Cog in the Machine
During the opening factory sequence, the Tramp is pulled into one of the machines in the factory, and travels through the gears before the foreman stops the machine. The image has become one of the most famous images of the film, and is a visual/literal representation of a worker becoming a "cog" in the wheel of industry.
The bustling city
When the Tramp is released from the hospital after his nervous breakdown, the Doctor tells him to take it easy, but it soon becomes clear that this will be very difficult. A series of unusual, overlaid shots of the city street shows cars zooming toward and past the camera at diagonal angles. This imagery is a ramped-up version of "the cinema of the spectacle," and aims to visually disorient the audience in order to convey a sense of how the Tramp feels when he ventures back out into the bustling city.
The family dinner
When the Gamin returns home after stealing some bananas from the docks, she gives her sisters a banana each and they wait to surprise their father. When the father returns, tired and sad from another day without work, the Gamin and her sisters cheer him up and give him a banana, and the small family all gather around the kitchen table and eat their measly meal. Despite the difficult circumstances, the shot creates a tableau of the family that looks like any happy family gathering around a meal, and Chaplin is able to convey the idea that the way the family cares for each other and loves each other is what brings them together and makes them a strong family. This imagery is very important for the characterizations of the Gamin and her father.
The long road ahead
The final shot of Modern Times is that of The Tramp and The Gamin walking down an empty road together as the sun rises. The image shows us that they still have a long way to go in their search for a better life, but it also shows us that they will travel this road together; for the first time in his films, Chaplin has given the Tramp a companion. The rising sun shows that there is still hope that things will get better, and may have been a message to audiences during the Great Depression not to give up but to keep marching on, as things would get better soon.
