#333: You Thought You Knew The Little Tramp

The golden age of Hollywood may be long gone (sorry Tom, but please keep launching yourself off of motorbikes and into space) but a lot of what went down during Hollywood’s heyday might prove to be just as relevant today.

Hollywood’s golden age coincided with the Red Scare, a period of strong anti-communist sentiment in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It’s not much of an exaggeration to suggest that during this period, all you had to do was point and someone you didn’t like or agree with, call them a “pinko commie”, and let the fear-mongering do the rest.

Sound familiar?

These people didn’t even have the internet in their hate arsenal.

While some might say that history repeats itself, it’s probably a little more appropriate to say that history creates ripples that look and feel familiar as they take their time to dissipate.

One of those long-dissipating ripples: The Little Tramp.

Charlie Chaplin’s rise to fame was unparalleled. He became the face of Tinseltown and an entire industry leading up to the 1950s, and as his granddaughter Oona Chaplin explains in Hollywood Exiles, this made him a prime target for FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover as Hollywood became and ideological battleground for the soul of America.

Hollywood Exiles goes onto to unravel the story about Charlie Chaplin we should all know. Oona Chaplin interviews historians, biographers, and the family of blacklisted actors to get a sense of what her grandfather withstood while the US government upturned his personal life because he was thought to be a Communist sympathizer.

Gossip columnists labelled him “unamerican”, the FBI built a massive file on him and anyone associating with him, and by today’s standard, Charlie Chaplin was cancelled. Cancelled by the US government.

When you take a moment to observe what’s going on today, it’s hard not to see the similar exploits of otherism driving an ever-growing wedge between everyone. This isn’t new, and we’ll continue to see it play out again and again and again. Just remember – history doesn't repeat itself, but it does often rhymes.

Maybe it’s time we look back, actually learn what the past can teach us, and change our tune.

Until then, have a listen and share what you think 👇 below.

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