American silent comedy, in its typical forms and styles, represents a response to the processes of modernization and the experience of modernity. Discuss.

University of East London

MS 1202 EARLY AND SILENT CINEMA

SEMESTER A 2009

Course Work 2: “American silent comedy, in its typical forms and styles, represents a response to the processes of modernization and the experience of modernity.” Discuss.

Student No. 0938193

Word Count: 1456

Modernization took place in the world around the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. As one of the mass mediums, cinema made great contributions to the process of modernization. The birth and development of silent cinema, especially the American silent comedy played an important role during the process of modernization. Therefore, this essay is going to discuss how American silent comedy represents the response to the processes of modernization and the experience of modernity in three parts: introduce the forms and styles of silent comedies in the first part, explain the processes of modernization in the second part and discuss how American silent comedy represents the response to the processes of modernization and the experience of modernity in the last part.

Firstly, this essay is going to introduce the forms and styles of silent comedies. Robinson (1996 p:78) argued in “comedy” in The Oxford History of World Cinema “ In a bare quarter of a century, the silent cinema created a tradition of film comedy as distinctive and as self—contained as the commedia dell’arte-from which, however remotely, it seemed to derive something of its character.” In other words, comedy used to be regarded as a distinctive feature and a tradition of early silent cinema. Although remotely, early silent cinema has its own character, comedy still played an important role in the development of early silent cinema. The silent comedy appear almost in the early “cinema of attraction” period from 1895 to 1906. The earliest comic films were generally one- point jokes often inspired by newspaper cartoons, comic strips, comic postcards, stereograms, or magic lantern slides as those earliest comic films’ lengths were only a minute or less. (Robinson, 1996 p: 78) L'Arroseur Arroséarose (Watering the Gardener, 1895) is known as the world’s earliest comedy, the film described s a simple practical joke about a naughty boy fooled a gardener by steps on the that the gardener is using to water the plants and cutting off the water flow. Then the gardener began to check the nozzle by tilt it up, the boy suddenly releases the hose and made the water to spray on the gardener. The gardener is stunned and his hat is knocked off, but soon he found the naughty boy. Although this silent comedy only lasts no more than one minute (49 seconds in total), it described a funny scene to the audience successfully. In America, as Sklar (1994 p: 104) argued “the American comic tradition and American movies were made for each other.” America is considered to be the country which leading the world’s comedy today. However, at the beginning in the early cinema, America was lagged behind continental Europe in developing name comedians who could maintain regular series of one-reel films. (Robinson, 1996 p: 81) The formation of the Keystone Comedy Studio under Mack Sennett may be when the transformation and pre-eminence of American screen comedy dated from. (Robinson, 1996 p: 81) Among all the world’s famous silent comedy stars, Charlie Chaplin can be regarded as the most famous one in silent comedy history and he was from Sennett’s studio. Details of his films will be discussed in the third part of this essay. So why American comedies are lead the world and what are the forms and types of comedies in America? Culture is an important and significant factor of which will influence the type and form of films. As most jokes in comedy plays with sexual, racial, social class or political differences and compare with other parts of the world, America is more open mind and more democracy, that contribute to the position of American comedy in the world. In addition, as Belton( 1994 p:135) argued comedy is never taken seriously, American film comedy can often deal with these sensitive issues more openly than other which made it has more “official” genres than other countries, like the historical film or the Western. Thus, the feature of the American comedy can be concluded as the gags used in those comedies are more openly in sensitive issues such as sex, race or even about politics than comedies from other countries and this is the factor of why the American comedy leads the world today as well.

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Secondly, this essay is going to explain what exactly modernization and modernity are, and discuss modernism and silent cinema. The meaning of modernization can be defined as the appearance of “modes of social life or organization which emerged in Europe from about the seventeenth century onwards and which subsequently became more or less worldwide in their influence.” (Giddens, 1991) The modernization covered a wide range of issues, such as economic, cultural, social and so on. However, no matter what issue, it has connected to the changes of the way of communication and mass media. As the cinema and film industry developed in the late 19th century and became a mass media in the 20th century, it is belong to one of those issues in modernization. In addition, the word modernity can be known as the result of the process of modernization. Rees (1996 p: 95) argued “Modern art and silent cinema were born simultaneously.” During the process of modernization, theories of time and perception which never been introduced before both emerged in art and popularity of cinema, and that has led artists put “paintings in motion” through the film medium. (Rees, 1996 p: 95) Hence, modern art can be considered as a bridge which connected modernization and silent films closer to each other. Therefore, as one of the mass mediums, cinema can be known as one of the issues in the process of modernization and the experience of modernity and the modern art played an important role in connecting the modernism and the silent films by the paintings appeared in these early films.

In the first and second part of this essay, it has introduced the silent comedy and discussed the American silent comedy specifically and explained modernization and its connection to the silent films. Thus, the third part of this essay is going to discuss how American silent comedy represents the response to the processes of modernization and the experience of modernity. Charlie Chaplin who is one of the greatest stars of silent comedy’s films can represent most silent comedy in the 20th century. A great deal of his films can represent the response of the processes of modernization and the experience of modernity. One of his most successful films is called Modern Times (1936) and the film described a modern factory worker’s life. Through the encounter of the worker Chaplin acted, it response to how modernization changed the people’s life and referred to the current affairs such as the economic crisis which is lead by the modernization in its economic issue in the time when the film was made. In his other two famous films of The Gold Rush (1925) and The Great Dictator (1940) responded the life in the modernity world and referred to the current affairs of people gold rush to the America at the beginning of 20th century and the Nazism in the Second World War. Both of the two current affairs can be regarded as the results of modernity. Hence, the American silent comedy represents the response to the processes of modernization and the experience of modernity in the specific period of time at the beginning of the 20th century. As the process of modernization continue, the new techniques of microphone and sound in films emerged, the silent comedy began to wane. However, the American silent comedy still attract audience today to see the past period of modernization at the beginning of 20th century.

In conclusion, the silent comedy emerged almost at the same time when cinema of attractions emerged. Early silent comedies were short with few or even only one joke. After the film industry grow and become as a mass medium, it become one of the issues which connected to the modernization and modernity. Due to the distinctive culture of more open mind in America, American comedy leads the world from the beginning of the 20th century until today. In the early period of time when the microphone technique and sound effects haven’t been introduced, Charlie Chaplin and some other silent comedy stars film made in Hollywood led the world silent comedy. And most of their films described the life in the modernization world and have relation to the current affairs of the time when those films were made. After the new techniques of microphone and sound effects been introduced to the film industry, the silent comedy started waning and this can be regarded as another phenomenon of the continuing of modernization. (Word count: 1456)

Bibliography:

Books:

David Robinson, ‘Comedy’ and A.L. Rees ‘Cinema and the Avant Garde’in Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, (ed.)(1996), The Oxford History of World Cinema Oxford University Press,Great Britain

Robert Sklar, (1994), Movie-Made America, Vintage Books, New York

John Belton,(1994) American Cinema/American Culture, Corporation for Public Broadcasting and New York Center for Visual History, United States of America

Giddens, A. (1991). The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford (Cal): Stanford University Press, Oxford: Basill Blackwell, Cambridge: Polity Press.