Buster Keaton: "One Week" and "The Scarecrow" Analysis Plan

Use of Film Form: 

-mostly long shots (to frame large scale stunts, set pieces and gags); especially in One Week

-exaggerated performances

-long takes (to display large scale stunts, set pieces and gags in their entirety)

-mostly invisible editing


Buster Keaton's Film Persona:

-working class/rural American

-relatable everyman

-aspirational/American dream

-clumsy/eccentric

-outsider

-hopeless romantic 


Representations:

-traditional/outdated gender roles

•man does hard, blue collar work as wife supports him/does more "feminine work"

•man must fend off rival suitor for wife's hand/love


-hard-working blue collar working class

•builder in One Week, farmer in The Scarecrow



Silent Comedy Techniques:

-Large scale stunts/action scenes at climax

•house spinning in "One Week", and chase in "The Scarecrow"


-slapstick comedy through exaggerated performance, set-up and pay-off


-post-modern techniques

•fourth wall break in "One Week"; cameraman covers lens in order not to expose nudity when woman in bath reaches down to pick up soap



 Cultural Contexts and References:

-opposed to capitalist modernisation/skeptical of industrial revolution

•mocks the idea of a build-it-yourself house kit


-post-modernism


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