In the film, we can only hear the voice few times. The most important languages in the film is by the president and by Chaplin. Firstly, the communication between workers and the factory president is considered language, where the president gave his order to “mechanize” Chaplin and other workers on the assembly line to increase productivity. This form of language or communication indicated the nature of Capitalism at the beginning of 20th century, which the capitalists tried to produce excessive surplus values and kill the ration of the workers at the same time. For example, Chaplin became irrational when he is continuous working on a fast speed and repetitive work. Secondly, the voice presented by Chaplin was through singing in the cafe at the end of the movie. The singing is a way of communicating, and it is also a way of expressing rationality. The singing draws a connection between the beginning and the ending. Chapin was irrational at the beginning due to overwork, and he becomes rational at the end because he can sing by using different types of language to perform. However, no matter how the job has changed, he was still the clown of the rich people.
The language can also found in the form of words appeared on the screen, which indicated the transition from one scene to the next and help the audience to understand the complete story line. The words shown on the screen are not as dramatic as the communication, but we start to know better about the life of employed or unemployed and the situation of the society. The society presented that stay in the jail is better than working in the factory, but working in the factory is better than unemployed and lose a place to stand in the society
The advantage that the silence pantomime has is to convey the meaning of the film by action and moody music. Certainly, without words, the music is the subject of the development of the plot and create the different atmosphere for different situations. Also, we can focus on the plot and action presented by characters. There are significant music and action scene that relate to the social and political issues of that time. When the workers protested, the music was more intense. In my opinion, the strike of the labor force seems useless during that time where the police will arrest the workers and punish them. Police’s action which implicitly indicated that exploiting the workers is the mainstream culture at that time.
I enjoyed your reading of the voice at the top and the Tramp’s move from irrationality (his nervous breakdown) to his rational expression in song. It’s something I’d be curious to hear more about, as the song he sings does seem to edge on the irrational, only insofar that it breaks from the demands of intelligibility that a language makes. It is gibberish, pulling words from every language and making up more along the way. We only understand it (if we do at all) through the dancing and gesturing, which breaks from the form of correct language. In any case, very interesting! Good work. 5/5