Modern Times Censorship

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The movie Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin, was set in the 1930’s during the depression era. We see the struggles of Charlie Chaplin’s famous character, the tramp, escaping from reality to make ends meet, searching for the American dream. Even today we escape from places or situations to live the dream. When my father was young, his parents left Cuba for the United States in the pursuit of freedom. The government is always keeping tabs on every single thing we do. Society’s norm is growing to think and act a certain way and with technology expanding in ways we could never fathom we pay the price of our basic human rights. As shown in the movie Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin Could never be truly free because everything was set up to contain him. …show more content…
We can view our progression throughout time in literary works or any form of art. In Modern Times we see the tramp picking up a flag that fell off a cart and waving it around. Mistaken as a communist, he was beaten and put in jail. It wasn’t the last time the Tramp was sent to jail; he was caught two more times. In those moments he was caught he didn’t do anything illegal. There was a point when the tramp didn’t want to go out of jail. The unemployment was so bad he was better off in jail; where they feed him and gave shelter. Out of the screen Chaplin wasn’t far off. It seemed like no one was helping. In Chicago, there were “rent riots,” by the unemployed. Horace Cayton described a rent …show more content…
Interestingly enough, there was a Motion Picture Production Code during that time which restricted Chaplin and forced him to remove scenes from the movie. As a result of that code, Chaplin couldn’t fully put out the message he really wanted. In 1952, Chaplin visited Europe for the premiere of his film 'Limelight' and was not allowed to return to the US. The government keeps an eye on everyone; some more than others. The tramp and the Gamin wanted a nice house, where the Gamin would cook for the Tramp when he came home for work. Every time when it seemed alright, the policemen seemed to find them. Not only Chaplin viewed this way, so did author W.H. Auden clearly states in the poem The Unknown

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