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Silent Film

Silent film melodrama originated from traditional melodrama with exaggerated nonverbal expressions due to lack of sound. It features heroes, heroines, and villains in predictable plots often set in intimate spaces, appealing emotionally to viewers. The genre focused on the middle class, reflecting their values and empowering virtue over evil. These films often addressed social issues and portrayed the struggles of the poor and corrupt practices of the rich. Silent films in America also tapped into societal fears of urbanization, family values, and technological progress, offering a critical perspective. An example film is "The Kid" (1921) directed by Charlie Chaplin.

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Silent Film

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  1. Silent Film Melodrama

  2. Origins In Melodrama • Literally means “a drama accompanied by music” • Silent films borrowed from traditional melodrama • Demonstrated an extreme amount of nonverbal expression as the lack of sound necessitated much of the communication to be presented through body movements

  3. Traits of silent film Melodrama • Conventional character types – heroes, heroines, and villains • Predictable plot elements – improbably reversals of fortune, accidents, and last-minute rescues • Tend to take place in the domestic space of a family or intimate space of the romantic couple • Speaks to the viewers in a way that is primarily emotional rather than logical

  4. Traits continued • Often seen as “domestic tragedy” – concerning normal people in contrast to the tragedies of the classic playwrights who focused on lofty people such as kings, queens, etc. • Focuses on the fate of the couple, the family, and their immediate community • Genre of the “historically voiceless” and so appealed to the growing middle class of the time

  5. Silent film Characters • Reflected values of the middle class • Virtue empowered the hero and heroine • Evil fueled the villain • Knowledge, truth, and wisdom were often more easily obtained by lower classes because simple people were less burdened by artificial knowledge as were nobility

  6. Silent film and reform • Silent films often dealt with ideas and social problems • Often spoke to the hard life and condition of the poor, corrupt practices of the rich, social threat of rapid urbanization, the evil of slavery, and the effects of bad family upbringing • Also described the evils of middle and lower class vices such as gambling and alcohol • Film in general in the US was seen as the “grand social worker” because it drew working-class men away from saloons and other vices

  7. Silent film and fears of america • Played on many fears of Victorian era America: • Urbanization and traditional family values • Fatherless daughters and husbandless wives pursued by immoral men • Greedy factory owners and how they ruthlessly exploit workers • Technological advances would overwhelm and crush the average American – symbolized by the locomotive • Overall, there was a very leery and oftentimes bleak look at modernization and urban living

  8. Film we will view • The Kid • 1921 • Director – Charlie Chaplin

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