From vaudeville to surrealism: The theatre and films of Buster Keaton.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the interaction between vaudeville and classical Hollywood cinema in the films of Buster Keaton. As Keaton progressed from his filmmaking apprenticeship with Fatty Arbuckle to starring in and directing independent short and feature films, he had to adapt the gags, stunts, and structures he learned in vaudeville to the demands of the classical Hollywood cinematic style that was reaching its maturity during the late 1910s and 1920s. To analyze Keaton's progression from vaudeville to Hollywood, I first trace Keaton's evolution as a performer--with particular emphasis on changes in his working methods--from his early days as the star of his family's vaudeville act, The Three Keatons, through his silent film career, to his eventual decline as a contract player with MGM. I explore the ways in which Keaton altered his vaudevillian skills and routines through the medium of film, capitalizing on particular film devices and attributes--such as long shots, long takes, and film's ability to capture action in realistic settings--in order to expand his vaudevillian vision. Next, I examine the interaction between elements of vaudeville and classical Hollywood cinema in his films in the context of the gag-narrative debate, arguing that critics have overstated the claims for Keaton's classicism. Finally, I examine Keaton's affinities with his artistic contemporaries from the 1920s, the Surrealists, arguing that Keaton expresses a surrealistic view of the world through his gags and stunts rather than a comically realistic view of the world through his narratives. Keaton's stunts become inseparable from his environment, drawing our focus to the mechanisms of the world he inhabits. By projecting his comic vision onto the world, Keaton suggests that the world itself may function according to the irrational and ephemeral dictates of vaudeville--a view the Surrealists found inspiring.