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The film that I’ve chosen for this project is called "One Week", which was created, written and directed by Buster Keaton. It was made in 1920, during Keaton’s prime filmmaking years.
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The story is about a couple getting married and purchasing the materials, leading to a rival character that is upset that Keaton "took" "his woman", so the whole film is that man messing with them; changing the numbers on the boxes (like in IKEA instructions), and making life very difficult for them. Even when the house turns out messed up and unorganized, they continue to put their furniture in the home, which involves a lot of stunts that Keaton performs. Later in the film a storm comes and spins the house around for a long time, messing up all their work and making the rival character satisfied with his work. The film concludes with a land owner telling the couple that they had built their house on the wrong land, so they attempt to physically move the whole house, resulting in it getting run over by a train and destroying everything they had. Even though they show expressions of exhaustion from losing everything, they end up hugging eachother because neither of them got hurt.
Keaton uses a variety of shots to keep the film interesting and moving forward, with the more creative camera work and soundtrack in the background, it keeps the viewer interested.
([[Orser 1 ->Sources]] When it comes to the stunts and special effects of the film, there are many different things that have been used in modern day films that can be pointed back to Keaton. Having a wall fall inches away from him like Charlie Chaplin had done, falling from buildings, being stuck in between vehicles, and tumbling on the ground all create comedic relief to a more dire situation in the film.
In this film, Keaton uses many social cues from the time period that relate to current revolutions, wages, and social tendencies. [[Cultural Context]] [[Influences]] ([[Hilla H 1 ->Sources]] LEGACY:
"'One Week' was known as the Comedy Sensation of the Year" ([[A Hard Act to Follow 1/3 documentary 21:59 ->Sources]]
"Keaton and his gag men used no scripts. They thought up the gags as they went along..." ([[A Hard Act to Follow 1/3 documentary 23:10 ->Sources]] ..This quote is read as an early use of improv in Keaton's films.
Julie Orser's directed video and sound installation had an imapact on how Keaton is viewed in society today. ([[Orser ->Sources]] He was known for his gags and camera tricks that were seen as magical and daring. This was shown in Orser's performance when she directs the actor through movements that copy the facial expressions and actions of young Buster Keaton.
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In 2008 there was a post regarding "One Week" and how it was put in the Silent Hall of Fame. ([[Public Domain Movies 1 ->Sources]]
"One Week" got a rating of 8.2 out of 10 on IMDB.
Because of the mockumentary style of this film, there have since been many modern day movies that act similar to Keaton's style of directing, producing and acting.
EX: "Borat" (2006); it's a slapstick style movie, and there's a section of the film where Borat learns how to be comedic in the United States. In the room that he sits in with another actor, the word "slapstick" is written on the white board behind them.
EX: "Popstar" (2016); another mockumentary about the ridiculous life of a celebrity. It's a slapstick style movie but includes many modern day references and technology.
EX: "The Three Stooges" (2012); slapstick style and continues the similar humor that's in Keaton's film "One Week"... there is facial gestures that the main characters do, as well as the physical manurisms of stunts that the actors perform. Keaton had done stunts where he fell, got pushed, thrown from objects, and had objects fall around him. In the movie "The Three Stooges," these stunts happen as well.
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EX: "Home Alone" (1990); another slapstick style movie that involved stunts by multiple characters, with different ways of showing details like Keaton does in "One Week."
EX: "Flubber" (1997); comedy movie that has the main actor Robbin Williams falling from a building, items thrown around and at his face, and the facial expressions that he posses in this film have direct corrolation to Keaton's film.
EX: "The Gold Rush" (1925); this final film was directed and acted by Charlie Chaplin, and it involved humorous charcters and the style that both himself and Keaton poses.
Due to Keaton making such a large impact on society today, a website and group had to be brought together to applaud Keaton for the work and dedication of his films: "The International Buster Keaton Society", which has a motto that sums up Keaton's career...
"A giant of American comedy.
A performer of the impossible.
A filmmaker of grace and beauty.
A genius in slap shoes and a flat hat." ([[International Buster Keaton Society 1 ->Sources]]
CULTURAL CONTEXT:
The 1920's was a time of "leisure and consumption" ([[Khan Academy ->Sources]])... people were spending money lackadasically, and this film connected to its time when a couple with a comfortable amount of money would have enough to purchase and build their own home out of the materials from the Ford Motor Company [[Influences]]
There were housing options during the 1920's that related to Ford and its prefabricted houses. There was another group called Springwells Park that offered a majority of rental units, while Ford Homes offered none. Ford intended having owners that occupied the home for long term as well as perminantly. The sizes of the houses were signicant as well: Springwells Park offered a variety of sizes that fit different types of families and their wages, but Ford Homes were consistantly larger scaled; average of 2 stories with 3 bedrooms. ([[Heather Barrow ->Sources]]
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Aesthetically, Ford was seen as attractive, but that went along with its expenses and its purpose of use; those homes were initially available only to Ford Motor Company employees. [[Sources]]
Continuing through technological advancments of the 1920's, there were many reasons for the landscape of comedy in this film that had to do with the Industrial Revolution and how Keaton's views took a major part in how he produced this film.
Even though Keaton was inspired by Charlie Chaplin [[Influences]], they had very different opinions on how the technology of the time had an impact on society. Chaplin used slapstick in his own unique way. He battled against this revolution, and always found himself fighting against machinery in his films; revolving doors or a folding bed. He used this revolution to portray how he feels about it but in a comedic way. He never allowed himself in the films to be victorious against techology, but rather found himself escaping from it and moving to a new place. ([[Dalton 1 ->Sources]]
Buster Keaton was rather connected to modern technology, and used it to his advantage when it came to creating his films, and even having technology like a movie projector be used as a character instead of a real person. Keaton was very flexible with how he used equiptment for his films, which in comparison to Chaplin, showed how his films progressed through the Industrial Revolution. This pointed towards the evolution of Ford's prefabricated housing. ([[ Dalton 1 ->Sources]]
There were some interesting corrolations between the films "The Evil Dead" and "Daisies". When it came to the directors of each film, they were all involved behind and in front of the camera, while also having slapstick be a significant part of how the film was portrayed to the viewer. An important difference however was that the directors of "The Evil Dead" and "Daisies" had demonstrated slapstick unintentionally throughout their storylines, whereas Buster Keaton intentionally integrated slapstick. I believe this was because during the 1920's when Keaton created the film "One Week", slapstick had become a major type of filmmaking that drew in many viewers. The other films were created much later, which had an impact on how the viewers interpreted them.
<a href=https://homi.neocities.org/2019/t/bvd_Evil%20Dead1981_NEW.html target=“_blank”>The Evil Dead</a>
<a href=https://homi.neocities.org/2019/t/Daisies_Alim_Swan.html target=“_blank”>Daisies</a>SOURCES:
[[Home->"One Week" by Buster Keaton]]
[[Cultural Context]]
[[Influences]]
[[Legacy]]
YouTube, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OecqIhA4Jxg.
“Julie Orser.” Julie Orser, https://www.julieorser.com/the-garden.
YouTube, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-s1A5MYCak.
“Public Domain Movies.” Buster Keaton's "One Week" (1920) | Public Domain Movies, http://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/buster-keatons-one-week-1920.
“Henry Ford's Plan for the American Suburb.” Google Books, Google, https://books.google.com/books?id=WK68DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT155&lpg=PT155&dq=ford+motor+company+prefabricated+housing+1920&source=bl&ots=o_kGAWKYMN&sig=ACfU3U2PMosmDE4qA3lj6pU0ogiO2vPwnA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-naDP65zmAhVXnJ4KHb36B_YQ6AEwCnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=ford motor company prefabricated housing 1920&f=false.
"American Coinema." http://neecap.blogspot.com/2006/10/slapstick-comedy-in-1920s.html
https://prezi.com/fp5t9qmtjeet/capitalism-in-america-in-the-1920s-and-the-red-scare/
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwieipyo-5zmAhU9IjQIHXgVARYQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0011541%2F&psig=AOvVaw30bJiL6ZOo5vxMsGC-vFrE&ust=1575582220446587
“Damfinos.” Damfinos, http://www.busterkeaton.org/.
<a href= https://homi.neocities.org/2019/t/bvd_Evil%20Dead1981_NEW.html target=“_blank”>The Evil Dead</a>
<a href= https://homi.neocities.org/2019/t/Daisies_Alim_Swan.html target=“_blank”>Daisies</a>INFLUENCES
Charlie Chaplin: Keaton is compared to Chaplin by the physical manurisms in "One Week" [[Legacy]]. Keaton and Chaplin influenced eachother throughout their filmmaking careers, which invloved not only the way that they carried themelves in films, but their reasons for the objects, gestures and circumstances. Chaplin had negative views upon the Industrial Revolution, while Keaton used it to his advantage in his films, and especially in "One Week" where there were enormous cranes, a turntable for the house to physically spin around, and equiptment that allowed a wall to come down inches away from Keaton's body. Keaton didn't see that specific revolution being negative, but rather inspiring. [[Cultural Context]] ([[Dalton 1 ->Sources]]
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Ford Motor Company involving themselves in the advancement of housing technology created a major part in how Keaton placed slapstick and reality in the same film. Why would an automobile company move into architecture and construction? The answer that Keaton provides is at the end of the film where the house gets destroyed by an oncoming train. This provides an outside opinion from those who actually purchased a Ford home, while bringing comedic relief to the expressed opinion.
Harry Houdini: Buster Keaton was invloved in a show when he was young with his parents AND Harry Houdini, which connects to how Keaton was able to make his stunts believable and "magical".
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Keaton was inspired by the Ford Motor Company because of their guarentee that a married couple could purchase and build a house in 7 days, "from delivery to consumption." ([[A Hard Act to Follow 1/3 documentary->Sources]] He was a realistsic man before the fame and alcoholism got to him, and this was shown through moments in "One Week" when Keaton attempted to place all the couples furniture and belongings in a home that wasn't even finished after 7 days of hard work.
Capitalism had influence on this film because economic inequality developed rapidly in the 1920's. ([[Hilla H ->Sources]] Those who could afford having a large wedding and take the time to build their own home had enough money to do so, while Ford kept recieving support from those groups of society. Prefabricated housing in general was only supporting economic inequality. [[Sources]]