An Anti-Fascist Phenomenology of Haircuts and the Corporeal in Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator”
An Anti-Fascist Phenomenology of Haircuts and the Corporeal in Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” A Phenomenological, Semiotic, and Psycho-Political Reading AKHAR BANDYOPADHYAY ⤡ DEBAPRASAD BANDYOPADHYAY ⤡ Posted on 15th May, 2026 (GMT 05:19 hrs) [ The featured image for this article, showcasing a variant of Charles Spencer Chaplin’s portrait, draws significant inspiration from filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s sketch of the iconic figure. We owe a debt of gratitude to Ray for his evocative portrayal of Chaplin’s visage. ] ABSTRACT Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940) performs a radical phenomenological dissection of fascism as a regime that disciplines the body — beginning with the head as command centre and extending to hair, moustache, and razor as instruments of masculine authority and ideological inscription. Yet the film’s subversive genius lies in how these very tools are turned against their masters: the razor that polices masculinity becomes an agent of rhythmic care and tende...