Costume in The Gold Rush [10]

Analyse how costume is used to create meaning in at least two examples from one film from the silent era that you have studied. [10]

- The Gold Rush

Charles Chaplin's 1925 film 'The Gold Rush' utilises costume significantly to visually illustrate comedy, character, and thematic codes of wealth and status, in the absence of diegetic sound most prominently shown in Chaplin's character 'The Tramp' anchored in his introduction. Contrasting to the rough and practical appearances of the prospectors searching for gold in the opening among extreme snow conditions, The Tramp's comedic entrance cements him as a childish, impractical, and hyperbolic character living in poverty; Chaplin's trademark oversized suit, tailcoat, bowler hat, and cane as a caricature of aristocratic wealth within the icy setting creates comedy in its juxtaposition, his trademark moustache adding to this construction in its practical ridiculousness within the environment, though this costume as a part of Chaplin's Tramp persona was (and still is) well received and familiar to audiences and thus integral to the film's comedy and construction of character. 

However in the film's ending once he has attainted economic success at finding a claim of gold, The Tramp is shown to wear a tailored suit and top-hat to suit the narrative development and repetition comedy is created as he carefully removes his overcoat where another oversized fur coat is revealed underneath, his hat and cane now fitting his persona though still in an oversized caricature of capitalistic wealth that seems ill-fitting; despite this materialistic success, he remains a 'Tramp' to audiences in his familiar facial appearance and juxtaposed extremes in costume illustrating class divides, blurring the lines between tragedy and comedy. The contrast between The Tramp's expressive caricature of wealth at the beginning and the tailored naturalistic costume at the end of the film is significant in showing his acquired status, now socially respected against his hardship in poverty, this narrative theme reflecting the materialistic habits of the 1920s.