Global Chaplin

“Charles Chaplin,” according to the British Film Institute, “is film history—a genius of the defining art of the 20th century and a towering figure in world culture.” In this course, we will study films like The Kid, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator and their reception from Dar es Salaam to Lima to Shanghai. We will also examine diverse ways in which Chaplin—especially his signature character, The Tramp—was later appropriated worldwide by Chaplinesque figures like Cantinflas, Raj Kapoor, and Giulietta Masina. In so doing, we will question the meanings of mass media industries and global popular culture. 3 hrs. sem.