Studying the frames in The Great Dictator

Hello friends,

Democracy stands for citizens, fight for their beliefs. Vulgarity, lies and violence have marred the democratic process and animosity between those on the left and the right has become so personal, it’s easy to forget we’re all fighting for the future of the same country.

Even our present time is also fully engaged in ‘the politics of the moment, it’s valuable to look a step back and reflect on the true goals of a democracy. Charlie Chaplin’s speech at the end of ‘The Great Dictator’ provides an excellent road map of how a citizenry can conquer the issues that divide it and how a selfless leader should view the world.

At a time when the world seemed to be crumbling, Chaplin provided a call to action to revive the state of humanity. With the accession of a powerful delivery and a very stimulating emotional proposal, he effectively conjures up the deterioration of liberty and energizes to us to ‘fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.’ 

This frames along with the speech matters today.

Tale of two worlds:

The palace, where dictator Adenoid Hynkel rules and the ghetto- where Jewish barber struggles to make a living and survive.

 

Beginning title

This is followed by a prologue, set in World War I, in which the Jewish Barber fights as patriotic, although ineffective soldier.

This prologue reminds the audience of the malevolence of machines, the horror of war destruction.

 

Ending scene:

The final speech is not given by the Barber character but by Chaplin himself, who urges for peace, tolerance and understanding.

The final speech of ‘The Great Dictator’ remains relevant and  likely will remain valuable in the twenty-first century and as long as conflict corrupts human interaction and dictators stomach.

Hynkel performs a dance with a glob of the world,

This is one of the greatest moment of Chaplin’s satire on Hitler and the rise of dictators is  the scene in which Hynkel performs a dance with a globe of the world. Perhaps this scene requires no words to convey Chaplin’s message. Hynkel performs a graceful, seductive ballet with a balloon globe, a wonderful symbol of his maniacal dream of processing the world for his pleasure. Yet when he believes he has it within his grasp, the bubble literally bursts. This is Chaplin’s symbolic comment on the futility of the dictator’s aspirations and reflects his optimistic belief that dictators will never succeed.