Brief Response to "Best Scenes" 1920's Comedians

Arbuckle’s video was actually quite humorous. I liked when he flipped the pancakes with the broom and when the fake house fell on him while playing the ukulele. When he dressed up as a girl doll and danced around, I laughed out loud. His facial expressions helped tell a story and his body language was intentional. The background music also made the experience more enthusiastic and light-hearted since it is a silent film. So for me, I actually muted the audio just to see what it would be like without music; I liked it better with music. 

Lloyd’s compilation was similar especially at the start with the unexpected twist of him not actually painting the picture. I also appreciated the train scene where you think he’s going to be hit but he actually isn't. His characterizations were more unique than Arbuckle’s as well; he played with mirrors, props, and had people tricked with reversal of expectations. I enjoyed the careful thought and consideration he put into entertaining his audience. I found he also did some funny dance moves similar to Arbuckle which I don’t necessarily find funny; I do chuckle for the awkwardness of it though. This was probably my favorite of all of them.

Buster Keaton is a character. I found the canoe trick quite funny because I didn’t expect it. Again, his stunts are similar to the two previous ones, but he seemed to be having more fun performing them; it also looked like he hurt himself a couple times like flying into a house or falling out of one. Some of his stunts almost don’t look real because I wondered how he was barely escaping death; these were some seriously dangerous stunts. However, my favorite was probably him fooling with the giant newspaper – I liked that one. The 1920’s had a completely different idea of what “funny” was as compared to today; the 20’s embodies more clean comedy than today and I appreciated Keaton for this clean comedy. 

Chaplin is one stuntman I have heard of before. He embodies the family-type comedian to me – his humor continues through time. He tries to steal things in odd ways and messes with people in the factory line which was funny. “The Great Dictator” sequence was also interesting with him sliding down the curtains – it was quite weird to me. He’s an oddball while playing with the globe too – I almost didn’t know whether to laugh or just stare in confusion. However, I liked the underlying political comedy and the dangers of playing with automation in this video. It was easy to grasp what he was trying to make fun of and although at times it could be considered controversial, I liked it. His work was emotional, and I can see why people still watch his silent films today.