Announcing the Charlie Chaplin Blogathon – Celebrating The Little Tramp

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, also known as Charlie or The Little Tramp, was born 129 years ago, on the 16th of April, 1889. Seeing this as an opportunity to celebrate together, Christina Wehner and I have decided to host a blogathon in his honour between the 14th and 16th of April.

Here’s what you have to do if you’d be happy to participate:

1, First of all, choose your topic. Chaplin was what we would call a modern-day polymath, given that he was writer, director and star of his films. On top of that, he also led an ever-so-interesting life, so there’s plenty of topics to choose from!

2, Once you know what you would like to write about, you simply have to fill the following Google Form:

Please note that we’re going to concentrate on separate topics on each day of the blogathon. We ask you to choose the day where you think your post fits the best.  Below, we’ve collected some pieces of information that might help with your decision. If you need any further help, don’t hesitate to contact us!

• 14th of April: Films

If you would like to review one of the movies Chaplin made, this is the topic to choose. You’re also free to detail the events which happened during shootings because in Chaplin’s career they are sometimes as exciting as the final film itself. Chaplin made as many as 87 films during his life, but only 11 of them are feature films, that’s why we decided that we’re going to allow duplicates exclusively in this topic. This means that for example two bloggers may cover The Gold Rush, but we’re going to allow only one post detailing his marriages. 

• 15th of April: Life

On this day, we’re expecting articles that concentrate on important events in Chaplin’s life, from his quite exceptional boyhood to his equally exciting elder life, but you can also decide to write about his family and friends. Consequently, if someone had already taken his marriages, you can still choose to write about Lita Grey.

• 16th of April: Misc.

We decided to create this topic because we felt some of the articles will simply not belong to the two previous categories. Since Chaplin was an amazingly versatile artist who wrote books and composed music, it would be foolish to ignore these. His impact continues to last: numerous books and films revolve around his life and art which would be also interesting to read about. On top of that, you can choose to tell your personal story or analyze his art. For example, you can write about the similarities between his early park films or explain why you think he revolutionized silent cinema. We don’t set any limits! Don’t forget that these posts don’t appear in the film topic which means that they won’t count as duplicates. If you analyze the role of snow in Chaplin’s films, it will be allowed to appear even if two other bloggers write about The Gold Rush.

You’re free to send us your article any time you like, and we’ll make sure it appears on the right day.

3, Since we’re enjoying the support of the Chaplin Office, please be aware of the following things:

• Because of copyright issues we kindly ask you to paste the following text somewhere in your blog post if you’re including any images of Chaplin: “All images from Chaplin films made from 1918 onwards, Copyright © Roy Export S.A.S. Charles Chaplin and the Little Tramp are trademarks and/or service marks of Bubbles Inc. S.A. and/or Roy Export”
• We would like to turn your attention towards the authorized picture database and YouTube channel of the Chaplin Office where you can access a huge amount of Chaplin-related material. If you’re in need of something you can’t find at any of these addresses, you’re always welcome to contact the Chaplin Office via Facebook or per e-mail.
• On top of that, they have offered to post the entries they find outstanding on their own blog at the official Charlie Chaplin website. This gesture has put the crown on our blogathon!

4, Last but not least, you can do us a favour by choosing one of the banners below and placing it on the sideline of your blog. Thanks for helping us spread the news.

  

Here you can find the roster so far. Click here if you would like to view it in full.

See you in April!

Christina and Domi