruity, absurdity is, well, absurd.
• Surprise. Humans will usually laugh is you can surprise them (and they are okay). The adrenaline rush is often accompanied by laughter.

Some literary devices often used in literature, film, or T.V.:

·        Hyperbole. Exaggeration—when it comes to comedy, hyperbole is king.

·        The rule of 3: the set up is like this: two common or related items followed by a third that breaks the pattern or doesn’t fit.

·        Understatement/overstatement: presenting something as being less important or less significant than it really is. Overstatement is the opposite—making mountains out of molehills, as the saying goes.

·        Wit: clever word play.

·        Mismatched pairs: tall & short, fat & thin, foolish & wise, pessimist & optimist, smart & stupid, etc.

·        Puns: a joke based on an alternative meaning of a word.

·        Innuendo: a comment or remark that is referring to a situation (often sexual) that is disparaging or suggestive.

Period 2: Classroom

Charlie Chaplin, an Overview

"All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl." -Sir Charles Chaplin

Sir Charles Chaplin (1889-1977)

• Born in 1889 in London, UK to theatrical parents
• Chaplin’s childhood was one of extreme poverty and hardship
• Abandoned by an alcoholic father and left with a mentally unstable mother who was unable to support him, he struggled through life in the poor house and on the streets
• He learnt much of his timing and technique in the employment of impresario Fred Karno (1866-1941) whose troupe he left during an American tour in 1913
• Offered a contract by Keystone Films
• After 1914, he convinced Keystone producer Mack Sennett to allow him to direct his own films - often wrote, directed, acted and composed his own musical scores for his films
• In many silent shorts, he established the grammar and ground rules of screen comedy using his physical dexterity and pantomime skills to create expertly choreographed, visually humorous entertainment that mixed irreverence, romance, and pathos (feeling)
• Co-founder of United Artists in 1919
• Married Oona O’Neill (daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill)
• His left-wing sympathies caused him to emigrate to Switzerland during the 1950’s, McCarthy period
• He published his autobiography in 1964 and was knighted in 1975
• Chaplin died on Christmas day, 1977
• A writer Performer, director, composer and icon, he was a vital figure in the development of the screen comedy Films (incomplete list): Making a Living (1913) Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) The Champion (1915) The Tramp (1915) The Pawnshop (1916) The Rink (1916) A Dog’s Life (1918) The Kid (1921) The Gold Rush (1925) City Lights (1931) Modern Times (1936) The Great Dictator (1940) Limelight (1952) A King in New York (1957) A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)

Take a look at some of Chaplin's films:

The Kid (1921, clip)
The Lion's Cage clip from the Circus (1928)
The Gold Rush (1925) Table ballet sequence from The Gold Rush and another scene; (sound and words added later by Chaplin)
The boxing scene from City Lights (1931); Documentary on City Lights & Charlie Chaplin
Modern Times (1936) trailer
The Great Dictator (1940), clip
Limelight (1952, documentary)

Charlie Chaplin Extra Credit

The Rink (1916, short film)
Police (1916, short film)
The Adventure (1917, short film)
A Dog's Life (1918, short film)
The Idle Class (1921, short film)

Watch any Chaplin short film and examine the use of comedy in the film. Post your comment/answer in the comment section of this post for extra credit. Due by end of marking period.

HOMEWORK: Complete your documentary film projects (due next class), and your film journal paper #1 (also due next class).