Chaplin. You know the name, but do you know the guy? In 1992, Richard Attenborough put out his biopic about the famous silent film star and, in the process, brought his filmography to a new generation of movie lovers. However, he might have skipped a detail or two in the process, and today, I'll be reviewing those details he missed and use them to discuss the faults of the biographical film genre as a whole.
The genre is beloved by movie goers (and the Academy) for bringing some of the most famous people in history back to life, but it likely doesn't come as a shock to you that it often takes a few liberties in the process. So today, we'll talk about the cash incentives behind biopics, why they're so common, and what many of them do when they try to compress an entire person's life story into a two to three hour long movie.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:30 - Who was Charlie Chaplin?
05:31 - Telling a life story (and how Chaplin goes about it)
15:39 - A criticism on the lack of criticism of Chaplin
28:08 - A broader look at the genre
40:42 - How Chaplin (kinda) pushes back on the limitations of the biopic
50:13 - Closing thoughts
53:31 - Sign Off
#oscars #charliechaplin #academyawards
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