A Film Canon

The Kid fuses the pathos of Chaplin's later Mutual shorts with the more sophisticated characterisation of his First National shorts, producing the first great manifestation of the Little Tramp. In particular, the oblique identification between the Tramp and his impoverished mileu is finally perfected, transforming his marginality into something intrinsic to his character, and creating the impression that he would gravitate towards the same melancholy urban wastes even if his socioeconomic condition were vastly different. In the same way, his altruistic gestures are resolutely detached from socioeconomic concerns, allowing charity to finally become full blown generosity, epitomised by his (completely impractical) adoption of an orphaned child. Yet the preoccupation with childhood, rather than womanhood, indicates that the Tramp has not yet reached fruition, producing a idealistic, paradisial surplus that necessitates the incongruous (if beautiful) 'Dreamland' sequence. Nor has his physical comedy reached its apex - although there are some spectacular moments, such as his reconfiguration of his entire one-room apartment for its new inhabitant - just because its basic premise is that only women can draw his full attention to the proper use of objects and, in doing so, clarify his own comic misuse. That said, the elision of the single female character - the child's mother - is a poetic testament to the mysterious process by which she might be capable of effecting this transformation, while Jackie Coogan is more tuned to Chaplin's mannerisms than any of his other co-stars.