MovieChat Forums > Modern Times (1936) Discussion > Point of gastritis in warden's office?

Point of gastritis in warden's office?


This is the only part of the film I didn't understand. Was this intended to be funny, or to make a point that disease affects both the well-to-do and the unemployed, indiscriminately?

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The latter, sugarcoated with comedy. Long periods of hunger can cause gastritis. So the depression didn't hit just the unemployed.

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It's a fart joke. There's nothing to understand. Either you think it's funny, or you don't...

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I don't think it quite went to the level of a fart joke. The unpreventable social embarrassment of hearing each other's stomach rumblings was all that was really happening. But at the time, and in America, fart jokes were a step too far (though I'm sure many people's minds went there).

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yah i think it was to show rich and poor can suffer from the same stuff

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