Why Is Charlie Chaplin Embodies The Great Depression
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Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid: The Film that Embodies the Great Depression “A picture with a smile - and perhaps a tear:” these are the first words shown in Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid. These simple, yet thoughtful words, perfectly introduces the film because of its genuine humor as well as its deep sincerity. Preceding the World War II, the Great Depression hit the United States in the 1930s. It was a time of unbearable economic depression, and it impoverished countless numbers of families across America. One could say that the Great Depression of the 20th Century enslaved the lives of the people leaving them with nothing but hopelessness. Although the film, The Kid, is a rather light comedy, Charlie Chaplin effectively illustrates the social and poverty issues during the Great Depression, as well as refers to his own childhood. The overall hopelessness that spread throughout the nation during the Great…show more content… The Tramp expresses his love for the orphan as if it were his own child. Coincidently, right before Chaplin started auditioning children for The Kid, Chaplin had his own tragedy when his 3-day-old son with Mildred Harris, his 17-year-old wife, passed away (Robinson 3). Chaplin expressed the love he had for his own son to the orphan in the film. Although his situation was not good, he “shared all he had with his son” (Mierzejewska 4). Charlie Chaplin had learned this love from his own mother, but because she could no longer care for him and his brother, they were sent to an orphanage (Mierzejewska 2). John from The Kid expressed this crucial event in Chaplin’s life when the authorities came to take him away from the Tramp. Chaplin expresses the passion and anger that he had felt while splitting up with his mother. The many similarities to Chaplin’s childhood bring us to believe that the film The Kid is one of his more personal