Feldman, Stuart. "At the Movies: Business Gets a Bad Rap." Management Review. 81 (1992): 49-54.
This article discusses Hollywood's portrayal of big businesses over time. Generally Hollywood has portrayed big businesses in a negative light and Modern Times is no exception. Scholars suggest that this may be the case due to the nature of filmmakers and more liberal and critical of big businesses. This negative depiction portrays back to the 1930s with Chaplin's film. The article describes scenes in which company tycoon interact with the workers. He has a large screen that surveys them as they work and can easily make sure they stay in line. Even when Chaplin's character is take a break in the bathroom, he is ordered (via gian screen) to get back to work.
This relates to my thesis because it helps to highlight why Chaplin and others would have this critical opinion on big businesses born out of the industrialization period. The authority figure has complete control and domination over the workers every move. There is no employee-employer relationship (other than through a large screen) and employees are thought of as numbers. They are tolerated when they are working, but once they step out of line they are punished. This punisment forces workers to stay in line with everyone else further perpetuating homogeneity.
tagged businesses chaplin large modern of portrayal times by mikelle ...on 02-DEC-08


