Dan Lavigne : The Gold Rush

Dan Lavigne

COM126.01

Professor Saphire

24 September 2020

The Gold Rush and Expanding Cinematic Language

Cinematic language is defined as: “The accepted systems, methods, or conventions by which the movies communicate with the viewer.” Over the course of history, this language has been developed and refined. One of the most important films to expand upon cinematic language would be The Gold Rush. This is due in part with the brilliance of Charlie Chaplin’s performance, but also the film’s relationship with realism and antirealism. In short, realism is a form that creates the illusion of reality. Conversely, antirealism displays the speculative, fantastical, and otherworldly. The beauty of The Gold Rush is its masterful use of both, all the while weaving in an engaging story. In doing so, this film propels cinematic language forward.

The Gold Rush has its roots in realism. To start, the opening shot has the feeling of sticking a camera in front of a bunch of climbers, miners, and hikers. This shot is comparable to the Lumiere’s footage of factory workers in Leaving the Lumiere’s Factory. It’s realism because it displays a slice of life whose form and content matches that of something that could really occur. Additionally, the scene in which Chaplin enters the dancing bar is a perfect example of this film’s poignant portrayal of reality. This scene is littered with detail, and truly immerses the viewer into feeling like they are actually there. In a Criterion article written by Luc Sante about The Gold Rush, Luc writes: “The dance hall scenes by themselves provide a startling trip into the past, with their cast of authentic-seeming mushers and adventurers.” This film perfectly captures the power extras bring to a scene. Lastly, this film is filled with wonderful bits of continuity editing. Much like Life of an American Fireman, The Gold Rush is strung together with chronology and story in mind. This coverys to the viewer a message of realism.

In contrast, The Gold Rush sprinkles in elements of antirealism. Scenes with Charlie Chaplin have a foundation of formalism to heighten emotions, specifically comedy. His actions are over the top, and seemingly normal situations like cooking (a boot), dancing (a dog tied to his belt), or being in a cabin (tilting on a mountain top) and transforms them into something fantastical. In this way, Charlie Chaplin extracted from films like A Trip to the Moon or Haxan, which appeared in Cousins documentary: The Story of Film. Even small things like the opening of the cabin door resulting in a huge burst of wind, blowing multiple people away, is as antirealistic as it gets.

All in all, The Gold Rush has an amazing incorporation of both realism and antirealism. The thing that this film does so well, is blending these two together, but also having a fun story intertwined throughout it all. The viewer laughs, and can feel the struggle of the tramp character. It is through this incorporation, while also delivering a timeless film, that The Gold Rush is a pioneer in cinematic language.