• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
  • WORLD DEMOCRACY
  • POLITICAL ART
  • more
    • election technology
    • money politics
    • political dissidents
    • THIRD PARTY
      • third party central
      • green party
      • justice party
      • libertarian party
    • voting methods
  • DC INFO
    • author central
    • about
    • advertise with DC
    • contact
    • privacy policy

Democracy Chronicles

Modern Times: Actions SPEAK Louder Than Words

by Aydasara Ortega - October 24, 2013

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Charlie Chaplin Modern Times

by Aydasara Ortega

The film Modern Times depicts a scene in which Charles Chaplin works on a factory; where after being subject to several indignities as being force-fed by a “modern” feeding machine and an accelerating assembly line at an ever-increasing rate, he suffers a nervous breakdown and loses his screws, throwing the factory into chaos. One doesn’t need only to LOOK at this scene from a Marxist or Psychoanalyst lens to SEE that the exploitation of the working class and its negative effects on the human being’s psyche is what this film critiques. Right? Left, I mean, right!

Actually, the audience of the film doesn’t even have to speak English (or any language in particular for that matter) as the film is mostly silent. The viewer just has to take the time to imagine himself or herself on Charles Chaplin’s situation. Can you? Can I? Can we? Actions SPEAK louder than words.

There’s no real resting for Charles Chaplin in this factory scene, as he is been watched by Big Brother, I mean, the big boss even during his break in the restroom. Between the surveillance camera and the constant speed of the machine, Chaplin knows he must always be on his toes. This is not something we would wish on us or anybody, would we? We’d all be like him, worn out and probably get home and could barely stay still.

Albeit this film is from 1936, the ruthless drive for competence at U.S. companies has created similar austerity inside the psyche of employees in the modern workplace. In their keenness to make sure that no time is wasted, companies are demanding painstaking performance quotas and forcing in extra hours that might be paid or not. Video cameras and software constantly track workers performance, for example, their computer keystrokes and the time on each service phone call.

Industry Modern TimesMost employers don’t necessarily want lasting relationships with their workers. Corporations are asking employees to work harder and harder without providing the kinds of rewards, financial and psychological, that would be fair. Employers assume that if some quit, there are many others looking for jobs.

Salaries are stationary, jobs are not secure, work is intense; it’s as tough a world as the one depicted in the film. Employers are as antagonistic about streamlining work in ways that set in motion faster productivity. Work is drenched into off hours, as bosses shower employees with email messages at night and on weekends. They even scrutinize employees’ Facebook pages for comments that diverge from the corporate message.

The growing demands at the workplace mean human beings, who are not machines, have less time for themselves, for their psychological well-being. Now, tell US, how is the psyche of the worker nowadays different from Charles Chaplin’s in Modern Times?
“_________________________________.”

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Capitalism and Big Business, Election History, Political Artwork, Socialism and Labor

About Aydasara Ortega

Aydasara Ortega Torres writes for Democracy Chronicles from New York. She is a Faculty Member of Psychology at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. Also take a look at her website for more of her work.

Some highlighted Democracy Chronicles topics

Africa American Corruption American Local Elections American State Elections Asia Capitalism and Big Business Celebrity Politics China Democracy Charity Democracy Protests Democrats Dictatorships Education Election History Election Methods Election Security Election Transparency Europe Internet and Democracy Journalism and Free Speech Middle East Minority Voting Rights Money Politics New York City and State Elections Political Artwork Political Dissidents Political Lobbying Redistricting Republicans Russia Socialism and Labor Social Media and Democracy South America Spying and Privacy Supreme Court Third Party Voter Access Voter ID Voter Registration Voter Suppression Voter Turnout Voting Technology Women Voting Rights Worldwide Worldwide Corruption

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Home | DC AUTHORS | Modern Times: Actions SPEAK Louder Than Words

Primary Sidebar

Advertise button

Harnessing The Power Of “We The People” On Independence Day

By Jenna Spinelle July 3, 2022

Democracy does not have a singular definition, which is one of the things that makes it so interesting to me — and undoubtedly to many of you.

Florida Doesn’t Need a Speech Czar

By Steve Schneider June 28, 2022

Full disclosure: I’m a liberal Democrat. So, I won’t be sending in my vote-by-mail ballot for Ron DeSantis in November. Nor will I vote for him in 2024.

democracy chronicles newsletter

DC AUTHORS

Introducing: When The People Decide

By Jenna Spinelle June 25, 2022

Several activists and average citizens have changed their communities and the country by taking important issues directly to votes.

Democracy’s Summer Blockbusters

By Jenna Spinelle June 8, 2022

The summer will be legally and politically charged particularly with the January 6 committee hearings scheduled to begin June 9.

Can American Democracy Have Nice Things?

By Jenna Spinelle June 7, 2022

Universal voting would be the surest way to protect against voter suppression and the active disenfranchisement of a large share of our citizens.

PODCAST: Baby Boomers And American Gerontocracy

By Jenna Spinelle May 23, 2022

Older and younger voters are increasingly at odds: Republicans as a whole skew gray-haired, and within the Democratis, the left-leaning youth vote.

A Dangerous Reprise Of American Exceptionalism In Ukraine

By Jamie Lampidis May 15, 2022

The stakes are too high to cave into Putin’s phantasmatic imperial play, and too high to believe that this war can be won by arming Ukrainians.

On The Coming End Of Roe v. Wade

By Peter J. Dellolio May 11, 2022

Anyone who says that the evolution of law has nothing to do with politics is either very corrupt or very stupid. Laws evolved through the centuries.

Goodbye Roe v. Wade, Goodbye Rule Of Law

By Andrew Straw May 5, 2022

Congress should impeach judges who act like that because it is not good behavior, and they were asked not to act that way when they were confirmed.

MORE FROM OUR AUTHORS

VISIT OUR POLITICAL ART SECTION:

dc political art

DEMOCRACY CULTURE

India: Why Are Punjab Political Singers Under Attack?

India: Why Are Punjab Political Singers Under Attack?

June 8, 2022

The murder of Sidhu Moose Wala has brought attention to the link between Punjabi music and India’s cross-border criminal networks.

University Educated Less Likely To Endorse Authoritarianism

University Educated Less Likely To Endorse Authoritarianism

June 4, 2022

Higher education is now seen as a new political cleavage, with level of education increasingly important in describing political attitudes.

From Cake To Volunteers, Welcome To Australia’s Democracy Day

From Cake To Volunteers, Welcome To Australia’s Democracy Day

May 25, 2022

The atmosphere in the interstate polling booth in Sydney’s inner east resembled that of an emergency room waiting for a donor organ.

Kenyan 'Cartooning For Peace' To Draw Africa Towards Democracy

Kenyan ‘Cartooning For Peace’ To Draw Africa Towards Democracy

May 17, 2022

Cartooning is an art that has been playing a major role in illustrating stories in different ways, from health to politics, and even sports.

Anxious Leaders Influence Their Followers' Anxiety, Even Online

Anxious Leaders Influence Their Followers’ Anxiety, Even Online

May 17, 2022

Organizational leader’s tweets can influence employee anxieties and this effect is more prominent since the rise of COVID-19, study.

MORE CULTURE

VISIT OUR US DEMOCRACY SECTION:

American Democracy