As I sat down to write today, I came to a block. After reading Hart Crane’s poem titled, Chaplinesque I had no real insight into what Crane was trying to say. I know the poem was written after Crane’s viewing of The Kid which was a Charlie Chaplin film, but that didn’t help me too much since I’ve never seen The Kid. I did end up watching a short segment from the film but that didn’t even do me any good. I was still stuck looking at Crane’s poem without the slightest idea of what he was trying to say. I ended up doing a little research on the poem and found that various people saw Crane’s poem as a reference to life and the world. The life of a man that was contented with whatever the wind brought him, because he didn’t have anything in his pockets to begin with. Life is a game (v.19), and there are different instances in life where you experience loneliness, but also times of laughter.
I don’t really have too much else to say about Crane’s poem, because I just don’t fully understand what he was trying to convey. I think it is interesting that Crane wrote this poem in response to watching The Kid, because the clip I saw didn’t seem to have anything to do with what Crane wrote. I may be extremely dense to these things though.
From my short viewing of Charlie Chaplin in class yesterday, I saw Modern Times as entertaining and enjoyable. Not until we started talking about the social aspects of the movie did I notice that something bigger was going on. We talked about how the film portrayed that the big business motto would be: bigger bang for the buck. They didn’t view their workers as people, but rather as part of the machine that needed to be used in the process of mass production. Chaplin jabs fun of this idea by making a mockery out of it. It’s clever that he takes a societal problem of the time and makes it humorous, because it gets his point out there, but does it in a non-offensive sort of way. It is a passive aggressive approach to the problems of the times.
Maybe "passive-aggressive" is not as apt as "playful," "satirical," "ironic," etc., but you're right that it's somewhat indirect. Think about the kitten in Crane's poem and its relation to the "game." Crane's going after the spirit of a Chaplin film, which portrays poverty and hardship but finds something to still affirm.
ReplyDeleteBriana, I did not really understand the poem either, but what you wrote here helped me to see what Crane was trying to do a little better. It was interesting to see the way Modern Times sort of functioned on two levels, both as a comedy and a social commentary.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can tell, he seems to be commenting on Chaplin's satire of the world-at-large while not loosing sight of the fact that he's commenting on real life. The third stanza especially is very symbolic of that "innocence" with which Chaplin seems to face down modern issues and problems, but he can only do it the way he does because he's seen the real hurt, he's seen the real thing up close. It's "smart" humor as a result, because he knows and has experienced what he's satirizing.
ReplyDeleteBri, I too did not understand Chaplinesque when first reading it. But if we look at 'the game' that 'enforces smirks' we can see that Crane is referring to Chaplin's satire. I believe that Crane appreciates Chaplin's work in that he exposes people to the truths of the 'modern times' but does it in a way that they will realize what is happening in the world but not be offended.
ReplyDeleteAs I read through the previous comments detailing other people's lack of understanding the poem, I wondered if there is a way to understand the poem in its entirety without having watched Chaplain first. Seeing as it was assigned BEFORE we actually watched Chaplain's film, is that the piece necessary to complete comprehension?
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