When I was younger, I was a bit of a contrarian. I always enjoyed taking, if not morally opposing sides, at least aesthetically opposing sides to that which was popular. Had a lot more fight in me back then, that’s for damn sure. And one of the things I remember commenting on, in passing, was Charlie Chaplain’s speech in The Great Dictator.
Not that I disagreed with any particular part (except maybe I might’ve gotten a little prickly about some of the ‘cleverness’ comments), but that I felt it was too overt, too on-the-nose, too unsubtle. Then - as now, for that matter - I regarded indirectness as a kind of artistic grace and elegance. Nowadays I have a bit more respect for the blunt delivery as well, even though I generally still prefer the understated approach.
Now, I’m not much of a film buff to begin with, and certainly not of that early era of film, so years passed, and I hardly gave it a second thought. But I was thinking today, just today, about how future generations will look back on us.
How will they look at our present state of politics with anything but disbelief? They’ll have to tone down the stupidity, I said to myself, and even then ask themselves, “How could anyone believe this dreck? How could anyone not see?”
And yet, like me when I was younger, they might look at anyone who outright stated the exact opposite of the political positions of the morons du jour as insufficiently subtle, insufficiently clever; of course, we all know those basic principles; every child does! Who needs that to be said?
Surely what would have landed, surely what was needed was something biting, cutting, precise, something that cuts down to the bone with precision and righteous fury and academic deconstruction of these absurd views; some attack so particular and ferocious and detailed that it can’t be denied! Surely, that’s what people, both the disheartened-but-right-thinking and nearly-beguiled-would-be-fascists needed! That’s what would raise the spirits of liberty and dampen the sickened fires of tyranny, right?
Going over Charlie Chaplain’s speech in The Great Dictator now, unabashedly idealistic, unashamed in its love for principle and our common humanity, regardless of what cynicism or doubt would tell us; regardless of what experience or trauma whisper in our ears; saying something that is fundamentally virtuous in, and to, a world that seems to have entirely forgotten what it is to have basic integrity; where a good portion of one’s fellow man seem to have entirely lost the plot, the most basic and implicit lessons learned as children about decency and connection…
I get it now.
I get it now.
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There’s a really good one volume history of Hitler and his rise to power. “Blitzkrieg” by Len Deighton.
The author’s main idea is that Hitler was unstoppable as long as he kept moving forward quickly. The German political parties thought he’d obey the laws, and the French thought he wouldn’t invade Belgium to get around their defenses.
The second he started playing defense he was in trouble.
Had no idea where else to put this, so you, c/JustPost, get to suffer my rambling.
For those who aren’t familiar with the speech from The Great Dictator:
spoiler
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an Emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible: Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that.
We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there’s room for everyone and the good earth is rich, and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much, and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities life will be violent, and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now, my voice is reaching millions throughout the world: millions of despairing men, women, and little children; victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say “Do not despair."
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Soldiers, don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think, and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate, only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers, don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.
In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written “The kingdom of God is within man.” Not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men. In you, you the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work that will give youth a future and old age a security.
By the promise of these things brutes have risen to power, but they lie, they do not fulfill their promise. They never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world. To do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!
Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting, the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world a kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality. The soul of man has been given wings, and at last, he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow, into the light of hope, into the future. That glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us.
Look up! Look up.
The thing that always sticks with me about Chaplin was how the British press (maybe the US press too?) vilified him for something he didn’t even do. And that was: avoiding military service.
The lie that he avoided going to die in the WWI trenches was deeply ingrained into British culture for many years. Hell, maybe it still is. It was spread originally in the media (probably mostly by the likes of Nazi sympathizer rags like Daily Mail), especially when The Great Dictator was released. And it just lingered in the popular zeitgeist via word of mouth. It was used to make him look like a hypocrite. The common refrain I heard from older people when I was a kid was: “Yeah, it was a good speech. But he was a coward. He dodged military service during WWI. So this speech makes him a disgusting hypocrite!”
But the truth was that he applied to join the British armed forces multiple times during WWI. But he was overlooked. Probably either because he was deemed to small or puny, or because he was already making his name in Hollywood by them, it because his applications got lost in the shuffle somewhere. But it wasn’t for want of trying on his part.
Charlie Chaplin was certainly not a perfect person. He was an unfaithful womanizer, a bit of a narcissist, and he screwed quite a few people to maintain his fame. But he was not a coward. And his phenomenal speech in The Great Dictator (and the overall message of that movie) should not be tarnished by those lies.
Strangely, my first exposure to this speech was in a song. I think it was in a playlist of Salty Bet (a whole different topic) but I just loved how smooth the song is and the speech is so well delivered. I figured it had to be from somewhere but had no idea it was Charlie Chaplain.
Here’s a link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8sa5jpOIafU
