Charlie Chaplin in City Lights (1931)

         People are in a different mindset when they watch a comedy versus when they watch a drama. Knowing you are watching a film intended to make you laugh might make you more open minded about the jokes in said film. Conversely, one might be predisposed to tears when they know they are going to watch a serious film. What would happen, then, if you watched a comedy with the mindset of somebody watching a drama? What new meanings can be interpreted from the film when approached from the opposite perspective?

I myself asked these very same questions. To see if I could view a comedy film differently, I applied this shifted mindset to perhaps one of the most significant comedians in cinematic history, Charlie Chaplin, star and director of classics such as The Gold Rush, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator. Watch the video below to hear what I found.