Modern Times: Machines v/s Men… Where is the Real Progress?

In general aspects, Modern Times is an interesting movie about the epoch of progress, social movements, technology and modernity. It is also an analogy between men and machines. Charles Chaplin, as the main character, works in a factory where he is forced to work hardly and in poor conditions. In fact, he is treated and manipulated like a machine. He does not have time to relax and even to eat, because factory’s productions take a relevant place in those times. In other words, his life is involved into tedious production routines that make him feel extremely stressful. As the story progress, Charles looses his job and is taken to jail. Finally, this man meets a poor young lady whom he falls in love. Sharing time together, they start a new life, thinking of in some possibilities to get a better quality of life. Regarding to this, the film shows us the expectations of them to get material things as a way to face their poverty, which is one of the major negative consequences of progress and modernity.

The most interesting about Charles Chaplin’s film is that he tries to represent the complex reality of society in those times, under an ironic but at the same time humoristic perspective. Through his film, we can identify relevant facts which are part of modernity. To illustrate, we can mention the machine’s invention that comes to take the place of that men used to, making human’s life easier, but at the same time men become a machine more like a person. Unfortunately, men’s happiness is focus on progress and this fact is deeply involved in Chaplin’s film. In the same way, there are many others facts which the director has developed very well, such as: the strong and difficult worker’s conditions, poverty, hope in progress and technological advances. Even though it is a silent film , we can pay more attention to details. We can appreciate Charles Chaplin’s talent using his body language, to communicate us his message. For all these reason that I have mentioned before, I totally recommend this film. We can realize about the powerful influence that modernity had had through time and how this has seriously affected our life in terms of progress as human beings. Moreover, I strongly believe that Modern Times film helps us to think about the role that we have in the world. As a result, I wonder if would we like to change our life system or would we like to live as human-machines like we have been doing for a long time? So, what is the real progress?

How important is the relationship of language and culture?

The aim of this essay is to introduce you about the relationship between Language and culture, and how these both issues are related to or influence education. But what do we understand by language? How important is language in our life?

In general aspects, language is a way of expression belonged to members of any culture. It includes behaviour, interaction, point of views, signs, values, feelings. Claire Kramsch has mentioned that “language express and embodies cultural reality”. This is particularly important if we want to understand that language plays an important role in any culture. In fact, language is so powerful, meaningful and important, because is closely related to the construction of our identity as society.We give the world a meaning through language, in a sense that the world is a reproduction of our beliefs, dreams, needs and values. Because we give the world a meaning, at the same time every human being is mainly responsible to participate or not in it.

For this, culture as the second aim, takes importance to the language, but what do we understand by culture? Culture can be defined as a construction process of an identity that represents a group of people that belong to a specific place or community. Culture is not an isolated or empty concept. It is full of meaning because has been building by men. While we are alive culture will be too. As subjects within or inside a society, we are the main responsible to create a specific culture and of course our own identity. Through language we give the world a meaning and order about what is more important to us. For this reason, language and culture need each other. We cannot understand language without culture because “Language plays a major role in the perpetuation of culture, particularly in its printed form”, as the author pointed out.

In the same way, education is completely involved within a culture, with a common or not so common language among people. However, what do we teach when we teach? Do we teach culture or we build it in a context? In terms of Education, as future teachers, we are essential subjects in the hard process of building and after a fashion transforming society. But I wonder; when we teach, we teach in an isolated context, with people whom do not have background? As every society includes a particular culture, it is include also different people. Likewise, the places where we have born or lived shape us and have an enormous influence in what we are, believe our language, etc.

As a result, I personally think that, as future teachers, we cannot deny this with our future students, because they are going to have diverse ways of thinking, seeing and behaving. Therefore, their needs, values and languages are going to be different. Each student is a world by itself and while we teach, we have to face different contexts where we obviously meet different people who are history but culture too. In this way, when we teach our students, we also teach culture through certain values, principles, customs beliefs, codes, ideas or common expression which all of these have to be meaningful for them because giving the world a meaning is the only way to build, transform and have a better life.

To conclude, in relation what I have mentioned before, I would say that if we would like to make a big change in education, we should keep in mind that every time when we teach we can not impose a “culture” because it is already build. “Each student is a world by itself” as I already mentioned before. We cannot impose a way of thinking or believing and even feeling. It would be an imposition that does not have any relation what teaching supposed to be or mean. In summary, each of us is unique. Then, we, as educators, have to create an atmosphere where our students feel comfortable to share their experiences and enrich their spirits through a meaningful language. Being critical about what we want to change of our culture and having a dialogue among educators and students is crucial to transform society, in terms that through language we build human relationships which should be based on love and respect that are universal values which have been lost in this Chilean culture nowadays.

More than an Economic and Technological Revolution

The Industrial Revolution made big and significant changes in man’s life. Particularly, this period of the history, represents the beginning of a new and strong era, which still have a big impact in our daily life. “Production, machines and materialistic progress", are the main issue of this period. Throughout this period, social classes were created and there were more poor people than rich people. In fact, this brought inequality and poverty. Because of the enormous impact that this fact provoked in society, unfortunately, many people or “minorities” belonged to the periphery had to move on to the city to survive, because city was the maximum representation of modernity, hope progress and a possibility to arise economically. This fact provoked that many people such as miners, women and children were exploited and manipulated to work in hard conditions. As a consequence of this, they lived in extreme poverty and abandon conditions.

Nevertheless, thanks to members of parliament and organized workers, there were big social transformations during this period, which provoked education, labour and slavery reforms. Regarding to this, I wonder: What types of benefits provoked this milestone? I strongly believe that The Industrial Revolution, as well as it brought a new conception of progress; also it immensely provoked a human impoverishment. Since this period, man’s life is focused on production, doing of man, a kind of “human-machine” focused in the obtaining of material richness. In this sense, man passed to be, a human being into a machine of production, where spiritual impoverishment is much more astonishing as the all gold of the world.