The archetype of the comic

Last week end, I saw the movie on the life of Charlie Chaplin.  I knew a few facts about his past, especially his first stage experience and with his mother.   I also vaguely knew about his numerous wives.  I knew there was some scandals in his life.  I guess that for the time, scandals were to be expected with rich people.  Well, I have the impression that rich people were more free to do outrageous things.  Today, we seems to get more use to outrageous things done by rich peoples and it seems a bit more tame.

I include Charlie Chaplin in the archetype of the tragic comic with Robin Williams.  Charlie Chaplin had very tragic origins.  His father was not around and was deceased when Charlie was young.  Charlie's mother had trouble with her mental health.  I guess that Charlie Chaplin had to mature really quickly.  On the other hand, it is quite amazing that Charlie Chaplin ended up being a comic.  An successful one.  He had gift and talent.  He had the chance to express his talent and people laugh.

I wonder if comedy was a defence mechanism from his life experiences.  His inspiration seems to spring from his life and mind, becoming concrete and manifested themselves.  In the movie, it all seems so easy.  for example, the scene with the big ball, in The Dictator, had a counterpart in Charlie's real life: at the beach with two of his children.  Even the counterpart, the Tramp, seems so easy to create.  Charlie Chaplin created his screen counterpart on the fly, picking up the items that would become iconic.

The movie was based on his autobiography.  I haven't read this autobiography.  Now, I wonder if he tell mopre about his creative process in his book.  How does he came up with his ideas, where did he find his inspiration?  I agree with Charlie Chaplin: I would not have seen his character talk on the screen.  The Tramp was comic in a physical way.  He could not have done verbal jokes as good as his physical funny pirouettes.

It is just sad that the bec comedic talent had parts in the shadow.  Maybe their dark parts nourrish their brillant comic art but it is sad anyway.  It set them appart and it usually set them in danger.   It would be nice to have an system, for them, to get out of harm way but still be funny.  It would be a kind of lifeline that would be a check for the dark side of them.

Synchronicity: a video about the life of Charlie Chaplin.  A good complement on the movie I saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbzyHaWlcHI