Charlie Chaplin & Buster Keaton comic anthiero extremes during the 1920S
The essay is a revisionist look at James Agee’s famous article “Comedy’s Greatest Era” –keying on Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin– ‘the comedy auteurs’ of the 1920s. However, while Chaplin was the giant of the era, period literature showcases that Keaton was a popular but more cult-like figure. (S...
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2017 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir |
| Repositorio: | RIUCV. Repositorio de la Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:riucv.ucv.es:20.500.12466/361 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12466/361 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Heroes Comedy Existentialism Héroes Comedia Existencialismo 6203.01 Cinematografía |
| Resumo: | The essay is a revisionist look at James Agee’s famous article “Comedy’s Greatest Era” –keying on Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin– ‘the comedy auteurs’ of the 1920s. However, while Chaplin was the giant of the era, period literature showcases that Keaton was a popular but more cult-like figure. (See my forthcoming book: Buster Keaton in his own time, McFarland Press). However, Keaton is now considered on a par with Chaplin. While the inspired comedy of Chaplin will be forever timeless, Keaton now seems to speak to today. At least during this decade, Chaplin embraces the emotional humanistic heart of a Dickens past, while Keaton ponders the cerebral existentialism of a Camus, or Beckett. Life is messy but for Chaplin, art is where you get it right... if for only 90 minutes. Keaton’s message/reminder is that life is chaos.... a rough cut “movie” that just stops. Or, as Kafka observed, “The meaning of life is that it ends”. Truly two perspectives to ponder. |
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