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From: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Keaton, Sennett, etc.
Message-ID: <7022@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 8-Oct-85 01:17:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.7022
Posted: Tue Oct  8 01:17:21 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 06:00:42 EDT
References: <695@decwrl.UUCP> <395@harvard.ARPA>
Reply-To: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (Peter Reiher)
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 39

In article <395@harvard.ARPA> tomczak@harvard.UUCP (Bill tomczak) writes:
>> From: boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN)
>
>One thing I thought of as I read this was that as I watched a bunch of
>Keaton films awhile back I found myself very slightly annoyed at one
>common theme that seemed to run through all his films.  The comedy in
>almost every single case (I actually think is was EVERY case, but I
>can't be sure) revolved around someone not saying something to somebody
>else or making assumptions based on a lack of communication between two
>or more people.  It also seemed to be presented as something that
>'decent' people just didn't do/say.  Several times it occurred to me
>that "if only he/she/they had said (whatever)" everything would be
>fine.  And also the funniness would be gone.  I've noticed this is many
>other films of the silent era and wondered how much of the comedy might
>be based on cultural conventions of the time (1920's). Perhaps the
>changes that have occurred in society since then are one reason for not
>being able to appreciate comedy from that era?  Has anyone else had
>this kind of experience??

No.  I can't say that I have noticed silent comedy particularly based on
this principle.  How would you apply it to, say, "The General"?  The
cabin scene in "The Gold Rush"?  The hurricane scene in "Steamboat Bill, Jr."?
The climbing scene in "Safety Last"?  The skyscraper scenes in "Liberty"?
The factory scenes in "Modern Times"?  The boxing scenes in "City Lights"?
The destruction of the house in "Big Business"?  The football game in "The
Freshman"?  The scene of Keaton pursued by hundreds of prospective brides in
"Seven Chances"?  Chaplin's unlikely subdual of the bully in "Easy Street"?

In fact, what films and scenes do you base this observation on?  Obviously,
misunderstandings are a common basis for comedy, going back to the Greeks
and forward through Shakespeare all the way up to today.  I can't say that
the silent comedians were any fonder of this device than any other group,
though.  Now, Jackie Gleason and Lucille Ball relied on this very very
heavily, back in the Golden Age of TV comedy, but that isn't nearly the
same thing as the Golden Age of Film Comedy.
-- 
        			Peter Reiher
				reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
        			{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher