Charlie Chaplin Essays (1379 words) - American Comedy Films

Charlie Chaplin Essays (1379 words) - American Comedy Films Charlie Chaplin Charlie Chaplin stars in the movie City Lights, a silent, black and white film, made in the 1930's. Chaplin, who portrays the character of a tramp, is the comic hero throughout the movie. It is odd that the film casts a tramp as the comic hero. Usually, no one laughs at a poor tramp; people tend to have pity and sympathy for a tramp or not even associate with one. Many of Chaplin's actions are common everyday routines for him, but his actions and gestures provide humor and comic relief in the film making him the comic hero. Henri Bergson discusses the comic in "Laughter". Bergson writes about the comic by breaking it down into different parts such as the comic in general, the comic in character and the expansive force of the comic. The Webster's Dictionary only goes as far as defining the comic as "an amusing person." Bergson, however, chooses to stay away from giving the comic a distinct, dictionary-like definition; instead he describes it, gives examples and dives deeper into the comic's meaning and purpose (62). Through diverse roles and Charlie Chaplin's simpleness, many aspects of humor grow out of accidental happenings and coincidence. Bergson provides reason and understanding to back up what people think is funny. The first part of the comic, which is the comic in general, kind of describes itself; this information is general to all comics. Comedy can be expressed in many ways, but laughter always accompanies it (71). Laughter always happens in a group or originates in a group because it is easier to laugh in a group (62). Since laughter is a social event, it acts as a form of social correction (71). While comedy can be demonstrated on purpose, comedy can also occur at unexpected times or during normal times. Bergson suggests that comedy is accidental (67). As in Chaplin's case, his normal actions are funny to onlookers but not for himself. For example, when he is in the restaurant with the rich man, he is walking across the dance floor and he can't manage to keep his feet under him. Laughter comes from people watching the film, but Chaplin is not laughing he is just trying to cross the dance floor to get to his table. The more normal the action, the more comic the action is to others (68). Comedy "aims at the general" because it will be more humorous if people can understand it with little or no thought involved (157). The comic in character is another part of the comic that takes in a wide range of elements. Mostly, the comic is always in character. Charlie Chaplin is the comic in the film and the character is himself, which isn't supposed to be funny. Only his actions are funny. Bergson says, comedy "begins, in fact with what might be called a growing callousness to social life" (147). This is true in Chaplin's role because he is a tramp. He does not have to worry about what people think of him. He can pretend to be blind to the ways of the world. For example, Charlie Chaplin wakes up on a new city statue on the day of its unveiling. He never thought to himself, "what effects will this have on my social status?" Chaplin was not concerned with the impressions he would make. Chaplin could be a gentleman though, even though he couldn't afford it. He certainly was kind to people he met, the rich man and the blind woman. Charles Spencer Chaplin was born into a poor London family of music hall entertainers called Hannah Chaplin and Charles Chaplin SR. Even as a child he found success as a performer, making his stage debut in 1894. Biographer David Robinson has gone so far as to say that Chaplin's life was the ultimate rags to riches tale. His early years were spent with his mother, who had no means of income, and brother in Kennington. Their father provided no support for his children causing Chaplin to be sent to the workhouse at the age of seven. Chaplin spent his childhood going in and out of the workhouse as well as being educated by a range of charitable schools. In 1898, his mother was committed to a mental asylum due to a psychosis caused by syphilis and malnutrition. She remained in care until her death in 1928, leaving the young Charles and his brother Sydney to look

Gerrymandering - Congressional Districts on Census Data

Gerrymandering - Congressional Districts on Census Data Every decade, following the decennial census, the state legislatures of the United States are told how many representatives their state will send to the United States House of Representatives. Representation in the House is based on state population and there are a total of 435 representatives, so some states may gain representatives while others lose them. It is the responsibility of each state legislature to redistrict their state into the appropriate numbers of congressional districts. Since a single party usually controls each state legislature, it is in the best interest of the party in power to redistrict their state so that their party will have more seats in the House than the opposition party. This manipulation of electoral districts is known as gerrymandering. Although illegal, gerrymandering is the process of modifying congressional districts to benefit the party in power. A Little History The term gerrymandering is derived from Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), the governor of Massachusetts from 1810 to 1812. In 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill into law that redistricted his state to overwhelmingly benefit his party, the Democratic-Republican Party. The opposition party, the Federalists, were quite upset. One of the congressional districts was shaped very strangely and, as the story goes, one Federalist remarked that the district looked like a salamander. No, said another Federalist, its a gerrymander. The Boston Weekly Messenger brought the term gerrymander into common usage, when it subsequently printed an editorial cartoon that showed the district in question with a monsters head, arms, and tail, and named the creature a gerrymander. Governor Gerry went on to become vice president under James Madison from 1813 until his death a year later. Gerry was the second vice president to die in office. Gerrymandering, which had taken place prior to the coinage of the name and continued for many decades thereafter, has been challenged many times in federal courts and has been legislated against. In 1842, the Reapportionment Act required that congressional districts be contiguous and compact. In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that districts must follow the principle of one man, one vote and have fair borders and an appropriate population mixture. Most recently, the Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that manipulating district borders to give an advantage to one political party was unconstitutional. Three Methods There are three techniques used to gerrymander districts. All involve creating districts that have a goal of encompassing a certain percentage of voters from one political party. The first method is called the excess vote. It is an attempt to concentrate the voting power of the opposition into just a few districts, to dilute the power of the opposition party outside of those districts that contain an overwhelming majority of the oppositions voters.The second method is known as the wasted vote. This method of gerrymandering involves diluting the voting power of the opposition across many districts, preventing the opposition from having a majority vote in as many districts as possible.Finally, the stacked method involves drawing bizarre boundaries to concentrate the power of the majority party by linking distant areas into specific, party-in-power districts. When Its Done The process of reapportionment (to divide the 435 seats in the House of Representatives into the fifty states) takes place soon after every decennial census (the next will be 2020). Since the primary purpose of the census is to count the number of residents of the United States for purposes of representation, the Census Bureaus highest priority is to provide data for redistricting. Basic data must be provided to the states within one year of the Census - April 1, 2021. Computers and GIS were utilized in the 1990, 2000, and 2010 Census by the states to make redistricting as fair as possible. Despite the use of computers, politics does get in the way and many redistricting plans are challenged in the courts, with accusations of racial gerrymandering tossed about. We certainly wont expect accusations of gerrymandering to vanish anytime soon. The U.S. Census Bureaus Redistricting site provides additional information about their program.