Professor David Peimer
Chaplin, Part 2: Global Icon, Comic Genius, Outsider
Summary
Chaplin wrote that “tragedy stimulates the spirit of ridicule; because ridicule, I suppose, is an attitude of defiance: we must laugh in the face of our helplessness against the forces of nature — or go insane.” Of his character the Little Tramp, Chaplin said “no matter how well the jackals succeed in tearing the little tramp apart, he’s still a man of dignity” and “gives as good as he gets” to figures of authority. In this talk, David Peimer takes a look at Chaplin, the iconic outsider, and shares some film clips to help understand his comic brilliance.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.
Well, I think, you know, genius for me is not only, you’re right, Rita, it’s a much bandied word. I don’t think it’s just intelligence. I think it’s… Obviously, it’s intelligence, but it’s also talent. Tenacity, perseverance. And I think the ability to put together previously unrelated things, seemingly unrelated. So how do you combine, how do you come up with an idea of a car, an aeroplane? How do you come up with an idea of a watch or whatever? How do you put together previously disparate objects and find something new? How do you find the extraordinary in the ordinary? In this case, how do you make it comic as well and comedy? It is very rooted in vaudeville and vaudeville sketches and music hall review sketches. So where actors would get onto the stage in late 19th century and early 20th, and perform little sketches. And you’d have lots of little actors getting up, lots of actors performing short sketches. So that is the root of it. That’s why his films are basically a series of sketches put together in one narrative. Then of course he adds the music. And he acts, and he writes, and he directs, and he edits, and he composes most of the music. All of that together is not just a workaholic, which he was, but is an extraordinary ability to combine talent, sheer hard work, and also being something of a perfectionist, I think. Maybe the word genius. Never stopping until he feels he’s really got it right. It’s a hell of a long answer for a very, very great short question.