The Great Dictator: The End of Silence - Brows Held High

Why the king of silent film couldn't stay silent.
All third party clips are used under Fair Use.
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[@Thorntonian]

Hi, Kyle. Not sure if you respond to comments so late after posting a video, But I was wondering about a stylistic choice you made at 8:55-9:40. I couldn't help but notice that most of those examples are from the liberal (or at least left-wing) side of the spectrum, & have used their platform & this format to discuss their views to some extent. Which seems like an odd choice, given the point being made was that this is a format designed to impart a sense of authority on a viewer whether justified or not. I get that it wasn't meant solely as a criticism; I just think the point would have been served better if there were multiple ideological examples. Correct me if i'm wrong, but I don't think most of your subscribers would view these figures in the same way that Chaplin viewed the terrible potential of sound & presentation. Could a broader spectrum of opinion, all using this technique, have made that point a little more clearer, or have I just missed another point you were trying to make? Anyway, great video as always! It always makes me feel a little more cultured when you do an analysis on a film i've already watched (So far, just this one & This is Not a Film, but still). And again, please tell me if i completeley missed the point, or even if I'm just overanalysing things. It's been known to happen.

[@KyleKallgrenBHH]

I tried to get as broad a cross section of popular KZbinrs as possible, though admittedly most are people that I either personally know or watch frequently. If there are right-wing KZbinrs, I'm not familiar with them. Still, you make a good point. My goal with that segment was to show that the basic framing was value neutral, not consigned to any one ideology. If I failed to make that point, well, I guess that's on me.

[@johnmccarron7066]

@Tyler Harwood ...left wing authoritarianism?

[@jamesb.russell2942]

@@johnmccarron7066 bamboozled by the phrase "left wing authoritarianism" like it's gibberish... spoken like a true believer. No one sees their own side as wrong in any way.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

@@jamesb.russell2942 Of course, you don't fall into that trap. You're much too smart to be fooled. You can see all the flaws in your opponents' rhetoric. You know full well that the way they think is all wrong, and will lead to the downfall of Western society if left unchecked. That is why you side against them with unwavering passion.

[@jamesb.russell2942]

I'm Very Angry It's Not Butter!! - nice strawman dude

[@geneirai]

when he was silent he made us all laugh, when he spoke we all fell silent

[@_financial_regret_]

Too right

[@GugSport]

Worth noting that, in Chaplin's days, the mass media was not TV, but radio. Underlining even more the power of the voice.

[@ShawnRavenfire]

He even says at the end (and probably the most important part) that even after we get rid of a dictator, we start looking for another dictator to take his place, making it clear that the problem is not just one bad man, but the human tendency to accept dangerous authority figures.

[@koboldcatgirl]

@ULGROTHA It's worth noting that Chaplin was, while not publicly a socialist, deeply critical of capitalism and McCarthyism. His speech opens with the phrase, "Greed has poisoned the world." Chaplin saw in Hitler not an anomaly, but an ongoing cycle's latest creation.

[@caitlinerickson7355]

It may be unintentional, but I love that as the speech ends, Chaplin throws an arm up and he immediately looks uncertain, as if (in my viewing) realizing that this genuine appeal is still using the speech form and hand motions of dictatorial power. Very interesting video!

[@celinak5062]

Caitlin Erickson +

[@commanderkruge]

I've never seen it that way, allways just thought that the Barber was simply (and understandably) scared shitless in that moment, being exposed to the whole Tomanian fascist leadership, but now you said it - makes total sense to me, and I very well can believe that exactly that was one of Chaplin's intentions there.

[@812558]

One of the most disturbing questions I've heard asked in regards to this movie was, at the end, are they cheering because of the message of the speech...or are they cheering because they literally would have cheered on anything that was said? Did he actually change the minds of the people, or do they just not give a shit what happens?

[@withlessAsbestos]

They loved what was said in the speech because he said it, but that doesn’t mean they took any less head to it.

[@Lukkilikka]

My uncle was born deaf and Chaplin has always been his favourite. Especially since he's not good at reading subtitles either.

[@mikethegrunty5968]

That final speech always gives me chills

[@1987MartinT]

Me too. It is frankly awe-inspiring.

[@mikethegrunty5968]

1987MartinT it really is.

[@commanderkruge]

Yupp.

[@tintinaus]

What always gives me chills is Chaplin's expression afterward. He realises that this one moment will change nothing. The audience expected to hear a rousing speech and that is what they got. That is what is so important about Kyle's final point about listening. The audience needs to become active participants by parsing and taking on board the message delivered.

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

Weirdly even though he said he could never have made The Great Dictator if he knew the full extent of what was happening in Germany; it's still one of the best satire of Hitler (and Mussolini) I know of. A lot of depictions of Hitler since then has either been very unnuanced and demonic or extremely over the top ridiculous; ironically often making Hitler look more of a clown than Chaplin ever was and thus making him so far removed from reality as not being frightening anymore. While The Great Dictator has a perfect balance between comedy and seriousness that makes it very powerful by riduculing Hitler (and megalomaniac dictators in general) appear comical, but not so much that he appears harmless.

[@BloodylocksBathory]

Chaplin's skills and achievements as a filmmaker and satirist make me infuriated when I see little self important jerks accusing of him being a Nazi.

[@Shadowman4710]

How do they come up with that one?

[@Zanphos]

Well he did a thing with hitler in it and has that facial hair associated with hitler so clearly he's a nazi. What? context and research? nah. No time to fact check.

[@BonnieBugsy]

Same reason why my Chaplin-adoring wife doesn't take her Chaplin purse in public anymore.

[@BloodylocksBathory]

Yeah, pretty much this, people too dumb to fact check or recognize satire or parody.

[@Shadowman4710]

You mean to tell me that there are people out there who don't understand that this is a satire of the Nazis and of Hitler? Seriously? So, what? They think the Three Stooges shorts "Heil, Heil the Gang's all Here" and "I'll Never Heil Again" are documentaries?

[@Tuckerscreator]

This ten minute video got more to the core of Chaplin's filmmaking ideals and his goals in directing The Great Dictator than the biography "Chaplin" did. Great performance by RDJ, but so shallow in terms of understanding and revealing what made Chaplin's films great.

[@TheUnspokenKibbles]

"There is power in words when you speak them sincerely: cruel or kind, to truly mean what you say and to say what you mean is to speak the language of power." - Noah Caldwell-Gervais. The context of the quote is allowing others to speak through you, but I believe it still is applicable here.

[@corhydron111]

Fun, unrelated fact: Until today Polish movies have really, really shitty sound quality because most of the professional sound-mixing software and hardware used in filmmaking is set to accomodate the English language and not languages with more whistly, sizzle-y sounds (such as the very prevalent ś, sz, ć, sz, dź, dż and ź in Polish). Therefore the sortware either doesn't filter out the background noise effectively or filters out speech along with it. I think it goes to show how economic inequality in the world affects culture and more specifically the ability to express ideas through works of art. In this case speech is being affected by the inability to produce other types of software that would accomodate one's native language, but I guess you could find other examples of this process.

[@ameliamaciorowska5754]

+

[@pond666]

that's interesting

I wonder if its the same reason Romanian films had awful sound.

[@oddmerit6530]

i remember reading something a while back about how coding can be inaccessible to people in languages that don't use the latin alphabet, because while java, c++, python, and the like are regarded as "universal" languages of the computer, they aren't meant for non-latin alphabets. that means to learn coding, one would either have to go and learn english (harder than it sounds), find a coding language that can accommodate non-latin letters (i'd imagine this is pretty hard too depending on the language), or make your own coding language that can read the letters you use (probably the hardest). and with the latter two, good luck finding popular software that will take that language. i read that article years and year ago, so i'm kinda fuzzy on the specifics, plus i'm no coding genius, but your comment reminded me of that. sometimes we're so english-specific that it detriments everyone else i could also talk about how most cameras are designed around the capture of light-skinned subjects, and light-skinned subjects only, but i don't want this comment to get any longer :P

[@commanderkruge]

"Polish movies have really, really shitty sound quality because most of the professional sound-mixing software.(...)" I dunno - to me that sounds like the excuse of a sound engineer who *knows* that his microphones suck...

[@TheEntilza]

The meme from Downfall - there are several Israeli ones with Hebrew subtitles and they are hilarious. :) My father survived Auschwitz and he told me that he really loved The Great Dictator. So, although Chaplin may have had second thoughts after the war, he did the right thing making this film.

[@Tuckerscreator]

I hope you and your father are doing alright. :)

[@Morbos1000]

I think it is one of those things that was very time dependent. By making before anyone really knew what was going on there isn't a problem, even after the fact. Had they made it a few years later when we knew the true extent of his atrocities and the exact same movie would have been offensive.

[@cryoboy]

My grandfather also survived Auschwitz and people always ask me how he did it. Which is weird because it's not like being a guard is a terribly dangerous job.

[@TheEntilza]

cryoboy You laugh, but I know people that if I show them your post will track you down to see if they can get their hands on your grandfather - imaginary or not. They have 'a particular set of skills'.

[@Tuckerscreator]

Interesting trivia: today is actually the day that the infamous tantrum depicted in Downfall occurred.

[@yumyum3599]

I did his speech for my speech class and got the best grade out of anyone else despite it being under the required time limit. The speech is just so powerful and perfect, I love it so much.

[@Logitah]

I watched this film alone in my room as a teen. My parents film-crazy colleague had borrowed it to me and I really didn't know what to expect. All I wanted was to laugh, but I got my share of tears by the end. I am so happy that I saw this film at such a young age, it showed me that fiction can do great things!

[@BENergizer1]

Superb video and analysis. I've loved The Great Dictator as a student of both history and film, it so perfectly encapsulates its era of both filmmaking and of the world it was made in, in a way so few films of its era do. In a time when most films either ignored the war or were rah-rah propaganda, Chaplin cut through the noise and delivered a heartfelt, sincere, mellow and almost tragically potent message of humanity at its best and worst. And he did it through pantomime, comedy, and farce.

[@commanderkruge]

There's some people who seem to "get" what humanity is all about - or at least ought to be - and who are able to put it into focus for others. He certainly was one of them.

[@1987MartinT]

You're right about what you said concerning Hitler's speeches. I understand German, and so when I hear him spewing his rage and hatred I know what he's saying. I rarely find that whole Hitler speech with funny subtitles meme funny, because I know what the characters in the scene are actually saying.

[@roberthaworth9097]

I've seen a few of Hitler's speeches translated, and was surprised to find that for all their volume and histrionics, broken by interludes of false modesty and even self-pity, they made sense -- especially in context. In each case he lays out his political program very directly and without apology -- indeed, with reference to righting the wrongs done to the Germans by history (and, more recently, by the perfidious Allies and their in-country bourgeois "collaborators"). Whereas decades of British and American propaganda about Hitler, plus cartoons and parodies, have made him sound like a raving madman the whole time. Had he been, he would not have gotten any traction even in exhausted and morally deranged Weimar Germany. Kinda puts one in mind of another monomaniacal demagogue we are suffering with today... And you know, Hitler's oratorical style can't be beat for power. He tends to start slowly, quietly, in a matter-of-fact, relatable, just-volks manner, gradually building in volume and tempo and punctuating leading words in a sentence or paragraph and making increasingly violent physical gestures until one is just transported, I suppose, by the performance. Even the snide, semi-comical, physically-imposing mugging of Mussolini, from whom Hitler learned much of his style, can't match it. Western sound bites on Hitler usually show only the wild closing parts, not what led up to them, which must have been quite compelling, especially when standing in place listening in person, cheek-by-jowl with hundreds or thousands of others, for hours under the hot lights.

[@TindraSan]

CONTRAPOINTS, WOOOH!

[@UtsniatheMightyOne]

I choked up a couple times. Thanks Kyle, hope the march goes well.

[@Conankun66YT]

German guy here and i ALWAYS hated that Downfall meme. It's one of the best german movies and the scene is really really chilling and intimidating. It's about Hitler going on a tirade about how people have ignored his orderes and how they are all traitors and cowards and all his highest generals are TERRIFIED because of how angry he is. He is literally screaming that the traitors will pay with their blood and that they will "drown in their own blood". Meanwhile the meme boiled down to "haha, an angry person screaming in a language we don't know sounds funny" which is kind of a boring joke in and of itself, but it especially feels tonedeaf when it comes to Hitler and the people ignoring the ACTUAL context of him and his speeches and instead just turning him into a cartoon figure instead of a terrifying figure of history. I really hope you do an episode on the Downfall some day by the way, Kyle!

[@EstherTheNicey]

Conankun66 Learning German and watching the movie ruined this meme for me. Probably forever.

[@syystomu]

Yeah, and I'd even link it to other humour about Hitler too. A lot of it plays into the assumption that the audience doesn't understand German. (Also there's the frustrating tendency of equating anything said in German with Hitler. Or constantly making Nazi jokes about Germany today even when it makes no sense. All of which serves to reinforce the idea that fascism is a German thing which of course is very convenient for anybody who isn't German. It's nice to pretend that it's just the Germans who are somehow naturally more horrible people than others...) Also I think it's problematic in and of itself to make fun of other languages "sounding funny", _especially_ coming from the only remaining superpower in the world. Those kinds of jokes are always meant to exclude. They're only funny if you're not a speaker of that language.

[@hinasakukimi]

i find it funny simply because it's so serious, it just breaks the tension. i can still appreciate the scene as it is, it still gives me chills, but i can also laugh at it in other contexts. i get what you mean about turning hitler into a cartoon figure though, i guess there's an argument to be had over whether mocking someone delegitimises their power or perpetuates it since no one takes it seriously enough.

[@TheVsagent]

That's what I hate about meme culture: it always ignores the original context!

[@TheDundeeBiscuitLuvU]

This might be an optimistic view, but I always saw it as robbing Hitler of his posthumous power, the same way the Great Dictator replaces his words with gibberish, the internet replaces his words with inane nonsense, devaluing the techniques and strategies of speech and gesture that he used to rule so effectively. It reminds me a lot of Lindsay Ellis's video on Mel Brook's the Producers if you haven't seen that yet

[@DwRockett]

Wow, this one is phenomenal. I mean, practically all of your videos are great, but this one especially is just fantastic

[@commanderkruge]

Kyle has a way to explain things that simply works. Me has big heap of respect for his work here. :)

[@Garland41]

I cannot say enough how great this video essay is. Every time I come back to it, it lights new fires and ways of thinking. Not just in the death to fascism, but the death of liberalism (the old way), that liberalism that claimed a silent universality that became divided by the particulars socialists against the illusions of the fascists and resuscitated by the war which gave the means of accumulation back to the capitalists (even if their hands were held to the fire by unions). Again, great video essay.

[@potentialsideeffects1085]

Haven't seen The Great Dictator in ages, this brought it all back beautifully. Great, chilling video; sadly appropriate (dare I say, necessary) to our times.

[@commanderkruge]

Word.

[@commanderkruge]

Thanks for this one, Kyle. The great Dictator is one of those masterpieces that truly deserve the name in my opinion. All the elements in it work - the comedy, the drama, the satire and the suspense. And indeed the speech at the end. Oh my. The combination of pathos and what's being said - still 100% relevant up to today - moved me to tears more than once. Oh - and Chaplin's Hynkeldeutsch even works for Germans like me: First of all, it sounds bloody awesome. I mean: Damnit, he really has the *sound* of German refined down in his gibberish. Then the parody of Hitler comes into it - his typical way of speech, his theatrical gestures he studied in front of a mirror and with acting trainers so he would seem more grand and important to the masses. Chaplin also nails those down - and he doesn't have to add *too* much to show how ridiculous the theatre was. Apropos: I'm curious what you think of "Iron Sky" (which also referred to the Great Dictator and actually uses it as an important plot device)... :)

[@van8ryan]

Just got the Criterion DVD; WONDERFUL MOVIE

[@kirstenirwin9084]

I've been interested in Chaplin ever since I watched a documentary about Victorian era workhouses and his time spent in those truly hellish places as a child and I try to catch at least some of his works on Turner Classic Movies. Kind of sucks that this movie was the beginning of the end for his career, but he still had a pretty good life in the end. And the speech at the end still holds up today.

[@stephennootens916]

If I recall right Chaplin was one of the first to make a film against the Nazis because at the time most people in the good old USA didn't want to get involved with Europe's problems. Let's not forget we turned Jewish people back to Germany around this time. That being said the scene were Chaplin dances with world is one of the most amazing a powerful scenes one could find. There is something so hypnotic about the way he plays with that globe, and if remember correctly it's done in mostly one or two shots.

[@ThePa1riot]

I've been waiting for him to talk about this!

[@aarnault5297]

Followed your work for a while and honestly this was one of your best episode. Thank you for your work kyle.

[@Rita3500]

I never expected you to do this film but I'm so pleased that you did. Thank you so much, Kyle!

[@dr_bitchcraft]

Thank you for this episode, I usually watch this movie when I lose my faith in humanity, I need it now more than ever.

[@MarquisSmith]

Absolutely brilliant, as always. Thank you Kyle.

[@Misha-se4nz]

This was such a lovely video. The way you rhetoricize your videos really inspires me. Thanks for another great one. :)

[@thekrakenexperiment280]

This is probably the first time he's reviewed a movie that I've seen since the Lion King. Also, this was a genius video. Great work.

[@courtneyhoward2370]

Every time I watch one of your videos I get hit in the face with the importance of cinema. Thank you.

[@shamanite]

Yessss I've always liked linking that scene in Modern Times where Chaplin talks for the first time and that ending speech of The Great Dictator where he says he can't be he has to. I loved this video, great work!

[@MasterJediDuck]

Your last few videos have had impeccable endings, acting similar to punchlines, in that they bring together multiple strands into a singular, revelatory "pop". Good endings are hard in any medium, and on youtube are almost unheard of. Very well done.

[@TheaterRaven]

What strikes me most about films that came out during the era of WWII is many of them dared to openly criticize and challenge the Nazis. Hollywood was full of artists who had come to the States fleeing Hitler's reign, and they showed in their creations that they weren't afraid to give their art a political edge. We need artists like that taking to their canvases, pages, stages, and film sets again, especially with blatant xenophobia on the rise nowadays as displayed by Trump, his ilk, and their like-minded politicians in other countries.

[@thunderstruck560]

You're just so damn good at analyzing movies Kyle. Your analysis is so thoughtful it feels like poetry itself. Damn you smooth. Its why I support you on patreon. I just love hearing your voice talk about movies so sincerely.

[@AB-uv1ll]

your videos make me hopeful, kyle. thank you.

[@grkpektis]

I've seen a bunch of Chaplin movies but not The Great Dictator. It's so weird hearing him make a speech for me I've never seen that scene before

[@commanderkruge]

Then it's about time! Go on, the movie should be available somewhere online - I can wait... It's really worth it, great movie that makes deserved fun of a horrible little man. Many actors from the days of the silent movies didn't make such good a figure once sound came into it and their careers vanished pretty fast. Chaplin, on the other hand, did great. He took the new tool that was given to him and used it in the right way. Even when you ignore the whole political context of the movie it's interesting alone on being between worlds in a way - the Barber still does many wordless routines that are 100% classic Chaplin, but he also has great speaking parts in it.

[@SEGAClownboss]

Kyle, this is the best video of yours I've ever seen.

[@alansmith8893]

This is my new favorite of your videos.

[@eclipsedbadger]

Yeah, early for a BHH video!

[@wess9900]

I honestly really love this episode. I think it's one of my favorites.

[@sebastianlainez7179]

Always part of my Public Speaking Class! Thanks for your work on posting these videos!

[@Fawriel]

This was another absolutely beautiful video, and I think it'll be particularly important for me because of the theme of innocence. I kind of... want to reclaim that concept and redeem it because I feel like there's something extremely important to be found there, and I think you just gave me a very important clue towards understanding what it's about.

[@jacoblee1328]

In the final moment of his speech, when the barber stares out at his audience, a complex series of emotions crosses his face, not all of them happy. I think one could argue that Chaplin himself realized and expressed, in the visual language that Chaplin new best, his own consternation and realization of the conundrum posed by the narrator in this documentary (at 9:41); that is, of the danger of that moment, and the moral perils of being in that position. Chaplin was brilliant.

[@linkeffect82]

Very good video and article! I enjoyed listening to it thoroughly.

[@disconnected22]

That long snort before the first “Juten” is one of the funniest things he ever did

[@Vinzaf]

"He could see tyranny in it." Oh my god. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain makes sense now.

[@oldcanadiangamer130]

Kyle, this is your most brilliant analysis yet - superb work! There's a couple of spots that bother me in your explanation but I want to re-watch it a few times to form a proper opinion. :) Cheers - and great work!

[@TogusaRusso]

Amazing.

[@avip671]

This is ur best video I absolutely loved it :)

[@3brerfox]

F***ing brilliant episode, Kyle.

[@anomalapithecus]

Beautiful.

[@wedgeantilles4712]

Very well said.

[@Lucholosabe]

Listen...a word that almost nobody take seriously on internet, a place where the talking is the real thing. Amazing video, love the link with the Downfall viral parodies.

[@joeymartinez9854]

I saw this movie two days ago and I loved it so much

[@makingnoises2327]

Spectacular editing.

[@Furore2323]

Thank you.

[@momofeather3365]

Great video as usual! I have always enjoyed this movie and I agree with everything you said. It is one of my favorites from Chaplin.

[@kingofthegundam7974]

*sniff* Downright beautiful, this video is.

[@vazak11]

Great video and insights, the history tied to this made it extra fascinating. Though I did find the bit about authoritative position demanding our eyes as I usually lie down listening to these or am working on a project XD

[@agogobell28]

This is a beautiful video.

[@marronVulpes1991]

"End of Silence," in the title seems very ironic to me personally. My biggest anxiety about our current internet age is the oversaturation of information and the lack of our ability to process it. We get fooled by "fake news" not because we have gone stupider as a species, but because the simple act of fact-checking has become more complex and mentally exhausting. It's far more easy to come up with a sensationalist lie to present as "news" rather than to work hard for the truth and we are in great danger if we give in to the loudest voices.

[@Lukkilikka]

But people also have far more tools on their disposal to fact check things, and communicating is easier too. People in authority have always made bullshit claims, newspapers have made mistakes, rumors went around... Back before the Internet, if you wanted to fact check something, you needed connections, you needed books, and finding sources could take weeks or months if you had trouble finding the particular book. My dad was a sports journalist and people would call him to fact check things about sports. He had these huge shelves full of articles and collected and organized data. These days anyone can just google those things.

[@Elonyx.studios]

Lukkilikka That's all very true, unfortunate even though fact checking has gotten easier people are still lazy. And if they find something that supports their established beliefs, even if it's false, they won't bother to question it.

[@Lukkilikka]

Certainly! But that was always the case, so I dislike the idea that this is a new thing.

[@marronVulpes1991]

Lukkilikka Misinformation definitely isn't new, but the internet most certainly is. There are still plenty of people who treat the content internet as absolute fact regardless of actual authenticity, and having more "tools" doesn't necessarily mean that we know how to use them. I'm not saying that the old media is "better," I'm saying that you can't follow the exact same rules with electronics as you do with books and newspapers.

[@geneirai]

we are better equipped then ever to fight 'fake' information, lies. the problem isn't that we got worse at it, it's that now we can actually fight it, and so few people are willing to take advantage of the technology they use, go and ask anyone on their phone about anything and when they are confused about context tell them they could so easily use google to find out. it's not that they would magically know what you were talking about 70 years ago, it's that they now have the power to find out so easily but that fact never crosses there mind, it's less 'lazyness' and more a lack of skills, and we already see this diminishing, newere generations (while volatile) are more well informed then ever because being introduced to these ideas from birth instead of when they were teens mean they develop skills in using technology and can better themselves better then ever. again it's not about lazyness it's about an unwillingness to change.

[@ariellakahan-harth8831]

Great video, Kyle!

[@frank4knowledge]

so awesome

[@ShiningFist03]

Beautiful, just beautiful

[@Sacr3dJoe]

Brilliant work, Kyle.

[@MoonSpiritChannel]

Man, what a powerful movie this is in this day and age we live in.

[@robertlehto4667]

You seriously need to do these more often.

[@slurpchannel1475]

I've been wanting you to talk about this movie ever since the Caligari episode

[@Lestakeo]

Cheek, from the album One Wing by The Chariot, is one of the best use of the speech from The Great Dictator. Though it is not to put in everyone's ears. Makes for a great last song, and also last album.

[@sudevsen]

the speech is truly great

[@hirocarupu8746]

Why did this video made me cry?

[@ShakarDe]

this video is underrated.

[@idrils]

Great video, as always :) ! I found the ending particularly striking, in a way that could be expanded, about the authoritative (not to say authoritarian) nature of the level, close, single shot. You have the crowd, and you have the person who speaks, and whose speech is not being contradicted, challenged, or silenced, or ignored in the space of that frame. (Ya know, i'm the one who studied crowds in film, so i'm just pushing my points further). But it feels to me that the modern democracies, helped by capitalism and technology, have, not so much created spaces for cohabitation and conflict of world views but democratized, spread to all individuals (depending on their means) the dictatorial frame, the authoritarian, the "this is what i believe and you cant tell me otherwise". Not the only cause, but maybe one that could explain our difficulty nowadays even having the words, the images, the dispositif, to discuss and represent conflicting ideas without trying to kill each other. I might be a bit strident there, but hey, what do you think ? kind of on par with the superhero, individualist analysis ?

[@KyleKallgrenBHH]

+idrils I considered doing the video all about that dictatorial framing. Looking at its use in other films, other contexts, and how it's used to convey meaning. I abandoned it because I realized I would need a whole new episode to do it justice. I might revisit it someday - I've been thinking a lot about common KZbin rhetorical devices and how they convey meaning. Eh, another video for another day.

[@idrils]

Another video I'll be very happy to watch one day :) And there is so much to say, and so much unsaid and yet unstudied, about the new youtube forms of speech. isolation, centeredness, but also proximity, the language of intimate relationship but also of the generic. Such a brave new world ! Will love to hear your take on it whenever !

[@kyleshiflet4915]

I tear up during the speech

[@alexsdemkin]

Nice to see Movie Bob used in here.

[@bacht4799]

Alexander Demkin agree I was whoa 😲 they know him I know that Brows Held High is no more on channel Awesome but I have idea with Moviebob and The Nostalgia Critic and idea is Robocop old ws new the old is the best " have seen the new one but what I have heard is not good but not to bad even " so it's could be fun to see what they could make out of it 😃😎

[@alexsdemkin]

O.....ok. You really overshared there buddy. Its all good. The OG Robocop is great. New one sucks.

[@bacht4799]

Alexander Demkin he he sorry I was just glad to know that others also like Moviebob and his show and for my idea it's just something I thought would be fun if it happened but yeah have not seen the new so have no saying in that and the old Robocop is a great movie so yeah sorry again and must you have a great day 😃

[@HxH2011DRA]

Good pick

[@BriGuyIL1980]

God, this was beautiful

[@IceGirlAK]

I think this video essay misses an important note. Why this needed to be made when it was and its purpose -- satire. Chaplin felt upset as you noted making light of something egregious which is why he lamented it. Yet, satire seeds rebellion taking Hitler down a peg was an important and courageous act. I wish more artists would take on the powerful by demonstrating the folly of their actions.

Why are you so good?

[@ColterHarris]

good job, dude!

[@dechha1981]

For a while there was no word for "silent film". "Talkie" was a word though. In the 80s, there was no word for 8 bit games or 8 bit graphics. When people did talk about bits, it was in refference to the entire machine no individual games . And THEN, there was no nostalgia. The more bits the better. It's possible that currant movies will one day be called "odourless" or something.

[@HCC788]

I love me some Chaplin. Just a coincidence, the Tramp is my Halloween costume this year.

[@theGhoulman]

Well done as always Kyle. But I had a thought. Perhaps the medium isn't the message, it's the battleground.

[@Leochner_Actor]

Wonderful analysis of a wonderful film. I was wondering, what is the meaning of "Tomania"? I dont get it.

[@oliverbrownlow5615]

Just guessing, but it's probably a pun on "ptomaine poisoning," which was a term for food poisoning in those days.

[@theDENIMMAN]

watching this after rewatching one of your older between the lines segments. while I love between the lines I have to ask: now that you do a lot of video essays in that style as a part of brows held high, why keep the seperate label?

[@snowcherryleopard]

So that's how Charlie Chaplin sounds like!

[@UberMan5000]

The barber's speech at the end, as I understand it, has been regarded as the film's weakest element. Some reasons for this might be its tonal inconsistency with the rest of it, that it seems to halt the film right when it ought to climax (similar to that psychiatrist's speech at the end of Psycho), and it also seems much too convenient. "Heinkel" reverses every aspect of his governance, and no one finds this suspicious. They all just cheer for a brighter future, and the film ends. But in the wider context of the culture it was made, it probably could only end with an appeal for goodness, especially before the true scope of Nazism would be realized. Chaplain had said he wouldn't have made this film if he knew what a monster Hitler was, and at the time, he was just making a satire of an absurd public figure. This was the film that seemed like one would make, to jab a pin into such a gasbag. Even simply making him look as though he was saying something else is effective satire. Maybe there's something to be said for not resorting to directness when one has something crucial to impart; many of the scenes, like Heinkel playing with the globe, or adjusting his barber chair to be taller than Napaloni's (the Mussolini parody,) and has further reduced culture to, eventually, people telling us what's the matter with everything. It's one thing to lampoon a dictator's polemic, but at least back then, the greatest film star of his generation knew what he really had to do.

[@shamanite]

Actually we don't really know what happens to him. That's one thing I love about this movie : it's open-ended. And it had to be, because the movie came out before the end of the war. Chaplin just says what he have to say and let people decide what happens next.

[@johnbradley2343]

It's Brechtian in a way. The whole film builds up the injustices in the world, leading to a terminal climax which is a call to action directed at the audience rather than a resolution of the tension of the story.

[@mrfreddorenton]

We have many of the same interests in youtube

[@pagano60]

Good video! (BTW, "The Great Dictator" was released in 1940, not 1941.)

[@SunshineNinja94]

Surprised to see Philip DeFranco in there. Then again, I suppose he has one of the more well known news shows on the site.

[@Zanphos]

with multi millions in subscriber count it's kinda fitting since he represents a modern take on the talking head. Not a classical style of news show but still certainly one at that. A person giving opinions on current events.

[@SunshineNinja94]

Fair point. I guess it surprised me cause his content can be very polarising, politically speaking. Guy can't report on anything without getting bashed from the left and the right.

[@Zanphos]

I have mixed feelings on the guy for a variety of reasons. But it's probably because he refuses to just follow one side of discourse and is also huge on fact checking? just a guess. not gonna think past that honestly because i'm a tired bean who just got off his shift.

[@Redem10]

I'm suprise you used an archer clip over idiocracy

[@rusted_ursa]

"An Archer clip for every occasion." -- Motto of the internet.

[@hannahmoran2149]

Ugh that ending was absolutely beautiful! Have you ever thought about maybe doing a series like Summer of Shakespeare, only you'd be looking at films from the classic Hollywood era (Gone With the Wind, An American In Paris, Casablanca, etc.) and giving your opinion as to whether they deserve their place in the American film canon? I feel like you would be fantastic at something like that!

[@charlesdavidson4815]

E X C E L L E N T

[@re1010]

Han on, was the guy at the end the barber trying to reverse everything his dictator did.