Grade A Horror

The Shining is a unique horror film. The fear in this film is inherently real, playing on the feelings of isolation, claustrophobia, a touch of possession and a decent amount of insanity for good measure. Based off of Stephen King’s novel, Stanley Kubrick takes the horror film to the next level in this disturbing portrayal of a Colorado hotel and the family that is driven to shear madness inside its walls, during a horrific winter season. Jack Torrance the antagonist of the film is driven to madness by the ghosts of The Overlook Hotel but particularly by a father just like himself, Delbert Grady, who chopped his family up into pieces, stacked them neatly in Room 237 and then took his own life. The tale of Grady is relayed early in the film and therefore gives the audience the privilege of foreshadowing; we can recognize early on that the stint with the Torrance family is going to look a lot like the life of the Grady clan. This early sneak peek of the film heightens our sense of fear. We begin to wonder, when will Jack go crazy; slowly but surely the process unfolds and with the constant howling of the wind outside, the extravagant and lavish hotel inside, morphs for Jack and the audience into a cage of madness.

In The Shining, the never ending carpets, the creaky wood floors, the drastically colored rooms and the high-key lighting, very unusual for a horror film, call out the inner mad man in each of its specters. Though its likely most of the audience would not be driven to murder their family while living inside of a hotel, the film cast a shadow of claustrophobia begging the question; would we be alright if we had to stay in The Overlook Hotel? We just like Wendy and Danny, have no place to escape from the snow, the ghosts or from Jack.  Kubrick amps up the idea of isolation and claustrophobia to almost suffocating proportions. In the brilliant tracking scenes of Danny at the end of the film when running within the hedge maze on the hotel’s property we can see nothing but hedges and snow giving the feeling of cabin fever, making us wonder will we along with Danny and Wendy make it out alive? Enhanced by Jack Nicholson’s superb acting, The Shining is a glowing example of what really makes people shrivel in fright. 

Psychological Horror

Scholars often refer to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980) as a germinal example of psychological horror.  Though this is an oversimplification, Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror that manipulates characters' fears and emotional instability in order to create tension and dread in viewers.  In short, most films of this type focus on what is going on inside the mind of an often unstable character.  And many of the characters in psychological horror films are decidedly archetypal, meaning they reflect the kinds of archaic patterns and images that derive from humanity's collective unconscious.  You will see these characters explore or indulge in the kinds of behavior that most individuals work hard to suppress.  They very often explore fears that can be easily understood by a wide range of individuals; in other words, it may be very easy for viewers to relate to the fears and anxieties embodied in psychological horror films.  Discuss how you see The Shining fitting this definition of psychological horror? How does it compare to other horror films you've watched? 

Modern Times

While I do not know much about silent films, it would seem that because sound was not always available, that the physical representations of words through acting would've been a central aspect of films without sound.  This is representative especially by Chaplin as his movements, facial and body expressions are often exaggerated, seemingly meant two-fold as an attention grabber as well as to convey meaning.  A good example of this at work in his film, Modern Times, is during his work on the factory line.  Once Chaplin stops working, his body continues to "work" and while the audience understands this represents the consuming of the worker by his work, we are dually entertained by Chaplin's humorously sporadic movements.

Sound in Chaplin's film is isolated to those characters who represent power and when the conveyance of mood is necessary  Typically in a "talkie", the focus of body movement shifts to emphasize what is being said rather than using physical characterisitcs to convey meaning.  At this point, audience members are encouraged to analyze implicit meanings of speech rather than actions.  Aside from providint context, those who have the privelege to speak in Modern Times really do not say anyghing that carries importance to the storyline and therefore their roles remain to inform rather than to give insight into the story.  For example, an important scene in this film is when Chaplin must sing at the cafe and what he recites instead makes no sense to the audience, yet they idiotically laugh and enjoy the performance regardless.  As he recites, his movement become repetitive and his expressions monotonous. As we do not understand what he is saying as well as his lack of physical cues leave us in the dark and so it is possible Chaplin is making his own commentary on the value of acting regardless of speech as speech is not always central to the story.

Chaplin does an excellent job of combining the elements of sound and action in a way that means something--both to him and his viewers.

Modern Times - Function of Sound

As a viewer I saw sound functioning in a variety of ways in Chaplin’s Modern Times. A lack of dialogue caused me to automatically focus in on the music that accompanied each scene. For example, scenes of Chaplin working on the assembly line were accompanied with music that changed tempo depending on how fast Chaplin was moving. When he would get distracted and suddenly get behind on tightening bolts and would have to rush to catch up the music indicated this frantic with an increase in tempo. Another way I saw sound functioning in the film was when the factory boss appeared on the big screens to order the factory workers around. Dialogue in any form was extremely limited in the film, therefore when the factory boss does talk it is very significant to the film and illustrates the power that the boss possesses. The viewer’s understanding of the bosses significance and power is largely due to the fact that he has a speaking part in the film. This is something that can only be achieved with silent films because dialogue is more present in “talkies” and therefore does not hold the same significance that we see it having in Modern Times. I also noticed the use of sound when Chaplin was strapped into the feeding machine. As Chaplin was machine fed corn on the cob there was sound effect that was added into the scene for dramatic effect. Perhaps the most interesting function of sound is realized in one of the final scenes of the film in which Chaplin sings at the club. In the scene Chaplin opens his mouth and sings nothing but gibberish. This use of sound is significant because it is Chaplin’s way of mocking sound films, which were becoming increasingly popular around the time this film was released. Overall I think Modern Times is incredibly successful as a silent film. The comedy is simply enough that it does not have to rely on the use of dialogue to tell the story; instead Chaplin uses exaggerated gestures and facial expressions to successfully translate his story to an audience.   

Modern Times

Sound plays a different role in Chaplin’s Modern Times than we have come to expect from the “talkies” we are used to today.  In Chaplin’s film, sound is used in rare instances for comedic effect (sounds effects, such as when he’s tightening all the wrong bolts), and also in a way to demonstrate power. This can be noted in the beginning when we only hear the factory boss, or in instances of hearing the radio, in which case one could argue the idea that the newsman was creating the news, and that was inferring an expression of power. It is also played with when the Tramp sings in complete gibberish. His content-with-himself state of being can be interpreted as power, but at the same time, he takes this power, and by speaking gibberish, some may say fumbles it. However, this is not the case, he in fact was a success with his gibberish singing. (Much like Chaplin himself in the making of Modern Times if you think about it).

         Chaplin’s comedy relies heavily on subtleties, which makes it so well suited to silent film. His facial expressions, his actions and his setting are what make his comedy shine. We don’t need sound to chuckle at him tightening the buttons on a woman’s skirt; his expressions are enough to make us laugh. He uses such exaggerated actions; they do the talking for him. Chaplin is still able to hold on to this talent even in a partial sound film. He uses sound tastefully, only adding it where it will add to the action, rather than distract from his own special brand of comedy.

Chaplin's Silent Success

Charlie Chaplin's film Modern Times is a perfect example of having a film give a complete understandable story while also being mostly silent. There are few times in the film when sound is actually heard. It is played from the boss yelling at his employees, the feeding machine, and sound effects of everyday objects. Very little speech is ever heard. We learn to read the characters facial expressions and sound effects to understand the story. The purpose of this film is too get the audience is more involved. The audience has to pay close attention to understand what’s happening. This film is well suited to a silent film because Chaplin is so great at expressions and making a film without sounds. Chaplin is talented enough to make a film that does not require sound. 

Chaplin's Silent Perfection

Charlie Chaplin, the king of comedy, was a master of silence. His slapstick humor wrought with outrageous facial expressions along with huge and exaggerated movement did not suffer from silence but thrived because of it. If noise would have been added to Chaplin’s work, his humor, his exaggerated nature and crazy antics would have crossed from hilarious to annoying. Modern Times reflects this. In a time when sound was the newest fad, Chaplin recognized that a good silent film was more valuable than a poorly crafted talkie.

Chaplin however, did utilized sound in an inventive and refreshing way as the star, writer and director of Modern Times. His foreboding factory boss spoke clearly and assertively in the beginning of the film but the typical sounds of a Chaplin film are what really shine. The score, the wacky sounds as Chaplin consumes corn on the cob while being fed by a futuristic machine, along with the heralded song he performs at the end is the perfect balance in an age when the invention of sound-on –film dominated the theaters. Silence is golden in the case of Chaplin and Modern Times.