Chaplin’s and Keaton’s works were similar, I found. Although they were very similar, their styles and presences are distinct. Their work reflected a shared sympathy for the lower classes. This was what I found most fascinating about them. They also disdain greedy peoples and the state apparatus. This is due in part to the fact that Keaton and Chaplin grew up in lower income families. While Keaton was raised in England, they experienced very poor living conditions. Keaton, on the other hand, did not have a protagonist that was as miserable and poor in his works as Chaplin. Chaplin’s body usage is very different to Keaton’s. Charlie Chaplin’s focus was primarily on the effects his body produced to create characters’ emotions. The Bank is a wonderful example of Chaplin using body language to convey emotions and also presenting comedy. Chaplin almost always has an object in hand when he interacts to other characters. This allows for more expressive movements and more emotion to be evoked. Buster Keaton is the opposite. Keaton appears a bit stiff in One Week’s opening scene. You can see this when he pulls the cop’s stick away from him to stop his car. Keaton’s swinging of the stick is far more animated than Chaplin’s. He also moves much slower than Chaplin. They also share a commonality in creating relatable characters through their naivety and almost carless approach to life. Charlie Chaplin relied heavily upon the details produced by his body. Therefore, his framing was tighter than Keaton. If I recall correctly, they were also shot with a larger lens. Keaton chose to use a wider lens and not the narrow frames. This was because he did not want to depend on his body movements. Instead, he wanted to show how the characters relate to larger objects. Both their acting choices had an impact on how they staged and blocked scenes. Buster relies less on staging or blocking because he focuses more on characters and objects in the scene. Buster would require more scenes to be able to perform comedic tricks. Charlie Chaplin is more involved in the creation of comedic effects than his staging and blocking. Each of their stories is worth being noticed. Their acting choices also heavily influence this. Chaplin does this by focusing his stories on fewer characters. This allows him more time to examine the body’s movements. Keaton, on contrast, is more focused on larger stories with more space that can show physical relationships between characters.
