Modern Times and Charlie Chaplin, are especially suited for the silent film genre because of Chaplin's brand of comedy, which is very eccentric body and hand gestures. Actors who worked in silent films were theatrical and dramatic. In talkies, the actors don't have to rely so much on their facial expressions or their crazy physical comedy. Talkies and the actors who star in them can accentuate the dialogue more to convey a message than just relying on the physical aspects, as seen in Chaplin films. Chaplin is great at doing physical comedy. Trying to integrate talking into his mostly silent film just felt forced and I could tell that Chaplin was not only making fun of the talkie age but he was, I believe, trying to say that silent films are much better.
The scene in which Chaplin is "singing" is one of the most satirical scenes of the talkie age. Throughout the movie, authority figures are talking and trying to control Chaplin's Tramp but it is to both The Tramp's benefit and to Chaplin's that he cannot be controlled. It is reinforced in the film that talkies are not that great because dialogue is overrated. Chaplin exhibits this by singing gibberish. Chaplin is skewering the talkie age and at the same time, Modern Times becomes one of the most notable silent films of the age because Chaplin does not sacrifice his comedy for the sound of dialogue and talking in his movie. The only scene in which his main character talks or makes any vocal sound at all is when he sings gibberish. Making the authority figures the talking ones magnifies the idea that Chaplin and other silent film stars feel stifled within their creativity by talkies.
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