Charlie Chaplin's Films

Birds (414 B.C.E.)

In many cases, especially in Charlie Chaplin films, the use of comedy to highlight the distinctions of class results in the lower-class character (usually the comic hero) insulting, burdening, and taking advantage of the wealthier character (usually the antagonist). At times the most ignorant and naïve of actions serve only to emphasize the great differences between classes, and in the comedy of Charlie Chaplin and Aristophanes, it is entertaining to watch the comic hero suffer the trials and tribulations of his ignorance as to how the world works.

THE COUNT

In The Count, Chaplin’s character, who is a poor tailor’s apprentice, sneaks into a wealthy man’s kitchen and is fed by the cook and later takes more than his share of wine bottles off of a caterer’s wine cart. These situations are made funny because the wealthy man is not really harmed, but rather inconvenienced slightly without his knowledge. Chaplin’s poor character tries shamelessly to woo the attractive women, including Miss Moneybags, the host’s daughter, also without him realizing the true identity of Chaplin. This yields the same result as stealing the food. The comedy lies in the fact that the poor man is having fun, causing mischief and getting away with it all until the very end when he is finally caught because the real Count shows up. When Charlie Chaplin’s cunning character jumps from tailor shop assistant to count at the snap of a finger, his low class status is made obvious by his table manners, among other things. He is comically incapable of using a fork and spoon to eat his pasta, and he devises the clever idea of tying a napkin around his head when eating a piece of watermelon to avoid a complete mess. The disapproving looks cast upon Chaplin indicate a definite sense of superiority on the part of the other dinner guests, all of which belong to the upper class. Chaplin’s lower class naïveté is further demonstrated when the party moves from the dining room to the ballroom and he is expected to dance with his lady guest, a task which utterly fails. He seeks solace in several bottles of alcohol afterwards, but only after refusing to take glasses from the butler from which to drink it.

EASY STREET

Easy Street is a harder film to identify class roles. There are the absolutely desolate and the people who at have humble jobs. In one instance, the Police Officer (Chaplin) catches a woman stealing produce from a sleeping street vender. Realizing the desolate situation that the entire neighborhood is in, the officer ends up helping the woman steal more produce instead of punishing her. Again we see comedy in the fact that the poor is taking advantage of the less-poor and getting away with it. The church tries to help out the poor, however, the Tramp (later the Police Officer) ends up making a mockery of the service and finally giving back the offering box that he attempts to steal throughout the whole scene.Chaplin’s tramp character Easy Street is so desperate for success that he goes into a church, assuming that what he hears inside will give him the recipe for success in life, although the only thing he is handed is a book of hymns that he cannot even read. After the service, he hits the streets and stumbles upon an advertisement for an opening on the police squad; he soon becomes a police officer, completely unaware of the dangers involved and in the end overcomes adversity with surprisingly little effort and a bit of luck to become the neighborhood hero.

THE IMMIGRANT

Charlie Chaplin’s role in The Immigrant provides for an awkward situation in a restaurant. The Immigrant realizes that he has lost his coin and in an effort to pick one up off of the ground without the waiter noticing, he irritates and confuses the waiter hilariously. Needing more money, he takes the tip that a wealthy man leaves on the table to pay for his entire meal, again reinforcing the comedy that lies in the poor taking advantage of the wealthy without any consequences to themselves or loss to the wealthy man. The Immigrant presents the audience with a Chaplin attempting to adjust to a new way of life where he must overcome his own ignorance as well as society’s well-established customs and complicated structures in order to succeed. People are excluded if their knowledge of the culture is not expansive enough, which happens to be society’s way of managing the social classes and ensuring that no one group rises above where it should. It seems that society is afraid that the norm of the poor, uneducated immigrant will change and put the other classes at risk of upheaval or change, a very daunting task for Chaplin to take on. Nonetheless, Chaplin’s ignorance of the existence of these unspoken customs make for a comedic performance while emphasizing the expectations set for each class.

BIRDS

An excellent example of comedy defining classes in Birds is the interaction between Iris, who represents higher class, and Makemedo interact. Makemedo shows Iris utter disrespect throughout their entire encounter. Iris says,

“You fool, you fool! Test not the mettle

Of the dread gods for your people will be crushed

By the hand of Zeus, overthrown by Justice and smitten

In the smoky fire, consigning you to the flames

And incinerating your house with his thunderous bolts!” (1238-1242)

In response to this, Makemedo simply says, “Madam, I would greatly appreciate it if you would be kind enough to stop spitting and spluttering all over me and shut your blasted mouth!” (1243-1245). Representing the lower class, Makemedo does an excellent job of insulting Iris. In Aristophanes’ Birds it is the birds themselves who are taken advantage of and manipulated by Makemedo, the play’s comic hero. After the birds’ initial rejection of Makemedo, namely because they admit that “man is a liar,” Hoopoe convinces them to give Makemedo a chance. When the birds hear Makemedo’s confident and logical reasoning that justifies a creation of a city for the birds, they effectively commit themselves as the subjects of Makemedo, convinced that he knows what is best for them. The new subjects have complete faith in Makemedo and what he tells them; Makemedo convinces the birds that they should have sovereignty over the land and implants all sorts of notions of grandiosity in them, later only to prey on the good report he has developed with them to draw them into his plan. The birds officially relinquish power to Makemedo, blinded by their ignorance and trust in their new leader, once again emphasizing the sway that the powerful hold over their inferiors.

CLOUDS

In Clouds much of the plot revolves around Strepsiades learning from Socrates so that he can get out of debt without actually paying it off. His original plan is to have his son do it. He explains, “All you have to do is learn this Inferior Argument for me then you can talk your way out of all the debts I’ve incurred on your behalf, and I won’t have to repay a single obol!” (116-118). When his son refuses, Strepsiades is forced to learn on his own and in the end realizes his dishonesty, but not without a valiant effort to beat out the wealthy and get rid of his debt. Clouds introduces perhaps one of the most comically ignorant characters in the history of comedy; Strepsiades is an old man who convinces himself that the only way to escape his debt is to learn the argument of Socrates. He is quick to believe Socrates that will help him, and he certainly takes his help for granted; as soon as Socrates begins grilling Strepsiades about his enormous debt, Strepsiades does not hesitate to divulge every detail of his situation (line 238). Strepsiades confides in Socrates not only as a mentor but also as a friend, making the mistake of telling him that he is only there to learn so that he can argue his way out of debt, assuming that his confession will not come back to harm him. The new student believes everything Socrates tells him and assumes that because Socrates preaches higher thinking, he can throw by the wayside all of his previously held beliefs. Strepsiades is so caught up in his own ignorance and ideas of new wisdom that he is dumbfounded when the clouds confess that all along they were scheming to teach him a lesson; Strepsiades’ status as a mortal is reaffirmed by the gods’ unlimited power.

Films

Dyskolos (316 B.C.E.)

GOIN' TO TOWN

In Goin’ to Town, there are obvious class distinctions between Cleo and the rest of the upper class. At the beginning of the film Cleo is a thriving bar maid who strikes it rich by marrying a criminal. This begins her odd climb of the social ladder. She is automatically looked down upon because of her unrefined behavior and shameless flirtations with every good-looking man that crosses her path. There is a sexual innuendo in almost every interaction Cleo has with a male during the film. This makes for easy laughs and also highlights the drastic differences between the extremely refined, high class, society ladies and Cleo. Cleo ends up on top, as the comic hero always does, by redefining high class standards to fit her liking. This includes overly- extravagant dress, staring in a controversial opera, marrying solely for the man’s name, and doing an excellent job of upsetting the high society women.

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT

Ellie and Peter in It Happened One Night are a perfect example of comedy making clear the differences in classes. While Peter is a street-savvy, fast talking journalist, Ellie is an extremely sheltered heiress. Ellie is ignorant about things that Peter finds common sense, for example; Ellie asks the bus to wait for her while she goes to eat a nice breakfast. When she returns and the bus is nowhere to be seen, Peter gives a look of “I told you so” and takes Ellie under his wing for the rest of the film. Peter is thrifty with his money and gets the two a room in at an auto park. Here Ellie is forced outside to the communal showers and to her enjoyment, makes new friends. Much of the comedy in these situations is found in Ellie’s amazement, adaptability and acceptance of the common man’s way of life. She even shows up Peter at hitchhiking to his amazement. Through their constant bickering, Peter’s ‘mothering’ tactics and close calls escaping detectives, the comic pieces in this film clearly show class differences.

DYSKOLOS

In Dyskolos, Sostratos is a high class man trying to win the hand of Knemon’s daughter. Knemon will not agree to anything until he sees Sostratos working. Sostratos does not understand this agreement, but goes along with it anyway. His interactions with Gorgias in the field successfully portray Sostratos’ ignorance concerning manual labor. He chats with Gorgias and when he finally picks up a mattock, he is quite surprised at the weight and yells, “Help! This must weigh a couple of hundredweight. It’ll do for me before I’ve done with it” (389-391). The fact that he does not even comprehend the tool’s weight shows his difference in class and is also fairly comical for the audience to watch. Sostratos does not fair well at the end of the day and complains, addressing the audience, “Oh, I’m sore! The small of my back, all my back, my neck, my whole body!” (523-524). For the lower class men, the work Sostratos does is common, everyday work. Sostratos makes his one day of work a monumental event, and even directly addresses the audience. This piece of comedy clearly distinguishes class.

SAMIA

There is definite class distinction in Samia. Chrysis shows the difference in the classes very well since she is brought into a high class family from very humble beginnings. However, in this play, comedy plays on class differences using the cook. The cook is obviously a lower class character, yet he sits in the background as Demeas yells at Chrysis for having a child that is not his and adds his own witty commentary. This particular scene is very dramatic. The higher class characters are in an intense moment and the cook is simply making fun of them. The lower class making fun of the higher class is a reoccurring theme throughout almost all plays and films we see.

IRAN MAN (PERSA)

In Iran Man, the slaves are a necessary part of the plot and the comedy. They also start to transcend the boundaries of class distinction. An excellent example of this is when Dorkalot (a pimp) says, “It’d be weird if I trusted you, for you to pull the same stuff with me that the bankers mostly do: when you trust ‘em with money, they’re out of town as fast as a rabbit out of the starting gates at the dog track” (3.3.433-436). Here Dorkalot is making fun of bankers, saying that he is clearly above the banker in trustworthiness. This is alluding to a class distinction, and is funny because a pimp, one of the lowest free born positions in society, is bashing men of another profession that is perhaps less sleazy.

TOWELHEADS (POENULUS)

In Towelheads, confusion around the characters’ actual status is what moves the plot and creates comedy. Tchotchka and Katya believe they are slaves, so they parade themselves around as prostitutes. When Boris lays eyes on Tchotchka, thinking she is truly a prostitute, he woos her and falls madly in love with her. However, at the end of the play, it is revealed that the two girls are actually free born citizens and Boris is actually in love with his sister. The feelings and ways in which the girls were treated while thought to be prostitutes change when everyone realizes the true status of the girls. This is a very clever way to show class distinctions in society.

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA

A Night at the Opera has very distinct classes. Otis B. Driftwood is the comic hero that is constantly showing his poor class status. At a fancy restaurant in the opening scene, Otis asks the waiter, “Have you got any milk-fried chickens?” (IMDb). After the waiter responds, Otis orders, “Well squeeze the milk out of one and bring me a glass” (IMDb). Clearly Otis is not aware of certain dishes served at upper class restaurants and by ordering in this fashion he is showing his ignorance as well as his class status. Not only that, but he provides the audience with a great laugh.