Reflections in Art: From Agee to Chaplin

"The World is our home."
-James Agee

The work of Charlie Chaplin, particularly in regards to his character "The Tramp" is highly reflective of the work of James Agee. The photographic evidence and written prose in Agee and Walker Evans' "Let us now Praise Famous Men" deals with the same kind of low class, struggling worker that Chaplin brought poignancy to with his tramp character. Agee's writing describes people who struggle to live on a daily basis, doing everything they can to make the best of their shortcomings and misfortunes. The images and themes of Agee's work draw a very similar comparison to the images and themes of Chaplin's work.

Agee and Chaplin both had similar goals in their work. What they both hoped to accomplish was increase societal awareness about the lower-class, poverty-stricken people in the world and to help give these people more humanity and personality. Agee accomplished this through true-to-life factual accounts and depictions of real Southern Sharecroppers and his experiences with them. Agee writes: "This is a book about sharecroppers, and is written for all those who have a soft place in their hearts for the laughter and tears inherent in poverty viewed at a distance."(14) Like Agee, Charlie Chaplin was able to use themes of poverty to create art that was simultaneously humorous, sad and true to life. Chaplin accomplished this through the creation of a fictional character that was an amalgamation of different traits of people who lived in poverty. By channeling many different realistic elements into a fictional character and giving them humor, people could identify with Chaplin's Tramp. Chaplin's work combined the realism of Agee's stories and photography with a fictional
In studying Agee's pictures, it looks at though many of the images from Chaplin's films could have been directly lifted from them. One photograph in particular shows a pair of boots, unoccupied in the middle of a muddy street. The boots are large, awkward, and frumpy with tongues that stick out and laces that aren't tied. Boots similar to these were one of the trademarks of Chaplin's Tramp. The shoes the tramp wore could have easily been discarded in the street just as the ones in this photo. Because the tramp is a poor, misfortunate man he must take advantage of the world around him and use any resources necessary.

The muddy streets are a typical theme of Agee's photography. There are several pictures of dirty streets running through the middle of shoddy, thrown together towns. The buildings in towns are bleak and unimpressive, often made from wood and the streets are filled with puddles and look difficult to maneuver. Many of the cities in Chaplin's films bear a distinct similarity to the ones in these photographs. In the short film titled "The Tramp" Chaplin's Tramp character lives on streets similar to these. He sleeps in an alley, is covered in mud, doesn't work and seems to be a direct product of the poverty of his environment. The Tramp wouldn't seem out of place in one Agee's photographs of city streets.

Agee and Chaplin both made significant points about food in their work. Agee writes the following about the poor Southern Sharecroppers he spent time with: "(I write); in the kind hope that the reader will be edified, and may feel kindly disposed toward any well thought-out liberal efforts to rectify the unpleasant situation down South, and will somewhat better and more guiltily appreciate the next good meal he eats."(14) For people in poverty, eating is a luxury rather than a common everyday habit. People in poverty can't usually afford to eat regular meals or good food so they have to take advantage of whatever comes to them. Food is constantly prevalent in the films of Charlie Chaplin.

In the documentary "Chaplin Today: Modern Times" Luc Dardenne states: "The Tramp is always eating. He eats because you never know about tomorrow. You never know whether or not there will be anything to eat. The Tramp knows what it means to be hungry." The constant desire and search for food was very poignant to people in poverty from the era in which Chaplin's films were famous. Many famous sequences in his films involve the Tramp doing everything he can do try and acquire food. He is willing to do this at any costs and his more than often successful. The message is clear; despite his shortcomings The Tramp knows foremost how to survive and can succeed in doing so regardless of how much he is at a disadvantage.
One scene in Chaplin's film Modern Times shows The Tramp as a prisoner sitting down to eat a meal. Next to him is a man of much larger stature who takes the loaf of bread at the table and refuses to share with Chaplin. Dardenne states about this scene: "This scene with the man at the table is David and Goliath with the smaller man taking from the bigger man." In this scene, Chaplin ultimately succeeds in getting the bread for himself despite his size disadvantage. What he lacks in stature he makes up for in instinct. His desire for food is greater than his shortcomings.

A similar scene in the short film "The Tramp" shows Chaplin at a bar trying to steal sandwiches off of a snack tray. He does this by grabbing a sandwich whenever the bartender's back is turned, stuffing them into his mouth quickly and destroying any evidence of the theft just as quickly. He goes to great measures in order to distract the bartender and eat his food. He doesn't have any time to enjoy what he is eating and in fact doesn't even chew his food. The food itself is irrelevant. The fact that he is eating is the only thing that matters. The scene is both a brilliant use of comedic timing as well as a socially important statement about survival-of-the-fittest.

Both of these scenes are effective in garnering sympathy for people who suffer from hunger. First of all, they show a poor man who is able to use his natural skills in order to feed himself. He overcomes odds in order to succeed at surviving. People in poverty could look at this character and feel inspired by his drive and his heart. If this tramp is capable of eating through any means necessary than perhaps so could anyone. On another level, more fortunate people can see this character and realize how much they can take simple things like eating a meal for granted. Just as Agee said that one thing he hopes to accomplish with his real-life stories is to make people guilty about the next good meal they sit down to eat, Chaplin accomplishes the same thing through the use of fictional storytelling.