Recent comments in /f/OldSchoolCool

clce t1_j6jvzv2 wrote

Reply to comment by TheUmgawa in Buster Keaton, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Al St. John, 1918. Once his deadpan persona became established, Keaton avoided smiling in front of a camera. by L0st_in_the_Stars

And more importantly, see how your eyes and face move. Especially with a silent film. Granted, a lot of it was broad physical comedy because it had to be. Arbuckle was amazingly agile for his bulk and an extremely talented physical actor. But he also relied a lot on his comic facial expressions. Keaton did not, drawing much of his comedy mainly from his having no expressions which is I guess why he is pretty much plain pancake looking like Mark Zuckerberg whereas Arbuckles make up is designed to show all of his expressions .

Arbuckle was quite charismatic looking and had very nice eyes and if I'm remembering right, would be able to draw great comedy out of using his eyes like the female film stars of the era, fluttering and other typically feminine use

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clce t1_j6jv6k7 wrote

Reply to comment by Block_Me_Amadeus in Buster Keaton, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Al St. John, 1918. Once his deadpan persona became established, Keaton avoided smiling in front of a camera. by L0st_in_the_Stars

He actually had a rather handsome charismatic baby face. I think he would also be considered charismatic in general, but much of it was his appearance. I don't think he would have been mere as successful without that. But on the other hand, he was a true comic genius both in what he came up with, but also his sense of physical movement and timing. I think he is sadly and criminally underappreciated these days

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clce t1_j6juog0 wrote

Reply to Buster Keaton, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Al St. John, 1918. Once his deadpan persona became established, Keaton avoided smiling in front of a camera. by L0st_in_the_Stars

In regards to the appearance, it was makeup and their clothes also reveal that they were in the middle of filming. I can't say they were necessarily filming something together but Keaton in Arbuckle did work together and it seems they were either doing something together or on set together doing different things maybe. But these were not their normal clothes and this certainly wouldn't be how they would walk around in public. It's just heavy stage makeup. Without words you have to rely on your facial expressions and there weren't a lot of detailed close-ups to be had.. now Keaton was always a little bit odd looking. That's part of his humorous appeal. Especially when he started doing the deadpan no smiling.

Our buckle in normal appearance was actually very handsome and charismatic at least for someone carrying that much weight in their face. But he was quite handsome and charismatic in terms of public perception. The other guy I don't know but I don't imagine he always wore a beard. This was probably some kind of clown tramp makeup. It looks a lot like Emmett Kelly and his famous hobo clown look

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JagBak73 t1_j6jui89 wrote

Reply to comment by ketofauxtato in Target Checkout Lanes 1990s by Djf47021

It does seem that way. After 9/11, the country's optimism was shaken to its core. Then the financial crisis of 2007/2008 hit the public like a brick in the face, of which the economy only partially recovered from. The country's politics got more and more extreme and polarized, culminating to Trump's election win. And then covid came along....

That 90s optimism is long gone.

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