Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century *(Book)
In this genre-defying work of cultural history, the chief film critic of Slate places comedy legend and acclaimed filmmaker Buster Keaton’s unique creative genius in the context of his time. Born the same year as the film industry in 1895, Buster Keaton began his career as the child star of a family slapstick act reputed to be the most violent in vaudeville. Beginning in his early twenties, he enjoyed a decade-long stretch as the director, star, stuntman, editor, and all-around mastermind of some of the greatest silent comedies ever made, including Sherlock Jr., The General, and The Cameraman. Even through his dark middle years as a severely depressed alcoholic finding work on the margins of show business, Keaton’s life had a way of reflecting the changes going on in the world around him. He found success in three different mediums at their creative peak: first vaudeville, then silent film, and finally the experimental early years of television. Over the course of his action-packed seventy years on earth, his life trajectory intersected with those of such influential figures as the escape artist Harry Houdini, the pioneering Black stage comedian Bert Williams, the television legend Lucille Ball, and literary innovators like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Samuel Beckett. In Camera Man, film critic Dana Stevens pulls the lens out from Keaton’s life and work to look at concurrent developments in entertainment, journalism, law, technology, the political and social status of women, and the popular understanding of addiction. With erudition and sparkling humor, Stevens hopscotches among disciplines to bring us up to the present day, when Keaton’s breathtaking (and sometimes life-threatening) stunts remain more popular than ever as they circulate on the internet in the form of viral gifs. Far more than a biography or a work of film history, Camera Man is a wide-ranging meditation on modernity that paints a complex portrait of a one-of-a-kind artist. Read more
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Why Must Read Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century?
This is a reasonably entertaining book when focused on Buster Keaton, maybe less successful in some sections that supposedly are trying to describe the times, which often seem like unrelated tangents (and sometimes aren’t especially interesting). For instance, a lot of time is spent on talking about Alcoholics Anonymous and describing its founders and founding, but notes that Buster Keaton never went to AA. Same issue with a chapter the spends a lot of time describing F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unhappy time in Hollywood, while noting that while they worked on the same lot at MGM, Buster and Fitzgerald probably never actually met. I wish instead of these tangents, more time was spent describing his early silent shorts and features, many of which don’t even get a mention. My only other real complaint is that the author repeats certain anecdotes surprisingly often, like describing the way Buster developed the famous gag of a house falling over him three different times. I good editor should have trimmed out some of these repeated stories. I did like the way the author isn’t afraid to share her opinions and be a little more personal at times, even if sometimes I disagreed (like with some of her negative views about Chaplin). For me, she paints a too rosy picture of Buster’s later years – overrating a bit his involvement with early television, clips of which I’ve also watched online, and seem to be mostly re-enactments of scenes from his earlier films. Not exactly earth-shattering stuff. That said, the book provides a decent overview of Keaton’s life, while not being overlong or overly detailed, and if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s worth picking up.
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