Modern Times By Charlie Chaplin Essay

During the 1930's American citizens witnessed a breakdown of the Democratic and free enterprise way of life. The government saw that the free enterprise system was failing. The New Deal increased the government's regulation and intervention and the economic system, thus temporarily abandoning the capitalism system and turning toward socialism to find the answer. The answer... the New Deal. Socialism is usually thought of as a form of government that advocates public ownership and public control of wealth (Britannica Jr. Encyclopedia 1980, p.231).

Stanley Kubrick’s sexual parody, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, illustrates an unfathomed nuclear catastrophe. Released in the midst of the Cold War, this 1964 film satirizes the heightened tensions between America and Russia. Many sexual insinuations are implemented to ridicule the serious issue of a global nuclear holocaust, in an effort to countervail the terror that plagued America at that time. Organizing principles, such as Kubrick’s blunt political attitudes about the absurdity of war and the satirical genre, are echoed by the film style of his anti-war black comedy, Dr. Strangelove.

In the 1931 film “City Lights”, Charlie Chaplin “opens our eyes”, so to speak, about how society values trivial elements of people over the deeper person by using blindness. In this film, Chaplin brilliantly mixes lighthearted comedy with deep and complex ideas about problems with society. Chaplin uses music, gags, and a genuine love connection to portray this point in multiple ways throughout the movie. Chaplin also took the bold step of not making a talking movie, even though they were available at the time, making the details in the pictures and sounds he was creating that much more important. What makes “City Lights” so special, and different from other comedies, is Chaplin’s natural blend of comedic scenes with tense and serious scenes. Chaplin weaved together a masterpiece that culminates in the end with the lady seeing who she fell in love with, which is also the moment Chaplin slaps the viewer in the face with the realization that the priorities in society are misguided and that the important things cannot be seen with the eye.

had acquired a lot of cultural groundings at home with his mother and the doctor.

During the 1950's, the United States experienced great change with the end of World War II, making it difficult to label the busy decade. America was the most powerful nation in the world and it was a time of complacency. The United States accepted two new states, Hawaii and Alaska (www.fifties.com). The science world boomed with new inventions; televisions broadcast nationally; rock n' roll was popular; commercial hotel and fast food chains became common; the car industry exploded; vaccinations for measles and polio were discovered; and birth control pills were introduced (Layman VII). Another event in the 1950’s was the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which limited presidents to two terms in office. The 1950's "baby

Passions drive people, and the townspeople in “The Lottery” and Paul in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are no different. Each of the members of the unnamed town has a strong passion for tradition. The original black box used for the lottery is described as being, “lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born” (Jackson 251). This sentence gives the reader an understanding that the lottery is an ancient tradition that has become an integral part of the town’s lifestyle. Such a tradition can only be carried on for this length of time if the people are passionate about preserving the tradition. Paul had a passion to be wealthy as a way to prove to his mother that he was lucky. From a young age, he saw that his family always wanted more money to support a better lifestyle, yet

The decade of the 1930’s can be characterized in two parts: The Great Depression, and the restoration of the American economy. America had been completely destroyed due to the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It was up to the government and people of the 1930’s to "mend" America’s wounds. One man stood up to this challenge, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He promised to fix the American economy, provide jobs, and help the needy. During The Great Depression, the crime rate had risen to an all new high. J. Edgar Hoover helped to create the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As America was restored, culture grew quickly. Dance clubs, new music styles, glamour girls, movies and sports were all popular forms of entertainment in the

Charlie Chaplin’s (1931) City Lights, is one of the last silent films to be released in America, that was successful, as the age of the ‘talkie’ was beginning. He was one of the few great silent film stars to successfully continue his career. Chaplin uses a lot of symbolism of life in this film, using flowers, blindness, money and of course the Tramp.

You can judge a society by its treatment of the old, the weak, the helpless and the needy. Through the narrative conventions of foreshadowing and characterisation, John Steinbeck, in his novel Of Mice And Men, published in 1937, is able to effectively reveal the imperfections of America’s capitalist

What insights into the American Dream are offered through the novella Of Mice and Men and the film American Beauty? In your essay you must consider the influences of context and the importance of techniques in shaping meaning.

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Throughout his book Modern Romance, Aziz Ansari the author develops and explains concepts that are involved in romantic relationships. In his arguments he describes certain points that explain how romances were modernized with the advancement of the technology. The growth of technology has created new sources of communication like for example socials networks and other websites in the internet that allow people to have an easier search to find a partner when they are looking for one. One of the biggest arguments that author talks about is when he describes how technology has played an important role in romantic relationships. The use of technology that exists in the present day has become excessive and it is a good argument to discuss in the essay. Up to today the online services and socials networking sites have become important factor s in the search for that “perfect someone” that people want to share the rest of our lives with, but at the same time it becomes a dangerous weapon that disappoints, lies and destroys romantic relationships. It’s not really that technology influences bad things; but it is more up to the responsibility of people and the purpose they use it for. The fact that the technology has become a very helpful tool to date someone is something very common to do nowadays but also it is dangerous because people do not really know who they are talking to or who is behind the computers monitors. Although

The article “American Short Fiction and World Story” by Alan Cheuse compares the old tales to the modern short story. To start the article he talks about the old type of stories by famous writer Homer. Here talks about how these books are written by the culture of the time. With that being said, he makes the assumption that the old time tales are only applicable to the time in history they were written. This is pretty obvious because in today’s world we rarely see the events that happened in such ages. Next after talking about the period before modernism he starts to contemplate the creation of the modern short story. Here he makes a surprising claim, where he says that the modern story actually started in the United States with the famous poet Edgar Allen Poe. This is surprising to many because in the literature world most people associate modernism with European writers such as Chekov and Flaubert. He actually states the this modern sense of writing started in North America, then went to Europe and finally arrived to the res of the world including North America again. So we are left to ask, what is the modern short story like? Well, Alan Cheuse compares the modern short story to the art story. He says the perfectionists of it such as Hemmingway; owe their credit to writers like Poe because he in fact started it. The art story is a story that is written and can be applicable to any situation within real life. That is Alan Cheuse argument, and main ide of the whole article.

In “The Story of an Hour” (1894), Kate Chopin presents a woman in the last hour of her life and the emotional and psychological changes that occur upon hearing of her husbands’ death. Chopin sends the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, on a roller coaster of emotional up’s and down’s, and self-actualizing psychological hairpin turns, which is all set in motion by the news of her husband’s death. This extreme “joy ride” comes to an abrupt and ultimately final halt for Mrs. Mallard when she sees her husband walk through the door unscathed. Chopin ends her short story ambiguously with the death of Mrs. Mallard, imploring her reader to determine the true cause of her death.

by playing it for them, and would take a more active role in directing the band.