City Lights Notes - Summary of above mentioned movie PDF

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Summary of above mentioned movie...

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City Lights (1931, directed/written/music composed by Charlie Chaplin) Comedy with elements of drama Timeless due to the Tramp’s dignity and wonder in the face of indignity Main characters - Actors A Blind Girl - Virginia Cherrill A Tramp - Charlie Chaplin An Eccentric Millionaire - Harry Myers Use of indefinite a/an articles to create a sense of universality about the film’s narrative

Use of unintelligible dialogue to mock the bureaucracy of the statue dedication scene (an appeal to the middle/lower class audience of the film; clownish presentation as indicative of bureaucrats’ lack of substance) Irony of the homeless Tramp sleeping in the peace and prosperity statue (commentary on social class) Use of the national anthem as commentary on the demands of patriotism and nationalism (think 1930s and Chaplin’s own struggles with citizenship) Logic and morality as ignored in the world happening around the Tramp (think the constant background movements within the storefront scene) The Tramp constantly skates the edge of disaster (ie. literally in the Modern Times toystore sequence or figuratively in the riverside scene); the diegesis as playground-esque, inciting the reactionary behavior of the Tramp Ability to easily empathize with both the Tramp and the Blind Girl Ending as a tour de force display of acting (think the eye movements and the Blind Girl’s tears);

role reversal, defection from norms to surmount in the emotional moment of being seen Potential lack of closure from double cross-fade (one for each character)...