El naixement de la màscara chapliniana

In 1914, the Keystone Film Company projected the first movies starring (and soon thereafter those directed by) Charles Chaplin in American cinemas. He appeared in several slapstick movies under the gaze of directors such as Mack Sennett, and alongside actors and actresses such as Ford Sterling, Mack Swain and Mabel Norman, among others. The true creators of the silent comedy were the first witnesses of Chaplin's evolution as an archetype, an heir to the masks of Commedia dell'Arte. The British actor began to learn the language of film through his first appearances onscreen and, at the same time, to configure and consolidate the character of the famous little tramp that he played for three decades. This paper analyzes the origins of Chaplin's character through more than 30 movies, 100 years after the birth of an immortal, universal and definitive character.