Ramblings is the title and ramblings is what's likely to follow.  I've just finished watching Buster Keaton's The General again.  I've decided on this film for my PHI350: Philosophy and Cinema film review for the simple fact(s) that I love this film and I already own a copy.  The film review is only to be 500 words, needs to be a philosophical review, and it may be of the entire film or just a single scene.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to focus upon the philosophy of slapstick acting as Keaton exemplifies in this film.  Anyhow, this review will need to be very brief, only 500 words, so I limited my notes quite drastically.  I know the film inside-out so shoud anything else pop into my head in the meantime I shouldn't have too much trouble accessing it.

Perhaps the first thing that the viewer notices when watching The General is that the camera is almost always static, it doesn't move.  Further, most of the movie is shot from quite a distance allowing much of the film's world into each scene.  I'm not quite sure where I'll take this point, if I do, but it certainly helps to have some perspective like this in silent films.  The 'action' of each scene substitutes the viewer's expectation for sound (this point is a little historically judgmental as it would not have been noticed before there were 'talkies').

In slapstick film (a little bit of philosophy here) the actor not only becomes an object but often becomes an object of objects.  This does raise some Metaphysical questions that I wont go into here, although I think I may have here.  The General is no different with Keaton basically becoming an object of objects throughout the entire film.  Predominantly Keaton becomes an object of his train, The General, which seems to almost possess a will (more philosophy).  There is a particular quote from the film that I will be exploring in this context.  The quote is: 'There is only one man on that engine'.  I'm not certain upon the direction I'd like to take this quote but it automatically registered as referring to this metaphysical situation I'm currently talking about.  The scene that this quote occurs in is set as follows.  Keaton is advancing upon enemy territory in pursuit of 'their' train.  The enemy is fleeing as they think that the train that is following them has carriages of military/militia troops on board.  The enemy come to realise that the train has a single occupant, Keaton, and the above mentioned quote appears on screen.  What I'm interested in in this quote is that Keaton is the object of the train in this film so it is not just Keaton that the enemy need to worry about but the train too.  The train, by virtue of its nature, may perhaps be a much more formidable opponent.

I also felt that the following scenes may be worth using as examples etc.  I'll provide very brief outlines.

At the beginning when the train departs with Keaton seated upon its wheel thingy (very complicated term here.  It's the bar that joins old steam train wheels together).

The rail thing going backwards against Keaton's will (More complicated terminology.  Looks like I need to do some rail based research!  Anyhow, this thing is the platform on rail wheels with a bar that a user can push and pull to progress along the tracks).

The canon scene where Keaton 'accidentally' disconnects the canon carriage and the canon drops its aim, almost of its of will, which scares Keaton in hiding.  The canon appeared to know about this entire situation as certain acts unfold and the canon successfully fires at the enemy train, seemingly at a time of its own choosing.

The scene with the bear trap, Keaton seems to become an object of the object again.

Towards the end there is the scene involving Keaton's sword while he's engaged in discourse with some canon technicians.  The sword directs Keaton around the scene and saves the day.

There is one further point that I'd possibly like to draw attention to although I fear I won't have the opportunity due to the tiny word limit.  There is a scene that I thought drew attention to a mind/body dichotomy.  If we accept the thesis that Keaton is an object of objects in this film then this particular scene seems to illustrate that Keaton's mind (self) is an object of his body.  This scene occurs under a table and features Keaton's body attempting to sneeze.  The situation is dire and were Keaton to sneeze the results would be terrible.  The suspense in this scene is great as the viewer watches Keaton's mind try and regain control of its body.

That'll do for now, I think I'll treat myself to an early night.