[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
tion to his world. 11
Rubinstein upholds what we earlier called a conflict theory of the relation
of man to the environment in Keaton. The theory that the long-shot con-
stantly describes man in relation to the environment connects conveniently
with the adversarial picture of Keaton versus the environment. There are a
mass of images that relate man to the environment. The narrative, so a conflict
theorist might explain, specifies the nature of that relationship as a hostile
one. Here, the long-shot is given the thematic function of constantly repeat-
ing the major motif of the work. The long-shot is a device that recurrently
sets the terms of the theme that will be developed by the narrative action.
The Environment Approach
Insofar as the preceding environment approach to the use of the long-shot
derives feasibility from the conflict theory of Keaton s iconography, the environ-
ment theory of Keaton s use of long-shots is faulty to the degree that we have
shown that the conflict theory is strained. However, one could maintain the
environment theory of the long-shot without buying into a conflict theory of
the iconography because the environment theory is compatible with any rela-
tion between man and the environment including a merely spatial relation.
Admittedly, the environment view of the long-shot is better than an auth-
enticity theory when it comes to comprehensiveness. This is true mainly because
it is so vague. The only way the environment hypotheses can fail to apply
to any long-shot in any film is if there are no people in the shot. In some
cases, even shots without people might be ingeniously integrated into the
environment theory by claiming that such shots represent the victory of nature
over man. In The General, every relevant shot has at least one person in it.
Thus, the environment approach does exhaustively cover the data we are con-
cerned with, but at the cost of unenviable amorphousness.
A defender of the environment view might argue that we have looked in
the wrong place for specificity when we object to the environment theory
of Keaton s long-shot. The specificity of this explanation as a tentative
account of the Keatonesque function of the long-shot in The General comes
from the fact that a long-shot is an unusual device for a comedian. Chaplin
Style in The General 81
and Langdon prefer a theatrically derived proscenium medium-shot. In Lloyd,
the long-shot is generally an establishing shot. Hawks, in his comedy, prefers
intensive use of the plan américain. Here, the specificity of an environment
approach to the use of the long-shot in The General gains traction, not in con-
trast to alternative possible uses of the long-shot, but in contrast to the very
different forms of representation deployed by other comedians. Thus, the envir-
onment view is quite specific to what is specific in The General versus films
by other comics because long-shots, per se, are rare in most comedies, but
profuse in The General.
In order to short-circuit this mode of defense of the environment theory
of the use of the long-shot in The General, we need only note that the later
films of Tati seem to rely as much as The General on the use of long-shots.
Obviously, the preceding defense of the environment approach is suspect exactly
because it does not differentiate between Tati and Keaton. The fact that Tati
and Keaton share the use of the long-shot gives us an inroad to a possible
mode of analyzing Keaton s use of it. If we can establish the difference between
the two men s use of the shot, we may have a pivot from which to turn to
elaborate an analysis of Keaton s use of the format.
In Tati s Playtime, in the long-shots that depict the wreckage of the night-
club, it seems that action pervades every square inch of the screen surface.
Humorous interactions are constantly occurring without special formal
devices, such as centering or diagonal composition, being used to draw audi-
ence attention to exactly one sector of the frame. There is no highlighting
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]