Monday, January 27, 2020
Everything is Dust in the Wind?
The Lone Prospector in The Gold Rush begins his search for gold wobbling on the brink of an icy ledge, blissfully unaware that he is within easy grasp of a ferocious bear. His quest ends as he is in a cabin that is teetering on a cliff, one step away from upsetting the precarious balance and plunging him and his fellow prospector to the icy abyss. Along the way he is nearly shot, almost eaten as he is mistaken for a chicken, and reduced to eating his own boot (not the mention cruelly played with by a woman he is fond of). What is the film say about the human condition? The search for wealth? About kindness and cruelty? Is life all vanity of vanities? Or are we more than dust in the wind?
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The Gold Rush by Charlie Chaplin describes the struggle and hardships that humans have to endure to gain a better life. Striving for wealth is a prominent theme present in the film because money is worth everything in the film. The Tramp, McKay, and Larsen have to deal with the extreme conditions of Alaska while they search for gold. They run out of food and are forced to eat food like shoes and a candlestick. The film accurately portrays the hardship that humans back in the early 1900s had to go through to acquire wealth and a better life. The film made it seem like that the Prospector only had a chance with the girl who he loved when he got wealthy because it the final scenes the Prospector finally achieves her in the end when he’s wealthy. When he’s poor the girl is with another man who seems much more wealthier due to his clothing style. The film depicts the cruelty of McKay when he entrusts in himself to find food for one another in the cabin but instead runs of with his own supplies. The same trust is broken with the Georgia as well when Chaplin invites her to New Year’s Eve dinner. Though, in the end the film forgives these mistakes by showing McKay helping Chaplin become wealthy for getting him back to his Mountain of Gold. The same is seen with Georgia in the end when they both kiss to a successful conclusion. I think the film tries to show the determination of the human spirit and to never give up. Chaplin never does wrong towards anyone even though he is wronged and in the end, he bears the fruit of his clean conscious with wealth and Georgia. Overall, the film celebrates the triumph of the human spirit over challenges, obstacles, and hardships.
ReplyDeleteThe Gold Rush by Charlie Chaplin explores the tale of a lone prospector as he goes to Alaska in search of gold played by Chaplin himself. Along the way, he encounters adversity, new friends, and even the possibility for love as he engages in various gags and mediums of visual comedy for audience enjoyment. However, behind all of this boisterous fun, Chaplin is able to lay the groundwork for a very interesting message, making this film about more intricate themes than meets the eye. What I took Chaplin's story arc to be representative of in its message was that human life is extremely fragile, but this does not mean that humans are just wind in the dust. Chaplin still lets the viewer know that life has meaning in spite of many uncertainties. On the first point, Chaplin incorporates many elements alluding to the precariousness of life throughout many of his scenes. A few examples of this would be when a bear follows him on his way to find gold, when Jim Mckay and the outlaw struggle with the gun barrel pointed at Chaplin at all times, and finally when Big Jim chases after him with a gun thinking he is a chicken. All of these scenarios represent Chaplin's message of the frailty of life as at any moment, Chaplin's character could easily have been mauled or shot, putting an abrupt end to his story on Earth. While all the aforementioned scenes are important in illustrating this point, none of them get across the extreme thematic significance of McKay and Chaplin in a house on the edge of a cliff, completely unaware. The way their lives could end at any moment with them being blissfully ignorant is an obvious allegory to the real world problems of things like gun violence where people's lives can end unexpectedly. This one scene, while comic, displays to full effect the fragility of humanity and how people go through life unwise to that fact. Despite Chaplin's continued hammering of this gloomy concept into his viewers' minds, he provides a more optimistic follow up theme, that despite humanity's frailty, their existence can have meaning. This is most notably on display towards the end of the movie when Chaplin's character becomes and multi-millionaire and gets together with his love. The final scene of the movie shows Chaplin's character with pure contentment, which indicates that despite some of Chaplin's themes and cynicism about human fragility; he really does believe that humans can work to find meaning at some level in their lives, giving hope to humanity for a meaningful existence.
ReplyDeleteIn The Gold Rush by Charlie Chaplin the Tramp must survive the dangerous conditions of Alaska in search of gold and fame. Along the way he has to survived winds that can move houses, a bear, and trying to find love. Just like the original prospectors in the 1900’s entering the wilderness of Alaska in search of gold was not an easy life, the extreme conditions and very little human settlement. The tradeoff provided by the chance that they could strike rich with finding gold and be set for life. To attain wealth, we as humans will go to almost any length and for any reason just like Chaplin’s character, he is willing to except hardship from all kinds of sources, from the environment and other people. That means being chased by a man who thinks he is a chicken, or nearly getting blown of a cliff. We will do almost anything to ensure our future and live the American dream which is reinforced in the film with Chaplin’s trials and tribulations ultimately concluding with a successful ending where he finds his gold and his girl. We as people try to find the best way to live our life, for the Tramps that means braving the wilderness in hopes of being able to live the rest of his life in Vanity. He clearly values the material side of life, buying presents for New Years Eve and at the end of the movie dressing opulently while smoking cigars. For him life is a vanity that must be either attained or won, a common sensibility at the time. The Gold Rush depicts the struggles of a determined man as he sets out to find his wealth and live his life, along the way he faces much adversity but always overcomes. The film shows us the possibility, the idea that we all can get what we want if we just work hard enough.
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