Week 8

This week we learned about Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. I feel as though the wonder and whimsy that is brought to the screen by Chaplin could in part be derived from his beginnings in filmmaking as someone who “learned by doing.” Watching him on screen, I sensed that he carried this freedom into his performances that allowed his persona to be “mean, crude, and brutish”. I found this to be especially true in City Lights, where many of the gags could be seen having obscene undertones, such as sitting in the laps of sculpted men. Chaplin’s persona is interesting because while he stirred up many scandals and portrayed many crude characters, he remained linked to the classic American dream-boy that attracted so many. Perhaps it is the very nature of his complexity masked by an all-american display is what attracted so many. Charles J. Maland brings up Charlie’s autobiography, in which he is described as a fellow who is “many sided, a tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure”. I feel that his ability to be all of those things at once while simultaneously presenting himself with classic Hollywood glamour allowed him to be relatable in a seductively untouchable way.

Buster Keaton, on the other hand, mesmerized me in a different way. His gags were so smart, so bold, so seemingly effortless and natural. His belief in the “one-take gag” and determination to do every stunt for real so clearly adds to the visual pleasure of his films. Much like is discussed in Buster Keaton: The Art of the Gag, I could see so much of modernity in his films. Even the fact that a piece found in Fantastic Mr. Fox was played over some of Buster’s gags really opened my eyes to just how much he has influenced modern day cinema, I feel specifically of the art house genre. The geometry, and stiffness of his framing creates a world that is both ours and not ours at all, and opens up the doors for all kinds of wonder and hilarity.