Chaplin's Lasting Influence

 Jennifer Carlos

COM 126

Professor Saphire

9/23/2020

    When Charlie Chaplin’s 1942 re-release of his smash hit The Gold Rush was made available to the public, he was quoted multiple times stating it was the film that he wanted to be remembered for. However, it’s lasting influence on cinema would be impossible for even a mind as forward-thinking as his to have ever anticipated. That is to say this film’s achievements and impact on cinematic language would not have come to fruition without the actualities of the Lumières and the constructions of Méliès two decades earlier. 

    The Lumières and Méliès established two very unique conveyances of the truth, each on opposite sides of the spectrum. Auguste and Louis Lumière established realism, an interest or concern for representing things as they are, while Georges Méliès took a more abstract approach to his filmography with antirealism. Both are crucial terms within cinematic language.

    Cinematic language, as defined in Barsam and Monahan’s Looking at Movies, is “the tools and techniques that filmmakers use to convey meaning and mood to the viewer, including lighting, mise-en-scène, cinematography, performance, editing, and sound”. When critiquing films, viewers can use terms in this system to aid in understanding a picture’s production and meaning. 

    Chaplin’s approach doesn’t strictly land under one of these categories. He portrays what could be real life on the silver screen, but doesn’t limit himself by attempting to perfectly re-create the world in which he and the audience inhabit. Instead, he creates the image of his own world, or rather what the world could be. A thin rope couldn’t keep a house from falling from a cliff in this world, but in Chaplin’s universe it’s more than plausible. Not only did his portrayal of the truth break new ground, but as did several other areas of his filmmaking.

    Shot Reverse Shot, a method of cutting from one character’s face to another’s to convey that the pair are looking at one another, can be seen during the scoundrel’s fight with Big Jim, evidently where two close up shots are paired. The Coen Brothers have used this technique over a century later, with it being a key element of their films. This technique has aided in establishing intimacy with their characters, and allows viewers to feel as if that moment with the characters, up close and personal, is happening in person. Many of their films have a cult following, and this one technique’s ability to bring a sense of closeness to audience’s may have contributed to their films successes. 

    Mediation, a vital term falling under the cinematic language umbrella, is the process by which an object transfers from one place to another. While it may seem like a simple motion to portray, Chaplin exemplifies just how meticulous this process is in The Gold Rush. When his main character, the Little Fellow nearly meets his death by sliding towards an open cabin door leading off of a cliff, the danger of the moment is brought to light by first establishing the cliff on which the cabin is sitting, and then seeing the Little Fellow sliding directly towards that opening. The exterior shot followed by the interior shot have been edited together to create the illusion that they are within the same space. This heightens the audience’s sense of suspense, and the use of Rimsky-Korsakov’s tense orchestral interlude “The Flight of the Bumblebee” only adds to that sense of anxiety. 

    It is difficult to imagine what today’s films would look like, had Chaplin not established editing techniques that expanded the realm of  possibilities when making a picture. What modern filmgoers may not notice at all is Chaplin’s genius. He set the groundwork for conveying information and the truth succinctly, as to not take the viewer's attention away from the story at hand. The Gold Rush gifts the modern day filmgoer with the privilege of seeing the endless possibilities that come with the magic of filmmaking, a proper way to convey the unconventional truth, and the freedom that comes with creating one’s own world.