英语专业本科毕业论文论卓别林喜剧电影的主题思想

分类号 编号烟 台 大 学毕 业 论 文A STUDY ON THE THEME OF CHAPLINS COMEDY论卓别林喜剧电影的主题思想申请学位： 文学学士 院 系： 外国语学院 专 业： 英 语 姓 名： 学 号： 指导老师： 二零零九年五月二十八日烟 台ByYang LikunSUPERVISORAssociate Professor Jiang Li Submitted toThe School of Foreign LanguagesIn Partial Fulfillment of the RequirementsFor the Degree of Bachelor of ArtsIn the Department of EnglishYantai UniversityMay 28, 2009 Yantai烟台大学毕业论文（设计）任务书院（系）：外国语学院姓名学号200503501076毕业届别2009专业英语毕业论文（设计）题目论卓别林喜剧电影的主题思想指导教师学历硕士职称副教授所学专业英语语言文学具体要求(主要内容、基本要求、主要参考资料等)：杨丽坤同学的论文写作从第七学期的第15周到第八学期的13周周末结束。论文的长度至少4000字左右英语单词。论文应涉及有关卓别林喜剧电影的主题思想的内容。需充分利用图书馆及网络资源查阅相关材料。论文必须包括引言（Introduction）、正文、结语（Conclusion）。在整个论文写作过程中应与指导老师姜莉保持联系，按照烟大外院英语专业本科毕业论文写作规范的要求以及老师的指导按时完成论文写作和提交论文。论文需立论正确，论据充分，结论严谨合理，文理通顺。论文应用电脑排版打印，按照封面、扉页、任务书、致谢、英文摘要、中文摘要、目录、正文、参考文献、指导老师评审表、评阅人评审表、烟台大学毕业论文答辩评审表、封底的顺序装订好后提交论文指导老师。进度安排：1 第七学期第十五周：学生提交论文题目。2 第八学期第一周：学生提交开题报告（中文）和提交论文提纲（英文）。3 第八学期第三周：学生提交论文初稿（不少于4000字）。4 第八学期第十三周末：学生提交定稿。5 第八学期第十五周末：学生论文答辩。指导教师（签字）： 2009年3月3日院（系）意见： 教学院长（主任）（签字）： 年 月 日备注：烟台大学毕业论文ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSFirstly, I have been most indebted to Professor Jiang Li, my respectable supervisor. Ive always been constantly receiving Professor Jiangs generous help. She does not only influence me intellectually and academically but also morally and spiritually. With such an inflexible will, I am able to accomplish this challenging thesis paper. Particularly, about this thesis, Professor Jiang is the one, who inspired me to initiate such a topic, encouraged me at every stage of writing, scrutinized countless drafts and revisions of this thesis paper, and gave her insightful observation to steady my sentences and to strengthen my reasoning. Here, I really run out of words to say how much her sincere and selfless help means to me all through these days.Secondly, I have been blessed to attend lectures given by Professor Song Hongbo once a week. Professor Song is a knowledgeable teacher. His refined and logical language was really thought-provoking to me, which undoubtedly contributed significantly to my English-writing capacity. Inspired by his lecture, I was able to come up with the idea of this thesis. He constantly urges me to write faster, deeper and better through weekly lectures, which proves to be so effective and eventually ensure me to finish this thesis before the due time. Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my dear friend Vera, for her help on the final edition.Here, I would also like to dedicate this paper to them, whose love always nurtures in me a capacious wonder at the world and the words that fill it. May 28, 2009烟台大学毕业论文ABSTRACTSir Charles Spencer Chaplin, better known as Charlie Chaplin, was an Academy Award-winning English comedy actor. Chaplin became one of the most famous actors as well as a notable director and composer in the early to mid Hollywood cinema era. He is considered to have been one of the finest mimes and clowns ever caught on film and have greatly influenced performers in this field. Chaplin concerned more about the fortune of the small potatoes. His film combined humanitarianism and social criticism, reaching an insurmountable peak in history. His film not only made people laugh, but also gave deep thought. Strong sense of reality and deep connotation are the main features. His influence is everywhere, beyond frontiers, beyond era.Since the birth of film, comedy has been always enjoyed by the people of the whole world. It reflects the real life in the way of satire and humor in order to make spectators sympathize with the ideas of creators. There is a more important reason that Hollywood is good at using the most popular elements of art to pack films so as to achieve the best artistic effect, so we can see many elements of modernism and postmodernism in Chaplins comedy films. From these films, we all see the living situation of common people at that time. They use all kinds of humorous and even ridiculous way to struggle with their destiny, but behind their action, the social conflict, exists in the daily life. The portrayal of common people shows the pursuit of the commonalty in Chaplins comedy films. With regard to Chaplins comedy films, the domestic and overseas investigations often focus on the texts of the film, but ignore the discussion of theme and styles during the period ofdecades. Therefore, this thesis will conduct an investigation into the theme and the styles of the comedy through the analysis of theme and characterization. Key Words: commonalty, characterization, impact, 摘 要查尔斯斯潘塞卓别林爵士，作为查尔斯卓别林更为出名，曾经获得奥斯卡金像奖。卓别林在早期到中期的好莱坞电影时代成为最著名的电影演员，导演和制片人之一。他被认为是在电影界最成功的哑剧演员和小丑，深深的影响了在这一领域的演员。卓别林的喜剧关注“小人物”的命运，将人道主义精神和社会批判因素融入其中，创造了世界喜剧不可逾越的高峰，他的喜剧不但引人发笑，而且引人深思,有强烈的现实感, 深刻的内涵。他的影响力遍及世界，超越了国界，也超越了时代。自从电影诞生至今，喜剧电影一直为全世界人民所喜爱，它将现实生活以讽刺与幽默的手段夸张地再现了出来。更为重要的是好莱坞这个著名的电影工业基地善于采用当时最流行的艺术元素来对电影进行包装，以达到最佳的艺术效果，因此，在卓别林的喜剧电影之中我们能看到大量的现代主义和后现代主义元素，这正是制造喜剧效果必不可少的手段。在这些喜剧电影中我们看到的都是社会下层普通民众的生活状态，这些小人物用各种幽默甚至是荒谬的方式来来和命运抗争，但是在他们的行为背后所反映出的社会矛盾确是真实地存在于生活之中。由此可见卓别林的喜剧电影体现出一种平民化的本质属性。国内外对卓别林喜剧电影的研究通常以作品为中心，但是缺少对其在长达几十年的各个时期里风格和本质的深层次探讨。所以，本论文将致力于平民本质的研究，试图从人物和主题等方面进一步扩展对卓别林喜剧电影更深层次的认识，从而更好地把其精髓所在。关键词：平民化，人物，影响 CONTENTSAcknowledgementsABSTRACT1摘 要21Introduction42The Commonalty Reviewed by the Background72.1The Social Environments72.1.1 The Economy and Technology72.1.2 The Intension of Social Conflict72.2The Living Experiences of Charlie Chaplin83The Commonalty Reviewed by the Themes113.1The Concern with the Fate of Common People113.2 The Exposure of the Seamy Side of the Capitalist Society123.2The Pursuit of Social Equality134The Commonalty Reviewed by the Character144.1Character and Characterization144.2Charlot144.3 Comparison With “Wulitou” in China.155Conclusion17BIBLIOGRAPHY191 IntroductionSir Charles Spencer Chaplin, better known as Charlie Chaplin, was an Academy Award-winning English comedy actor. Chaplin became one of the most famous actors as well as a notable director, composer and musician in the early to mid Hollywood cinema era. He is considered to have been one of the finest mimes and clowns ever caught on film and have greatly influenced performers in this field. Chaplin had a rotten childhood and an early start in the entertainment business, performing as a child on the vaudeville stage. He went to Hollywood in 1914 and began acting in silent comedies. By 1915 he controlled most aspects of his films, in which he usually appeared as a character called simply “The Little Tramp”, a lovably shabby dreamer with a brushy mustache, bowler hat and cane, always found himself wobbling into awkward situations and miraculously wobbling away. Feltham once said, “Laughter should dimple the cheek, not furrow the brow.” Charlie Chaplin was a man who definitely dimpled millions of cheeks in the early 1900s. He had a huge impact on the lives of Americans during the world wars and the hard times of the Depression and he made people laugh for the first time in a long time and changed the way they looked at the world despite his own troubles and loneliness. And even though his films were in black and white, he put a lot of color into everyones life.Among all kinds of arts, film only has a short history for 112 years since December 28,1895. The development of silent film which was mainly performed by expression and action had become quite mature; and a lot of comedy films that we can remember were created by Charlie Chaplin at this time. For over thirty-six years Chaplin had been the unquestioned king of comedy. His films are shown continuously all over the world. In fact, Charlie Chaplin made comedy film become a genre of art firstly, and established the direction of development for the American comedy film, which focused on common people. From then on, global spectators began enjoying American comedy film, whether they had ever made us glad, moved or even sad. If we would like to find the representative persons among so many comedy actors, as the initiator of American comedy film, Charlie Chaplin is the most outstanding one. His works lead the style of the early comedy film, until the end of World War. Charlies first film, released in February 1914, was called Making a Living. From this time on, Charlie Chaplin began his show business, but in the same year, his film named Between Showers became a milestone in the history of his career and even American comedy film. Because the role named “Charlot” in this film appeared for the first time, after that the classical image wearing baggy pants, enormous shoes, and a bowler hat and carrying a bamboo cane, he originated his world-famous character, who is the tramper always existing in his many comedy films. He played this classic role in more than 70 films during his career. Among these famous films, the important pictures Chaplin produced, directed, and starred in include The Kid (1921), The Pilgrim (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights(1931), Modern Times(1936), The Great Dictator(1940), Monsieur Verdoux(1947), Limelight(1952), and A King in New York(1957). He also composed background music for most of his films. His portrayal of the little tramper, a universally recognized symbol of indestructible individuality triumphing over adversity and persecution, both human and mechanical, won him critical renown as a tragicomedian. Therefore, we can say that CharlieChaplins comedy film can be the magnum opus of American comedy film. After World War,because of the cold war, there was a right-wing political movement named “McCarthyism” in the USA, which was a campaign against Communist subversion in the early 1950s. In the late 1940s and early 1950s Chaplin was criticized for his leftist political views because there was a lot of sympathy for the poor laborers and the satire for the dominators and capitalists in his films. As a result, he had to leave the United States in 1952 and established permanent residence in Switzerland. The whole America and Hollywood never forgot him and his contribution to American films, so he briefly returned to the United States to receive several tributes, among them a special Academy Award for his contributions to the film industry in 1972. However, we must see the fact that when Charlie Chaplin left the US, it means that a period of comedy films had been over. Since the birth of film, comedy has been always enjoyed by the people of the whole world. It reflects the real life in the way of satire and humor in order to make spectators sympathize with the ideas of creators. There is a more important reason that Hollywood is good at using the most popular elements of art to pack films so as to achieve the best artistic effect, so we can see many elements of modernism and postmodernism in Chaplins comedy films. From these films, we all see the living situation of common people at that time. They use all kinds of humorous and even ridiculous way to struggle with their destiny, but behind their action, the social conflict, exists in the daily life. The portrayal of common people shows the pursuit of the commonalty in Chaplins comedy films.Comedy, this type makes the film common. However, the deep thought towards society does not throw the film into vulgar. Chaplin once said, comic is quandary. It is this quandary that brings constant laugh to the audience, even laugh into tears. Nevertheless, we do not know whether it is the tear of happiness or sadness. Other comedies only make people laugh, but Chaplin, as a critical realism film artist, can impel people ponder over it after laughing. With regard to Chaplins comedy films, the domestic and overseas investigations often focus on the texts of the film, but ignore the discussion of themes and styles during the period of decades. Therefore, this thesis will conduct an investigation into the theme and the styles of the comedy through the analysis of characterization, structure and setting. Besides, in the development of Chinese films, Chaplins comedy especially attracts our attention. The significance is that it brings forth the film characteristic of comedy, helping film makers set up the conception of harlequin film, tragicomedy film and political ironic comedy film, enriching the conception of comedy film in China. 2 The Commonalty Reviewed by the Background2.1 The Social Environments2.1.1 The Economy and Technology The birth of film profited from the progress of technology during the second industrial revolution. At the same time, American economy had been in the period of high-speed increase, in which the United States became an industrialized and powerful country. The Conjuncture ended in 1915 or 1920, the period depending on whether one stresses the statistics of agricultural stabilization, which favor the former, or the census revelations of 1920 of another sharp decline in aggregate population growth in the 1910-20 decade compared to the preceding several decades. The metropolitan mode continued, unchallenged at last. “The visible signs of contemporary, twentieth century American society, signs not yet all there in the 1890s,had finally fallen into place: ethnic diversity, an urban dwelling majority, large corporations, millions of white-collar workers, electric appliances, spreading car ownership, service stations and paved highways, radio and motion pictures, mass circulation magazines and newspapers.” (Huff, 1951:98) Yet, after World War, the third industrial revolution connects the rate of technological progress with the level of income inequality and productivity growth. A leap in the state of technology occurs and is embodied in new machines, such as those used in information technologies (IT). In the same way, the development of industry promoted the need of labor and the process of urbanization. Many peasants and trampers entered those big cities to find jobs, but the working condition was terrible. As the mainly entertained style of commonalty, the field of film produced a lot of works to satirize the reality. In the films of Charlie Chaplin, the contrast between flourishing economy and poor labor was reflected vividly to strengthen the comic effect of films, for example: Making a living, City Lights, and Modern Times.2.1.2 The Intension of Social ConflictAlong with the progress of science and technology, those capitalists who possessed enormous wealth are able to make use of new invention to create profit for themselves, but the economic and social status of commonalty has determined the fact that they scarcely have possibility to change the income inequality and employed identity, because of the Inequitable System of Distribution. Common people can only choose the strong protest or sharp satire; and American comedy film obviously chooses the latter one. “I am concerned with the representation of social class in American film comedy from the beginning of the sound era to the present. I use the analysis of a variety of comedies from different points in the development of Hollywood film and from different subgenres within the larger genre of film comedy to explore the representation of social class and social mobility. I argue that the issue of social class was crucially important to the development of sound comedy.” (Nugent, 1981:34 )The famous comedy player of France, Jacques Tati had ever thought that “the characters in the comedy films are all victims, because the real enemy is not those rich men, but the system of society. Everybody is like a chessman in the chessboard of society, and just obey the rule of game without thinking, but not stop to seek the cause in them.” However, the films of Charlie Chaplin put up the life and mentation of commonalty to screen in order to make spectators realize their status. The film is just like a distorting mirror, which can reflect the real image exaggeratedly. Perhaps, this is so-called “A story of smiling could also be weeping”. It is the prologue in the film of The Kid, which is one of the famous works of Charlie Chaplin.As a matter of fact, if a person has no any wealth or authority, he or she could not receive the corresponding respect in the modern society. The part of people is called “social vulnerable groups”, who can only express their disgruntled attitude to the unfair social system through the action of characters in the comedy film, but these roles are full of sympathy and justice, such as the tramper “Charlot” in The Kid of Chaplin. Sometimes, in the films, these so-called “small potatoes” in America have to become some leg-pullers to tell a lie or play tricks with those authorities, because the reality forces them to do these ugly things against their real will. Yet we still see that in the films, the tramper treated the kid like his own child.2.2 The Living Experiences of Charlie ChaplinFilm needs wonderful actors and actresses, who can often put their thoughts and comprehension for scripts in the films. Their performances are usually filled with individualization which always makes spectators deeply impressed. Also, we should not ignore the fact that a persons philosophy is associated with his living experiences. After reading the following content about the living experiences of Charlie Chaplin we may understand his films.Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, British comedian, producer, writer, director, and composer who is widely regarded as the greatest comic artist of the screen and one of the most important figures in motion-picture history, Chaplin spent his early childhood with his mother, the singer Hannah Hall. He made his own stage debut at age of five, filling in when his mother lost her voice in mid-song. The mentally unstable Hall was later confined to an asylum, whereupon Charlie and his half-brother Sydney were sent to a series of bleak workhouses and residential schools. Using his mothers show-business contacts, Charlie became a professional entertainer in 1897 when he joined the Eight Lancashire Lads, a clog-dancing act. His subsequent stage credits included a small role in William Gillettes Sherlock Holmes and a stint with the vaudeville act Caseys Court Circus. In 1908 he joined the Fred Karno pantomime troupe, quickly rising to star status as The Drunk in the ensemble sketch A Night in an English Music Hall. While touring America with the Karno Company in 1913, Chaplin was signed to appear in Mack Sennetts keystone comedy films. Though his first keystone one-reeler, Making a Living (1914), was not the failure that historians have claimed, Chaplins initial screen character, a mercenary dandy, did not show him to best advantage. Ordered by Sennett to come up with a more workable screen image, Chaplin improvised an outfit consisting of a too-small coat, too-large pants, floppy shoes, and a battered derby. As a finishing touch, he pasted on a postage-stamp mustache and adopted a cane as an all-purpose prop. It was in his second Keystone film, Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), that Chaplins immortal screen alter ego, “the Little Tramp”, was born. Because of McCarthyism, as a result, he had to leave the United States in 1952 and established permanent residence in Switzerland.Through the above-mentioned contents, we can see the childhood of Chaplin is full of misfortune and hardships and have to afford the burden to provide for the whole family, thus understand the straitened situation of common laborers, who are