Charlie Chaplin Movies

(Instructions from Jovir:

Writing in Persona

Another exercise to stir your imagination. Put yourself in the persona of either a: Deaf, Mute, Deaf-mute, Cripple, or Blind person. Write a poem or prose about a great experience in your life and how you went through that experience under the disability you’ve chosen.  Fire away, 200 words minimum…)    

An opening scene shows several soldiers standing at attention, firearms in tow. A company commander belts out a command and the soldiers lay down their arms. The shortest soldier—bowlegged and sporting a toothbrush mustache not unlike Hitler’s– has problems handling his firearm, causing him to slam down the butt of his rifle on the foot of the soldier to his left. The latter grimaces, and grabs his foot in agony. At once the audience in the theater erupts in laughter.

Silent laughter.

 

This is a scene from Charlie Chaplin’s Shoulder Arms. Chaplin, who was famously known for his most memorable on-screen character The Tramp, was a master at using exaggerated gestures and slapstick comedy to wow his audience.  He could give any competent mime or clown that’s worth his salt a run for his money.

 

I have watched all of Chaplin’s movies and they have never failed to elicit laughter from me.

 

I prefer silent films– like Chaplin’s –to talkies. Of course in my case, all films, even talkies—are silent films. Exaggeration and slapstick evoke a lot more emotion from me.

 

An exception would be films with subtitles: foreign flicks in English subtitles or DVD movies (both pirated and not). Never mind the grammatically inferior captions.

 

Books and comics can also do the trick.

 

But give me Charlie Chaplin movies anytime.

 

Just expect a lot of silent laughter.