Is There a Time-Traveling Cell Phone User in Charlie Chaplin's 1928 Film?

[Swede]

Interesting.


Conspiracy theorists, unite! Courtesy George Clarke, here's some footage—slowed down Zapruder-style—of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film, The Circus that appears to show a woman walking down the street... while talking on a cell phone. Buh? Watch for yourself—and decide—inside

http://tv.gawker.com/5672973/is-there-a-time+traveling-cell-phone-user-in-charlie-chaplins-1928-film

[Orrex]

1. She probably killed that kid in the "Three Men and a Baby" house, too.

[jobycom]

2. You got to love the logic of the person who posted that.

"I have studied this film for over a year now - showing it to over 100 people and at a film festival, yet no-one can give any explanation as to what she is doing.

My only theory - as well as many others - is simple... a time traveler on a mobile phone."

he can't figure out what it means, so it therefore has to be a time traveler. :rofl:

[AllenVanAllen]

5. Like this one.

http://gizmodo.com/5519660/time-traveler-captured-in-museum-photograph

[TZ]

9. I think they got their KISS acronym mixed up

most of us know that simple explanations are usually the best..Keep It Simple Stupid. This person believes Keep It Stupid, Simple.

[kentauros]

3. Because it's taken from a silent film,

I didn't have the sound turned on here. I'm guessing I didn't miss anything because there were no dialogue cards to tell me what was being said :P

I was mostly annoyed, not by any conspiracy/time-traveling stuff, but by the fact that too many people feel they have to fill the damn screen even if it was originally a square frame! Stop it! Just because you have a 16 : 9 screen doesn't mean everything is thusly 16 : 9 now :eyes:

[ghostsofgiants]

19. Oh man don't even get me started.

Motherfuckers need to learn to respect aspect ratio.

[kentauros]

20. I may get you started anyway

:P

The reason I've seen (and in action at that) for why people don't respect aspect ratios is because they don't know what they are. I've argued with people that could not care less about watching a movie or old TV show in the right ratio because "I want it to fill the whole screen!!1!" And you can't argue with that point of view, any more than you can get someone that hates anything b&w to give Young Frankenstein a try...

[Iggo]

4. Yes, there absolutely is.

[Lyric]

6. I suppose it's possible, but highly doubtful.

One possible explanation on the "pro-time-traveler" side: it's a very advanced mobile device that doesn't require cellular towers to function, and she's talking to another time traveler who's traveled back with her, or perhaps even talking to the future's version of "mission control" across spacetime itself. It's not unreasonable to think that a civilization that's perfected time travel has also perfected mobile communications far beyond what we can do--in essence, that every "phone" can stand alone as its own "tower" with no need for a centralized hub of any kind. In fact, if they were sending people back in time and wanted them to be able to instantly communicate, they'd HAVE to invent something like that--at least on a small, experimental level.

However, I doubt that this is true. For one, she's using it right out in public. I hardly think that time travelers would do such a thing; it would be an enormous risk, because the people of 1928 would obviously find mobile communications to be shocking. Secondly, while technological advancement will make traveling into the future possible, going backward is entirely different and FAR more complex. I honestly don't think that we'll ever get past our petty wars and rivalries long enough to manage it, assuming that sending a human being back in time (without killing them in the process) is even physically possible.

[HopeHoops]

10. Just like the interstellar VOX thingies in Galaxy Quest.

"Brandon! It's not working!"

[jobycom]

7. That might even be Chaplin.

Freeze it at the end and look at the nose, chin, and cheekbones, and the size of the hand. Also, look at the shoes. I'm no fashion expert, but those look more like clown shoes than any fashion trend I've heard of. Here's a pic of Chaplin out of costume, with Ghandi, in 1931--three years after the movie. Similar face, from what can be seen in the clip.

Anyway, it doesn't really look like the way a person holds a cell phone. The fingers are curled around it, if there is even anything there. It's almost like someone miming an old telephone handset. It could also be something like an ice pack, or the person could even by adjusting his or her hat or pushing hair up under the hat. Or scratching.

Pretend for a moment it is a time traveler. They've invented time travel, they travel in packs so that they would have someone to talk to, they invent satellite-free phones. Why would they make them so damn big you still had to hold them in a huge fist, when even now we can make them no bigger than a bluetooth headset? Especially since they'd be trying to avoid all the sci-fi paradoxes and stuff.

But there's nothing unusual about that clip except the "woman's" shoes and the size of her hand.

[Arkansas Granny]

14. My grandmother wore shoes like that. They are a style from the 20's and 30's.

http://www.vivavintageclothing.com/site/largepics/703/104192/360563/492899/S71-brown_suede_lizard_30s_40s_lace_up_oxford_shoe

Some had fancy cutouts and scallops in the leather uppper and they came in a variety of colors.

[jobycom]

16. Did not know that.

What does it say about fashion when one era's haute couture is another's clown garb? :rofl:

[Lucian]

8. Interesting.

[CBGLuthier]

11. What puzzles me is nobody says anything about the digital watch

that the elephant swallowed.

[Iggo]

12. Who is she talking to, and what satellites and cell towers are they using?

Hmmm?

B-)

[Patiod]

13. +1

[jobycom]

17. Haven't you watched Doctor Who?

One blast with the sonic screwdriver and a cell phone can connect across galaxies and millenia.

[Iggo]

18. Ah, of course!

:forehead slap:

[kentauros]

21. "Who is he talking to??

"How does he make his voice do that?!"

:P

[Swede]

22. She's reporting back to command,back at the time machine.

If they time travel,they sure don't need satellites and towers to make a call. Duh?!?

[edbermac]

15. If someone has the technology to time-travel....

They won't be using an antiquated cell-phone device to communicate.

[LiberalAndProud]

23. Her hat is too big.

She's trying to prop it up unobtrusively so she can see to walk (or it could be a guy playing a gal.)

And how are her shoes different from the uglies that have been the haute couture of late?

[AllenVanAllen]

24. More proof time travelers,

got the hook-ups.

[Frank Cannon]

25. Brother Occam says it's more likely a hearing aid

They just started having portable tube-driven ones in the '20s. Bulky as hell, but look at all that stuff she's wearing.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

26. There must be two Time-Travelers

'cause she's talking to someone.

And a time-traveling cell tower and relay center.

Unless she's just listening to a song on YouTube. via a time-traveled wi-fi or 3g network.

:hi:

[Bucky]

27. The cell phone walk is so common, that if I'd seen this, I wouldn't even notice it.