Detained by Technology

The film Modern Times directed by Charles Chaplin is a commentary about how technology takes away humanity.

One of the protagonists, a worker in a common factory, literally loses control of himself due to technology. This first happens when he becomes so accustomed to doing his one job in the factory that he is unable to stop doing the specific hand motion of turning knobs. He is only able to snap out of it when he truly concentrates. Then, when he is on his lunch break, the factory owners force him into trying out a new invention that supposedly eliminates the need for a lunch break, which in itself is another way to limit the amount of true humanity that factory workers experience. The worker truly loses control of himself when he is locked into the lunch machine, being fed by mechanics. He is also forced into staying there when the machine malfunctions. Not only is technology depriving the worker of humanity but also physically harms him when it fails. He even eats metal nuts, symbolically suggesting once again that his humanity and dignity is stripped due to technology. Finally, the worker experiences his last straw from the factory and goes into a nervous break down. He jumps onto the conveyer belt and goes into the gears of the machinery. Symbolically, this represents his becoming one with the machine as if he were a piece of a factory-produced good. The workers subsequently attempt to save his humanity by pulling him out of the machine. Once he is out, however, he goes on to turn the knobs on every human being he sees, suggesting that he mistakes all of humankind to be a part of the factory.  Thus, technology and working in the factories causes all humanity to be lost.

Not only does the movie show humanity taken away physically, but also shows humanity taken away metaphorically. After the protagonist worker is released from the hospital and is in his right mind again, he has his humanity back for a little; however, he is taken away to jail when he is caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. In jail, he accidently eats cocaine, mistaking it for salt, thus causing him to act in strange ways. In doing so, however, he stops a prisoner revolt and the police are on his side. He gets a luxurious prison cell and has the best treatment. That he does cocaine in jail and as a result gets treated extravagantly is backwards. The film suggests that the worker is more successful and has a better life in jail than in the factory. Jail usually takes away one’s freedom both physically and figuratively, but, according to the film, jail represents more freedom than technology does. Also, instead of eating a healthy meal, the worker eats cocaine and gets rewarded for that. Compared to his eating in the factories where the workers barely get a lunch break as it is, eating cocaine while in jail is suggested to be healthier for the worker physically and for his freedom. Therefore, humans are stripped of their freedom due to technology, as jail offers a better life than the factory. Overall, the use of technology and factories results in figurative and literal damage to the human race.