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The Lone Prospector 1925's The Gold Rush takes the Tramp to Alaska. His appearance is unchanged despite ostensibly freezing temperatures. His bamboo cane, however, does not work in the snow. The Tramp, or, as Chaplin referred to him in 1942's narrated version, the "undaunted lone prospector," takes up residence with fellow prospector Big Jim. Big Jim is a physical foil for the Tramp: he is, indeed, big. He is only threatening when, deluded by hunger, he hallucinates that the Tramp is actually a chicken. However, Charlie eludes him. The villain is Black Larsen; the girl is Georgia, the belle of the outpost. The Tramp loves her from the first, but is spurned by the high society of which she is a part. Georgia fancies herself a free spirit, and because she resists the attentions of the outpost's most desirable bachelor, is seen as a bit of a rebel. Her implicit acknowledgement of the social structure, expressed in her initial disdain for the Tramp a well as her consciousness of dress and manner, keeps her from being a true match for Charlie. Charlie invites Georgia and her girl friends do for New Year's dinner--an invitation they accept and promptly forget. Charlie makes elaborate preparations, but his guests do not arrive. He finds himself stuck as a result of his efforts to integrate into the social structure. He sits at the table waiting for the girls and falls asleep. He dreams that the party is a smashing success. His physical prowess is in full force, but in a contained manner suited to an evening entertaining at home. He performs the Dance of the Dinner Rolls while remaining seated: the perfect coordination of the rolls-as-legs and his facial expressions delights his audience. Of course, no one is actually there. Charlie is awakened by sounds coming from the party at the nightclub in which he first spotted Georgia; by the time he arrives at the club, Georgia and her friends have remembered their invitation and are at the empty cabin. Seeing the decorations saddens Georgia, and she slaps the man who has been her very persistent suitor when he tries to kiss her. In the case of The Gold Rush, the dream sequence prefigures the end, which is something of a dream come true: the Little Tramp and Big Jim strike it rich and leave the Klondike on a luxury ship; Charlie and Georgia are to be married. It is, then, and is not true that "Charlie's accomplishments take place only in dreams" (Maland 79). We can read the ending of The Gold Rush as a dream: how can one succeed to such an extent in the Alaskan wasteland without an overcoat? Chaplin struggled with the ending of this film: in various versions he and Georgia flirt, plan to be married and don't actually end up together. A marriage is more believable as an outcome here than in The Kid--at least we have been prepared for it to happen. Yet there is still a sense of not knowing what can happen next, a sense that the Tramp's existence is not compatible with the social structure into which marriage is embedded. The 1920s brought the Tramp into the high society of which he made a mockery in The Idle Class. But the surface optimism falters under scrutiny; underlying these films is a despairing criticism of the state of the world. This criticism gained in fervor and in eloqence of expression in the films of the 1930s. |
