Charlie Chaplin
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Devices used by Chaplin in the films The Immigrant, The Count, and Easy Street are:
| DEVICES | EXAMPLES | ANALYSIS |
| ASIDE |
1) Laughs in the beginning of The Immigrant when he catches a fish off the side of the boat. |
Chaplin uses asides to let the audience in on his joke. |
| MONOLOGUE | (not applicable) | This device was not used because this is a silent film, no spoken words are used. |
| EAVESDROPPING | (not applicable) | Since no spoken work was used in silent films the characters could not overhear conversations between other characters. |
| IMPROVISATION |
1) In the film Easy Street, Chaplin's character tries to hide the fact that he is calling the police by using the phone as a clarinet and telescope. 2) In the film The Count, Chaplin's character is eating watermelon and ties his napkin around his head, because it is messy and he is not sure how to deal with it. 3) The Immigrant utilizes this device in the scene where Chaplin's character plays cards with the other passengers on the boat. Chaplin aquires a gun, and points it at a thug through his legs. |
All of these scenes appear to be unplanned, thus giving the audience the impression that things are happening spontainiously. This involves audience members with the characters and keeps the action alive. |
| PARABASIS | (not applicable) | The parabasis is an ancient Greek device and was not used in the early film era. |
| CHORUS | (not applicable) | The chorus is an ancient Greek device and was not used in the early film era. |
| ALLUSIONS |
1) The Immigrant is set on a ship taking immigrants to America--very common for that time. 2) The Count is set in a city in America, and focuses on the differences between the upper and lower classes of society at this time. 3) Easy Street features a church outreach center--prevalent in 1916. |
By setting his plots in circumstances and locations which many of his audience members experienced on a daily basis, Chaplin's comedy is even funnier because his audience relates to his situation. |
| Aristophanes' Birds | Charlie Chaplin |
| Menander's Old Cantankerous | |
| Plautus' Pseudolus | Alexander Mackendrick's Whiskey Galore! |
go to Conclusions for comparisons and constrasts between works
