When it comes to Charles Chaplin, a suit-dressed man who always holds a stick and wears a bowler hat goes into my sight. He will smilingly take off his hat to someone or wear his oversize shoes to walk like a duck. So at this time, I’m willing to introduce a silent film--Modern Times, directed and acted by Chaplin in 1936.
谈到查理·卓别林，我总会想到那个穿着绅士的西装，拄着手杖，头戴圆礼帽，不论窘迫与否，都要稍稍脱帽微笑致敬的身影，或是一个踩着大码的鞋，正经地踏着鸭子步的身影。因此这次给大家介绍卓别林在1936年自导自演的默片《摩登时代》。
Modern Times reveals the destiny of an alienated nobody in the era of large-scale machine industry. The story happened when the US was suffering the Great Depression, in 1920s. Chaplin acted a wretched worker named Charles, and he was forced to tighten screws on the assembly line where he went crazy till the end. Charles’ destiny had to do with people’s survival crisis which was brought by the economic crisis. He sought job all the time but always failed--he was out of workplace and went into jail. In his roughest time, Charles preferred to go back to jail because it seemed better than the hopeless society. Then, Charles rescued a wanderer. She was a beautiful girl and also a baguette thief, and they decided to live together, supporting and loving each other. Finally, when Charles found a steady job, two policemen, taking a warrant, was about to arrest the girl. In the end, after they fled from the arrest, Charles comforted the girl and they went into their future smilingly. The last scene was so warm and impressive that it still shined in an iced industrial age, with the light of humanity.
《摩登时代》描述一个被大机器工业时代异化的小人物命运。故事发生在美国二十年代经济萧条时期，卓别林饰演工业社会中的一名不幸工人查理，他在流水线上扭紧螺丝钉，直扭到发了疯，而这与当时的经济危机给人们带来的生存危机有着密切的联系。查理多次找工作却多次失业，多次入狱，在最艰难的时刻，查理甚至愿意回到监狱，似乎比现实要更美好的监狱。之后查理在街头搭救了一位美丽的偷面包的流浪女，两人决定相濡以沫共同生活下去。而当查理最终找到了一份稳定的工作时，警察带着通缉令，要抓走流浪女。电影的最后两人逃过了追捕，查理安慰着伤心的孤女，两人最终微笑着走向未来。场景温馨感人，在冰冷的工业化时代焕发着人性的光辉。
What impressed me most was the last scene. The girl sit at the roadside, being heartbreaking about unemployment and arrest, as if she couldn’t see the hope. She denied herself tearfully,“What's the use of trying?”However, Charles told her decidedly, “Buck up! Never say die. We’ll get along!” When they was about to set out, Charles glanced at girl’s worried and serious expression. He stopped and gesticulated a rising arc at his face，which seemed to encourage her to smile. Then they set out again, with their most confident and confirmed smile. That was the forever warmness in Chaplin’s comedy : even at this hopeless depression time and without a way out, even the dark society forcing Charles to the bedlam, then to the jail, he still taught us to buck up and smile. There is nothing new under the sun--our society is the same as his. The 996 working system makes men and women suffering, children in the kindergarten fell compelled under the fierce educational competition, and so on. There is nothing but pressure in our life, but Chaplin--a homeless poor man, who was suffering on the bottom of the Great Depression and catching an unpromising future--told us that buck up and smile.
最令我难忘的是最后一幕。女主角坐在路边，对于失业、被追捕非常伤心，连希望也难以看到。她心碎地否定自己：“努力有什么用！”而查理用最坚定的语气告诉她：“振作起来！不要放弃，一切都会好的！”当他们准备时启程时，查理看到女孩愁苦严肃的面容，他停下来，在脸上轻轻划下一个向上弧度，告诉她，要微笑。于是两人带着最自信最坚定的笑容上路了。这便是在卓别林喜剧中永远都能感受得到的温暖，哪怕是在穷人看不到出路、机会渺茫的大萧条时代，在社会把查理逼进了精神病院、监狱之后，他还是告诉我们，要振作、要微笑。太阳底下，并无新事。我们所处的时代何尝不是这样？996工作制让职场上的男人女人有苦难言，激烈的教育竞争更是直逼向幼儿园里的孩童......生活中无处不用压力，可是卓别林——一个生活尚无保障的穷人，站在经济大萧条时代的最底层，前路还似雾里看花——告诉我们，要振作、要微笑。
Although Modern Times is a silent film, it doesn’t mean bore and dull. Its interests not only depend on talented actors and actresses, but also the background music on the film. He designed lots of background music in his films, which was related to his childhood environment: his parents were singers on the theater, so he was impacted unconsciously and learned to sing and dance easily, and then he began to learn music systematically. Although he gave up learning music after he grew up, he still thought that “music entered my soul”. His music coordinates actors’ action successfully--sometimes it flows smoothly， while at other time, it flows hurriedly. Truth be told, the film connected music and performance perfectly.
虽然《摩登时代》是一部默片，但并不意味着枯燥乏味。它的有趣不仅取决于一众演员生动的演技，更离不开电影里的背景音乐。卓别林电影中的音乐大半是他自己设计的，这和他小时的环境有关：卓别林的父母都是剧院的歌手，他从小就在家庭的影响下学会了唱歌跳舞，之后开始接受正规的音乐训练。尽管他之后放弃了音乐，但他常始终认为“音乐早已融入了我的灵魂”。《摩登时代》里的背景音乐配合着演员的行动，时而舒缓时而急促，真正做到了能将音乐与表演天衣无缝的结合。
Through Modern Times, we can come back to that iced mechanical time, but it’s still full of humanity. We can see a gentle man, Chaplin, who lives in the black-and-white silent film.
如果有闲情，我们真的可以通过《摩登时代》穿越回那个机械冰冷却又不乏人情的时代，看看那位一直活在黑白默片里的绅士，卓别林。
Time:2020-1-3
