Topic > Humor in Charles Chaplin's The Great Dictator

Ray Bradbury said: “the only answer to most of the destruction, dishonor and dissolution of the world is a sense of humor. …So in the face of totalitarian regimes and the madness they inflict on the world, courage is not enough, you have to be able to laugh in their face, throw your head back and say: “You don't count, I'll discount you in this way, I'll give you laughter ever. The big laugh of acceptance that melts you.” I agree with her, because using humor as a means to call attention to such a situation was the best way, and the best example is The Great Dictator. The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin, 'The Great Dictator'), is a comedy film in which Chaplin used humor as a way to tell a situation or story. Chaplin forced the audience to face Nazi reality, and was a way to call attention to the rise of fascism in Europe. The comedy evoked sympathy, and it's the best way to attack anything as a dictatorial regime, they can't stand it and people can laugh at it. Courage doesn't do it but laughter does. Many anti-fascists made serious arguments against Hitler, but Charlie Chaplin responded to the deadly threat posed by the Nazis differently, he used humor to highlight the absurdity and hypocrisy of the message. Where instead, the historian Gitta Sereny, thinks that associating humor with people like Hitler and belittling them is dangerous and should not be done, and says that Hitler was a very serious man and was fine, so Chaplin shouldn't have done something like The great dictator. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Author Robert Cole said: “When Chaplin began The Great Dictator in 1937 he was convinced that fascism was leading Europe towards war. However, public opinion in Britain and the United States still believed that war could be avoided, in the former case by appeasing the fascist dictators and in the latter by following a policy of isolationism. Furthermore, political propaganda remained in bad odor due to its abuses during World War I, and censorship on both sides of the Atlantic discouraged any overt propaganda content in films. From the beginning Chaplin was under pressure either to ensure that the images and message of his film were inoffensive to Hitler and Mussolini, which meant eliminating any element of anti-fascist propaganda, or to abandon the project altogether.” Chaplin was aware of the situation at the time and understood the elements of mass persuasion and how comedy can manipulate the emotions and beliefs of the viewer. Chaplin's goal was to appeal to viewers in Germany and Italy, but especially in Germany under Hitler. Chaplin understood the power of comedy and cinema designed for a mass audience. Using the barber and the dictator to represent the duality of good and evil. Chaplin painted the characters boringly, so it would not have been possible to blur the distinction between good and evil. All the scenes in The Great Dictator evoked so many different emotions, fear, love, hate and humor, these emotions elaborated the central purpose of Chaplin's filming. parties in the conflict of good versus evil. The film was full of heroes and villains fighting evil. For example, the chapter about life in the ghetto, with the barber's girlfriend helping him hit the soldier with the frying pan, is a comedy but it gave us an idea of ​​how to distinguish good from evil. These images, like the chapter on life in the ghetto, were an example to emphasize the appeal to emotions that is the essence of cinematic propaganda. Role.