Reactions to Arbuckle, Lloyd, Chaplin, and Keaton Silent Comedy Compilations

I think it’s so fascinating that people can create comedy without having to say anything—when I think about the word “comedy,” I always imagine people getting in front of an audience and doing stand-up. That’s why these four videos struck me so much: being funny or providing some sort of comedic relief doesn’t merely have to be with words, it can be through stunts and silence.

One of Arbuckle’s stunts in particular ties back to what we’ve learned in class. He gets hit by a large gavel and falls down, and others around him (including himself) start to laugh. This links back to the superiority theory, which basically says that we laugh in situations where we feel ‘higher’ than others, especially during moments when the object of the laughter is caught in a misfortune. Arbuckle experienced an embarrassing moment, thereby exemplifying the Superiority theory. A lot of what Arbuckle was doing in the video was sort of emasculating in a way, especially when he was shown wearing a wig and a dress and dancing with girls or running away from another man, or even when he’s shown with two pots over his chest area. With that being said, I wasn’t blown away by these scenes and didn’t find any of them to be particularly funny. He didn’t depict himself in a strong way, but rather in an inferior way (from what I saw). His stunts weren’t physical or eye-catching as the other videos/characters.

I was pleasantly surprised by Harold Lloyd’s compilation of stunts. I enjoyed how he portrayed himself in these videos. In one scene, he quickly runs through what seems like a Ferris wheel seat right before people who were chasing him get trapped—genius! I thought the scene where him and another man hang themselves on a wall by the tops of their jackets was so ingenuous and something that I’ve never seen before, something that truly made me laugh. I was drawn to his more dangerous stunts, like scaling a building, hanging from a building (while a bucket falls on his head), or dangling from a clock over a street. I think these scenes get the attention of an audience more than what Arbuckle was doing in his scenes. From what I gathered through the videos, he created a screen character as much like the average man as possible: no outsize costume or face makeup—just a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and the occasional straw hat. His comedy came from taking this man who might pass us on the street and walking him one plausible step at a time into a world of outrageous misfortune.

Out of the four comedians, I recognized Chaplin’s name the most because he’s referenced a lot in popular culture. Just from what I watched, I can tell that he represented the destitute everyman. He turned laziness and the feeling of being unwanted into comedy. I was drawn into everything he did, and I couldn’t deny the way he could indirectly interact with the camera and audience. I really enjoyed the scene from The Gold Rush where he made wooden “feet” dance—I thought its humor was subtle but very effective. I think his characterization and the way he’s portrayed is quite memorable. The physical attributes of the "Tramp" include a pair of baggy pants, a tight coat, a small bowler hat, a large pair of shoes, a springy and flexible cane and a mustache. I think I connected with this character because of how seemingly well-meaning he is. Unlike the daredevil that’s associated with Lloyd, I see more subtleties with Chaplin—I think that’s what makes him so great.

The thing I noticed with Keaton is that he seemed to maneuver through surreal and complex situations. I liked how there was one scene that showed him getting into a car tire connected to the back of the car, but the car drives away without the tire…and without Keaton. There are a lot of stunts where Keaton falls down a lot, which I think shows his style of comedy. I also noticed his facial expressions—he can be seen with a constant deadpan facial expression. His style was quite similar to Lloyd’s, as both showed a lot of dangerous stunts and emphasized the act of danger. A lot of comedy today focuses on crude humor, and I think there’s a lost art in the silent comedy film. It adds a visual style and an element that just can’t be found in today’s comedy.

Greatest Comedy Films List

Here's my list for my top five greatest comedy films of all time! *in no particular order*

1. Bridesmaids

2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

3. Step Brothers

4. Superbad

5. National Lampoon's Animal House

There’s Nothing I Can Do…And I Feel Helpless: COVID-19 Strikes Again

This sucks. My senior year is basically over. And it’s all thanks to COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus. I never imagined that it would end this way. However, in spite of all of this, I feel as though I’m blessed. I was on a cruise a week ago, and the government could have decided to quarantine all of us to our staterooms for who knows how long. I am safe and healthy. That’s all that should matter. But, I can’t help but think about all of the goodbyes and celebrations that have been taken from me because of this. It’s completely and utterly devastating. I’ve always been an optimist, looking and thinking on the bright side of things no matter the situation. I’m not going to pretend that this doesn’t suck. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. All of the friendships that were made during these past four years will continue to blossom and don’t end here. These people aren’t going anywhere. I need to keep reminding myself that TCU doesn’t end when our time here does. Even though we’re not physically on campus, we still have each other, and we’re still connected to one another. As a graduating senior, it’s hard to cope with the fact that my last two months on campus have been cut short. It’s not what any of us wanted. But, I’m still holding out some hope for a postponed graduation, for the hope that the class of 2020 can be together one last time to celebrate all of our accomplishments over the last four years. After receiving the email this morning that online classes have been extended for the rest of the semester, all of the pent up frustrations and sadness came out all at once—I sobbed for fifteen minutes straight while my mom cried with me and held me in her arms. I know that things will get better and that things have a way of working themselves out, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt. My family is safe and healthy and that’s all that matters. We just have to take things one step at a time…day by day. It’s probably not going to get better in a month, but we just have to remain patient and keep praying for the world. It will get better. Things will change. It just takes time. I wish more than anything that we could go back because we never got to say our proper goodbyes. But, maybe we don’t have to. We will always have this amazing place, and we will always have each other. We don’t have to let go, at least not yet.

Pictured below is me with my sweet kitty, Nutmeg. I got her my freshman year of high school, and she’s been my sidekick for the past 8ish years. Since being back home, she hasn’t left my side. It’s things like this that I can’t take for granted. Coronavirus may have screwed everything up, but we still have our families. We still have our friends. We still have our sidekicks.

Mosh Pit Fail Videos Triggers Continuous Laughter

Last Wednesday during class, we watched some mosh pit fail videos as well as some other random funny/fail videos. There was one video especially that seemed to make the class just bust out in long fits of laughter. In the video, a girl was seen dancing with her group of friends at a seemingly techno/hard rock concert in an open space—all of a sudden, she disappears as she gets run over by “the wall of death,” which is a term used to describe a form of moshing which sees participants split into two halves before slamming the two sides into one another. I just remember the entire class busting out into laugher, myself included. I couldn’t stop laughing for what seemed like minutes. I have a high-pitched, cackle type laugh, so I knew that this video really had to get to me in order for my witch cackle to come out. We had to watch the video again because we just couldn’t believe that that had happened. Now you see her, now you don’t. I think I kept laughing because my classmates were laughing along with me. Earlier on in the semester, we talked about how laughter is contagious—it can be so either in a destructive way or a positive way. Yes, I was laughing at the fact that the girl in the video was physically taken down by two groups of people running toward each other, but it wasn’t in a malicious way or with ill intent. What I mean is that maybe it’s not particularly appropriate to laugh after that moment, but in a way, I couldn’t help myself. Maybe it was just the way she disappeared into the abyss of people, or how she seemingly just slipped away, but it triggered the response of laughter. In terms of how this event relates to materials discussed and learned in class, I relate it to what Comic Relief mentioned in that laughter causes us to lose control sometimes, especially by joking. I also see connections to the Superiority theory as well, which basically says that we laugh in situations where we feel ‘higher’ than others, especially during moments when the object of the laughter is caught in a misfortunate situation. I’m not saying that myself or the class looked down on the girl in her misfortune, but I’m merely saying that I can see a link between this event and that concept merely because of the way it happened. The girl experienced an embarrassing and absolutely disastrous moment that was shared for the whole world to see, thereby exemplifying the Superiority theory. There’s this element where I knew I shouldn’t be laughing because it was an unfortunate incident due to the fact that it was completely unintentional and out of the blue, but there’s always been this response to laugh when others hurt and/or embarrass themselves. I see this through the other various fail videos we watched during this class session, including the one where two friends were playing the game rock, paper, scissors and if one of them won, then the other could bonk the one who lost on the head with a large, empty water jug. I hope the girl wasn’t hurt and can laugh at this in the future. It’s little moments like these that bring light to the course topics and adds an element of relaxation and fun to the course as a whole.