Thinking Activity: Understanding the Zeitgeist of the 20th Century Movie: Modern Times

This Blog-post is a response of thinking activity on 'Understanding the Zeitgeist of the 20th Century:From Modern Times to the era of Great Dictators(Movies)' given by our professor Dr. Dilip Barad Sir. To know more about this task and both movies, CLICK HERE.

What is Zeitgeist ?

According to Merriam Webster dictionary, Zeitgeist is the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era, which also presents the general beliefs, ideas, and spirit of a time and place. In literature it used as a spirit of the particular time which presents the human condition. In this task we suppose to write  about our understanding the zeitgeist of twentieth century with the references of two movies.  

Frame Studying or Reading:

There are such a difference between watching film and studying or reading the film. Both are necessary to understand the setting behind the particular literary work in more easier way, especially, the reality of the society.Both movies were written, director and performed by the great English comedian Charlie Chaplin. We also studied the time gap between both movies and how the improvement was going of silent movie to talking films. As Dilip Barad sir said that, "Movies serves the purpose and students can get an 'easy' understanding of the 'esoteric' nature of the literature."We had two movie screening to understand the concept of the setting of twentieth century, which obviously reflects in the literature of that particular time. I also wrote Face Book post, to know Click Here and visit my FB post.

There are four types of frames are studying in art. 

• Subjective frame
• Cultural frame
• Structural frame
• Postmodern frame

Click this image to know more in detailed. 

The lats,Postmodern frame using by the artist who might be presents the society by using parody,irony, satire and artistic quality to expose power assumption. Make the real world within the comic way, but the real voice behind the particular comedy is very authentic with the reality of the present time. Also it very challenged to the artist to present the hidden intentions of the high authorities. This particular era influenced by it's predecessor age, which was twentieth century also we know as The Modern Era.     

•  About the Time:

This Clock frame and the quote written here presents the basic idea of that what about in the film. This is a story which centralized with  industrialization and  individual enterprise. Humans run away to pursuing the happiness, which means the peoples of the century, (20th century) are not free to live in their air or with their happiness.  

•  About Sheeple:

The story roaming around the character, named The Tramp(also the title name of Chaplin's another silent-film.), also known The Little Tramp. Starring by Charlie himself, was a worker of assembling line. The crowed followed by the authority of factories, or we can say the presidential rules were ruling upon the workers. Chaplin presents Sheep's mob as allegorically presented the human minds were pushed up by the particular authorities. As A.C.Ward mentioned, 

"Victorian Social slumming among the deserving poor was displaced by intellectual  slumming among the  workers."

• The Assembly Lines: 

Still the century was not too good in mechanization, however, the particular authorities uses the workers to being a part of manufacturing of the particular thing. Although it's pitiful to the people, because they are the human beings, not machines. What's in today's time, we can see in Coca Cola's Factory and Amul Food factory, there are no any humans, while in twentieth century we can see that the used of people in terms of mechanization. A.C.Ward wrote about the death of craftsmanship that,

"Throughout the period between the two world wars, the growth of mass production methods in industry created deep concern among sociologists who recognised that a lifetime of work on assembly-line processes was destructive of interest in the objects produced and a threat of death to craftsmanship."

  Nowadays, people are not the part of manufacturing, because of the mechanism, the particular authority wants to keep the work speedy and without errors, while human makes mistakes. Here, I put one video of Amul food factory.

• Power of Richness or Mind not of Muscular:

In this three frames, Chaplin described that how the power of mind or worked to make a position in particular authority, but the man who has muscular ability, he doesn't make his position on high level. The another reason is also about Richness.Only the voice of Richness who had the mind power could hold on the poor people. Third and fourth frame also shows that how the human beings becoming mechanized under the influences of Industrialization. 

• People didn't live with Luxuries:

In the first frame, Tramp and Ellen were in department (Mall) in which there were enjoyed the fancy life. They know that they will not be too rich to keep this luxuries with them. The only thing to life with luxury was Fancy life. But in the second frame, they also happy with their factual life. 

• Advertisement:

As A.C.Ward mentions that 

"Professionals advertising experts, indeed, would not (at least in private) claims interest in the nature of the product but only in selling it."

"The Truth in the Advertising, a principle subsequently overlaid by conscious exaggeration sometimes bordering on misrepresentation. "

In the movie, the advertiser came up with the new innovative machine which helps to  Advertisers were interested to selling their products. In first two frames, the advertisers only tested the product to the worker, and again in third frame they put the machine boll in the dish. Ultimately, it shows that the workers were not important, they gave importance to their profit, money without carrying the people.  

    

Thank You..

Click Here and Visit my another Blog-post on Frame study of the Movie. 'The Great Dictator.'

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