Modern Times Psychology

Modern Times illustrates how in the pursuit of technological and industrial growth the factory owner, who subjected his staff to cruel and unfair conditions, lost his humanity out of greed. The movie opens up with the text “humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness” across the image of a clock ticking away, which shows that time dictates progress and everyday life within the factory (Chaplin). The clock also symbolizes the idea that “time is money” and that efficiency -- the greatest amount of work completed in the least amount of time using the least amount of money and resources, but for the largest profit -- drives progress. The boss demonstrates his obsession with efficiency and progress by treating his workers like machines or domesticated …show more content…
The workers have no freedom or choices, a daily routine, and are given little care or consideration similar to animals on a farm because their boss lacks the humanity to think as them as anything else or connect with them on a conscious level. Likewise, the human employees completed production based on the pace of the machines set by the inhuman owner instead of the humans controlling the speed of the machines that were created to improve and simplify their lives. The workers were forced to meet the quota set by their boss because progress is the overarching goal and comes before human wellbeing in the mind of the owner. The employer’s inability to care about the distress of his action on his workers’ health and happiness shows his lack of empathy and compassion for other humans. When his staff would become wary and make mistakes out of tiredness as opposed to slowing down production for them, he would speed up the machines and his