How Civilization Interfered with People’s Personal Lives: Modern Times and Tractor Drivers

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How Civilization Interfered with People’s Personal Lives: A Film Study
Films are part of the literature material that helps communicate the society’s state or events that occur within communities. In most cases, the directors use their direct experiences to communicate an underlying message about the social virtues or vices. In some cases, the different forms of literature relate by communicating the same message to the Modern Times and Tractor Drivers are some of the films whose message reflect the societal events. The two films provide insights about the concept of labor and its role on people’s lives. Modern Times is based on Chaplin’s sixteen-month world tour, where he experienced the political and economic consequences of the Great Depression. Similarly, Tractor Drivers also shows the daily experiences of the work environment, in which one of the characters is so much involved in working that she overlooks her other lifestyle developments. Based on this analysis, labor was a good initiative but destroyed by the capitalistic greed. Consequently, it has had a negative impact in and of itself.[Modern Times (United Artists, Charlie Chaplin, dir., 1936) https://nyu.kanopy.com/video/modern-times] [Tractor Drivers / Трактористы (Mosfilm, Ivan Pyriev, dir. 1939)/watch?v=z7LglSy4B3w&list=PLZ4C3ggHWQOyuZ_NxM0R2SRt2Djua0-nK&index=157&t=440s]
The films depict the advent of the new era of organized labor, in which people were organized into groups to perform specific tasks that would result in large-scale production. This trend was a departure from the traditional labor forms, in which people only worked for subsistence. Society members had specific times for everything and no activity interfered with the performance of the other. For example, during the day, people were found in their farms, tilling land or harvesting their produce to eat and store some for the future. Pastoralists would wake up and take their animals to graze until in the evening, when they would come back home to harvest milk and other types of food. The afternoons were meant for relaxation partly because of the unfavorable weather. Evenings were meant for light duties as people prepared food for supper before resting at night. At night, people had enough time to interact with their children, share stories, plan for the next day, and then retire to bed. The cycle was repeated the following day and so forth.
This traditional system was more socialist in nature without class differences, in which people played their role in society building without interfering with other people’s affairs. However, introduction of capitalism formed the basis of the modern class struggles and work conditions. Capitalists introduced the concept to the people as a form of civilization, in which they argued that it was meant to help better the lives of the people. However, as Hayek notes, the civilization course took an unexpected turn and instead of the continuous progress that it had promised people, it has brought evil in societies, threatening them with the return of the past ages of barbarism. People now find themselves to be working more than they used to work. Many believed that civilization will open them to better life free of uncertainties involving food storage and the ever-changing weather conditions. Instead, people have now found themselves in unending struggle for freedom. Their lives revolve around obtaining freedom, justice, and prosperity and in most instances, the outcome is significantly different from the expectations. Instead of freedom and prosperity, the outcome is bondage and misery. The poor continue to be stressed up every day as the rich get richer. The few wealthy individuals purchase luxurious items while the poor enslave themselves, spending all their time working for the rich.[Hayek, Friedrich August, and Bruce Caldwell. The road to serfdom: Text and documents: The definitive edition. Routledge, 2014. p. 65]
The promise for a better future is evident in the film Modern Times, in which young men were lured from their firms to work in factories in Detroit. Chaplin knew the adverse effects that industrialization was causing the people and through the entertainment piece, which also comes across as political commentary, he criticizes the commodification of the society with the victims of the process being the workers. The film begins with a title that reads “Modern Times: a story of industry, of individual enterprise, humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness.” It covers events at the Electro Steel Corporation, in which a worker called the Tramp, works on the factory’s conveyer belt. The character faces several challenges while working at the company, among which included being volunteered for a feeding machine. The machine was time-saving tool that was used to allow workers to continue working even at lunch time hours. The Tramp faces so much pressure that he suffers a nervous breakdown and eventually throws himself into the belly of the factory. He suffers some injuries, is taken to hospital and then released. After his released and resumes work, he faces another incident when he picks up a red flag that had fallen from a truck. The authorities accuse him of being a communist leader. When he is taken in jail, life in prison is surprisingly good. He eats well, wears better clothes, and gets good and secure shelter compared to the life outside, which was characterized by stress that had been occasioned by the Depression.
This turn of events for civilization is comparable to the spread of the Red Army in Iosif Stalin’s text titled Not One Step Back. The author notes that the people trusted the Red Army, treating it with love and respect. In the same breadth, people perceived communism as a method that will shield people from the harsh economic conditions. They believed that the pooling together of resources that communists advocated would help them overcome the uncertainties they often faced. They believed that by going to work, they would find a better way to earn than toiling in their farms amid the hot sun only to get low returns and in some cases, fail to get enough harvest to take them through the drought periods. Working in factors was like the Red Army that would shield them from hunger as they were assured of getting a salary to purchase food. Sadly, when the German invaders began their insurgence, the Red Army fled to the east, leaving the people under the mercy of the intruders. Similarly, when the Depression began, people still hoped that the employment would help them survive. Therefore, they committed fully to supporting communists establish factories as they believed that supporting factories meant that they would be employed, earn salaries and hence be able to afford anything they wanted. Sadly, life has become unbearable. They can no longer sustain themselves and have nowhere to run to. The labor they were promised has become a source of their frustrations.[Stalin Iosif. Not One Step Back. Order No. 227. July 28, 1942]
The film Tractor Driver carries the same mantle of the concept of civilization and the impact of labor on people’s lives. The film, which revolves around the life of the Soviet citizens, shows that hard work that the people did as labor. In one of the scenes, a worker is seen relentlessly tripping away the soil that he had ploughed the whole day. Hard work was the order of the day and despite the efforts that the people presented, there seemed to be a demand for more workers. The Soviet workers had accepted civilization as a way of life and even females were traditionally expected to stay back home and take care of their families, were also active in the fields, working for a living. In the past, women were expected to till their land besides other domestic activities with an ultimate desire of getting married. However, the Soviet women was different. For example, one of the main characters, Maryana Bazhan is a skilled tractor driver and also works as a foreman of the brigade. She would ride motorbikes in her spare time and wade off her admirers. Her character gives her a masculine look and ...