After watching and
discussing The Gold Rush, our group has
agreed that Charlie Chaplin mastered the art of silent film making. Charlie Chaplin was not only the main
character in this silent, black and white film produced in 1925, but it was
written and produced by him as well.
While a silent
film can include music and captions to help guide the plot, most of the
audience’s interpretation comes from the actors and props. Our group believes that Chaplin does a
perfect job of keeping the viewers focused without the use of words
spoken. Instead of words, Chaplin uses dramatic
facial expressions, body language, and hand gestures. These physical aspects allow us to understand
feelings, emotions, and relationships without hearing dialogue. The Lone Prospector’s face tells us exactly how
he is feeling about Georgia at the moment, just by the exaggerated way he looks
at her. Another example of Chaplin’s
silent brilliance is the dinner scene when he entertains the women and the
audience with his dance “Oceana Roll” dinner performance. Our whole class was laughing and he didn’t
speak a word.
The slapstick and
irony of the film is also enhanced by the silence, evident in the caption that
reads “Speech, speech!” However, the
audience knows they would not be able to hear any sort of speech. This silence allows our attention to be focused
on the props. Chaplin carefully selects
props to be in each scene. These various
props potentially foreshadow future events.
For example, the paper compass allows us to infer that Chaplin is ill
prepared for his gold search and he is lost from the very beginning of the film.
Although Chaplin’s
priority in Alaska is striking gold, we are also able to follow an entire unexpected
love story, on the side, between The Lone Prospector and Georgia without voices
to lead us. Chaplin is able to show us
how true Georgia’s love for The Lone Prospector is, at the end, with Chaplin’s
modest outfit change. Love is easy to
get across with words. However, taking
on more of a challenge, in this silent film Chaplin must present their love
through their gestures and facial expression alone.
Chaplin’s use of
cross-cutting also displays his brilliance in this film. He is able to avoid resulting to captions
such as “meanwhile.” Although
cross-cutting is not just used in silent films, it is more important it seems
in this movie since there are few other hints to show the audience that those two
events are happening at the same time.
For example, when the wind is violently blowing the snow around in a
storm, the camera goes back and forth from The Lone Prospector to Big Jim McKay
and back again showing us that these two events are happening simultaneously.
The music chosen
for this movie also acts as a cue for the audience to realize plot movement in
a different direction. Since there are
no words, even in the music, we are able to use Chaplin’s choice of music as
guidance. When the music gets loud and speeds up we know
that something dramatic is occurring.
For example, the music used in the scene in the cabin with the gun
speeds up, presenting almost a circus atmosphere because everywhere Chaplin
seems to turn the gun is accidentally pointed at him, even under the table. The music almost acts the characters’ voice
inflections. Chaplin allows the music to
take the place of his words. In films
that aren’t silent, music is important as well, but in The Gold Rush and other silent films, it does not just accompany
the action and words, it has a much bigger role.
In The Gold Rush Charlie Chaplin is able to
masterfully incorporate history, a complex plot, and pure entertainment. A difficult aspect of directing and acting in
this movie, we think, is that silence leaves room for interpretation. Being able to get a point across to audiences
as a whole and have them understand the same plot while getting the same
message is difficult in a movie that doesn’t allow for dialogue. Overall, we
think that Charlie Chaplin shows us that actions do indeed speak louder than
words.
I completely agree with your opening statement that Charlie Chaplin has mastered the art of silent filmmaking. He does a great job of facial expressions so the audiences can understand the feelings of the Lone Prospect. Just as you said in your post Chaplin uses facial expression to show how much he loves Georgia. In the movie the Lone Prospect doesn’t just use facial expressions to express his love for Georgia. Chaplin uses movements to show the Lone Prospects love for Georgia. In the bar scene when he thinks Georgia loves him he climbs a wall and railing to get to her when he could have taken the stairs. Once he is upstairs with her he begins to grab at his heart and kiss her hand over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Chaplin’s prop selection played and important in helping the audience understand the personality of each character. Such as with Big Jim Mckay his name even displays that Mckay is a big shot and knows what he is doing. Also, his big fur coat shows to the audience that Jim Mckay is prepared for the weather where the Lone Prospect is in a suit and hat just wondering through the snow. One of the best props in the move was the table in the middle of the cabin. In the cabin scene Chaplin has the table being moved all over the cabin as Black Larson and Jim Mckay fight over the gun. This is done to keep the audiences eyes constantly moving around so they won’t get bored just watching three characters sit in a cabin.
In the end I have found that I agree with every statement mentioned in the post above and that many of your points can be found in almost every scene in the movie. With the combination of props, facial expression, and movement Chaplin is able to create a timeless movie that can be appreciated by future generations to come.
Eric Shacklette
In the Gold Rush, Chaplin is a "jack of all trades". Not only is he staring as one of the main characters he is also wrote and produced the film. This shows he is the master of silent films. Body language, props, and facial expressions are key in understanding the film. The main purpose of the film is about Chaplin going to the gold strike in Alaska. But he somehow guides us to in unexpected love story between the Lone Prospector and Georgia. Chaplin shows love through facial expressions and gestures instead of using dialogue. Along with facial expressions and gestures music is key in this film. The music guides through plot movement. Music takes the place of words and shows what is going on in a scene. For example, if the scene is dramatic the music would speed up. Music acts as words and movement. It plays a big role in silent films. Chaplin uses props to help tell what is going on in a scene without using words. He carefully selects props to be in each scene. For example some props help to foreshadow future events in the film. An example of prop foreshadowing is Chaplin having the paper compass which showed he was not prepared for the gold search. Chaplin is good about showing that two events were happening at the same time without having to rely on captions. I agree with Group three saying that acting and directing in this movie would be difficult. I also agree that Chaplin does prove that actions do speak louder than words.
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