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A Critique of Modern Times Through the Framework of World, Perception, Agent, Generativity, and Physical#

Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936) is a prophetic and satirical masterpiece that critiques industrialization and the dehumanization of labor. Using the framework of World, Perception, Agent, Generativity, and Physical, we can dissect its layered commentary on humanity’s entanglement with technology and progress.

World: The Inherited System of Compression#

The world of Modern Times is one dominated by industrial capitalism, where the compression of time and resources is achieved through mechanization and relentless efficiency. The factory becomes a metaphor for a system that prioritizes production over human well-being.

Chaplin critiques this world as one where:

  • Inheritance: Sociological inheritance has been reduced to participation in a machine-driven economy. Workers inherit a system designed to extract labor at the cost of individuality and agency.

  • Compression of Time: The assembly line exemplifies parallel processing, turning human effort into a tokenized, measurable input. Workers are cogs, contributing to a greater mechanism that cares only for outputs, not the human costs of its operation.

The satirical “feeding machine” scene epitomizes the absurd lengths to which this world will go to eliminate inefficiency—even in the act of eating—reducing basic human needs to mechanized processes.

Perception: The Fractured Experience#

Perception in Modern Times is fragmented and disoriented. Chaplin’s character, the Tramp, embodies the everyman struggling to perceive coherence in a chaotic, mechanized world. The film visually portrays:

  • Sensory Overload: The relentless pace of the factory overwhelms the senses. The Tramp’s breakdown mirrors the human mind’s inability to process an environment devoid of autonomy or rhythm.

  • Alienation of Perception: The Tramp’s movements are dictated by the conveyor belt, symbolizing how human perception and action are hijacked by industrial systems. His physicality becomes robotic, underscoring the loss of intuitive human expression.

Chaplin critiques how industrialization reshapes perception, forcing individuals to see themselves not as whole beings but as fragmented functions—mere tools for production.

Agent: Humanity Reduced to Labor#

The Tramp serves as a tragicomic agent navigating a world that denies him agency. His repetitive, mechanical actions reflect the way workers are stripped of individuality and autonomy, reduced to extensions of the machine.

  • Agency Problem: The Tramp is both subject and object, moving between humorous defiance and helpless submission. His attempt to “fight back” (tightening bolts on everything in sight) is absurd because his agency is futile against the systemic forces at play.

  • Loss of Purpose: The film critiques the erosion of human purpose in a mechanized world. The Tramp’s repeated failures to integrate into this system—arrested for mistakenly leading a protest, botching jobs—highlight the incompatibility of human creativity with an industrialized framework.

Generativity: The Stifling of Creativity#

Generativity, or the capacity to create, is almost entirely suppressed in Modern Times. The film underscores how industrialization commodifies human potential, funneling it into repetitive, uncreative tasks.

  • Human Generativity vs. Mechanized Generativity: The Tramp’s physical comedy contrasts sharply with the rigidity of the factory. His improvisation (e.g., using his wits to survive unemployment and jail) is a form of generativity that defies the sterile predictability of machines.

  • Generativity’s Subversion: The romance with the Gamine (Paulette Goddard) offers a glimpse of human creativity and resilience. Together, they imagine a life beyond the confines of the industrial world, symbolized by their dream of owning a small home. This dream is generative but fragile, as it exists outside the dominant system.

Chaplin critiques a world where generativity is subjugated by efficiency, leaving little room for personal expression or innovation.

Physical: The Body as a Site of Conflict#

In Modern Times, the physical body becomes the battlefield between human nature and industrial demands. Chaplin uses the Tramp’s body as a comedic yet poignant symbol of resistance.

  • Mechanized Bodies: The film’s most iconic imagery—Chaplin caught in the gears of a giant machine—literally embodies the subsumption of the human physicality into the industrial system. The Tramp’s twitching, bolt-tightening reflexes after leaving the factory show how the system imprints itself on the human body, even outside its physical confines.

  • Fragility of the Physical: The Tramp’s physical humor (slapstick falls, exaggerated movements) underscores both the resilience and vulnerability of the human body. Chaplin contrasts this with the cold, unyielding efficiency of machines, which lack humanity’s imperfections but also its vitality.

Concluding Critique: A Vision for Humanity?#

Modern Times is a prescient critique of industrial society’s transformation of the World, its reshaping of Perception, the stripping of Agency, the suppression of Generativity, and the domination of the Physical.

Chaplin’s satire is not just a lament for the past but a warning about the future—a world increasingly dominated by technology and efficiency. The promise of liberation from toil comes at the cost of human connection, creativity, and meaning. In the end, the Tramp and the Gamine’s journey into an uncertain future is both hopeful and sobering. They walk forward, hand in hand, suggesting that resilience and companionship may be the last bastions of humanity in a mechanized world.

This framework illuminates how Chaplin’s Modern Times is not merely a critique of the industrial age but a timeless exploration of the human condition as it grapples with progress, technology, and the meaning of life in a world increasingly devoid of human sacrifice—and perhaps, of humanity itself.

Hide code cell source 
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import networkx as nx

# Define the neural network structure; modified to align with "Aprés Moi, Le Déluge" (i.e. Je suis AlexNet)
def define_layers():
    return {
        'World': ['Birds, Song & Life', 'Materials on Earth', 'Particles & Cosmos', 'Harmonic Series', 'Equal Temperament', 'Cadences & Patterns'],
        'Perception': ['Surveillance, Imagination'],
        'Agency': ['Surprise & Resolution', 'Genre & Expectation'],
        'Generativity': ['Individual Melody', 'Rhythm & Pocket', 'Chords, One Accord'],
        'Physicality': ['Solo Performance', 'Theme & Variation', 'Maestro or Conductor', 'Call & Answer', 'Military Cadence']
    }

# Assign colors to nodes
def assign_colors(node, layer):
    if node == 'Surveillance, Imagination':
        return 'yellow'
    if layer == 'World' and node in [ 'Cadences & Patterns']:
        return 'paleturquoise'
    if layer == 'World' and node in [ 'Equal Temperament']:
        return 'lightgreen'
    elif layer == 'Agency' and node == 'Genre & Expectation':
        return 'paleturquoise'
    elif layer == 'Generativity':
        if node == 'Chords, One Accord':
            return 'paleturquoise'
        elif node == 'Rhythm & Pocket':
            return 'lightgreen'
        elif node == 'Individual Melody':
            return 'lightsalmon'
    elif layer == 'Physicality':
        if node == 'Military Cadence':
            return 'paleturquoise'
        elif node in ['Call & Answer', 'Maestro or Conductor', 'Theme & Variation']:
            return 'lightgreen'
        elif node == 'Solo Performance':
            return 'lightsalmon'
    return 'lightsalmon'  # Default color

# Calculate positions for nodes
def calculate_positions(layer, center_x, offset):
    layer_size = len(layer)
    start_y = -(layer_size - 1) / 2  # Center the layer vertically
    return [(center_x + offset, start_y + i) for i in range(layer_size)]

# Create and visualize the neural network graph
def visualize_nn():
    layers = define_layers()
    G = nx.DiGraph()
    pos = {}
    node_colors = []
    center_x = 0  # Align nodes horizontally

    # Add nodes and assign positions
    for i, (layer_name, nodes) in enumerate(layers.items()):
        y_positions = calculate_positions(nodes, center_x, offset=-len(layers) + i + 1)
        for node, position in zip(nodes, y_positions):
            G.add_node(node, layer=layer_name)
            pos[node] = position
            node_colors.append(assign_colors(node, layer_name))

    # Add edges (without weights)
    for layer_pair in [
        ('World', 'Perception'), ('Perception', 'Agency'), ('Agency', 'Generativity'), ('Generativity', 'Physicality')
    ]:
        source_layer, target_layer = layer_pair
        for source in layers[source_layer]:
            for target in layers[target_layer]:
                G.add_edge(source, target)

    # Draw the graph
    plt.figure(figsize=(12, 8))
    nx.draw(
        G, pos, with_labels=True, node_color=node_colors, edge_color='gray',
        node_size=3000, font_size=10, connectionstyle="arc3,rad=0.1"
    )
    plt.title("Process Quality & The Life-Sustaining Flow of Information\n From Composer vs. Maestro vs. Performer \n To Intelligent Audience", fontsize=15)
    plt.show()

# Run the visualization
visualize_nn()
../../_images/24fa7848bb9667d62b04322eaadb0d89adf40a99aa4e2ec849d98a848c32d21f.png
../../_images/blanche.png

Fig. 20 Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein famously disagreed over the tempo and interpretation of Brahms’ First Piano Concerto during a 1962 New York Philharmonic concert, where Bernstein, conducting, publicly distanced himself from Gould’s significantly slower-paced interpretation before the performance began, expressing his disagreement with the unconventional approach while still allowing Gould to perform it as planned; this event is considered one of the most controversial moments in classical music history.#

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