I watched a few Buster Keaton movies today. I was working all day, even through meals, it seemed. I watched one at lunch between two classes, another later between class and a meeting. Then took a walk to my office, returned some books. Ate dinner, worked on the course proposal.
Anyway, Keaton is delightful. He makes his physical smallness work for him, and the visual gags are funny even when you know exactly what is coming. It comes, but always better than you would anticipate. I'm working on an idea for the theater chapter of that other Lorca book. I would consider the three surrealist short plays along with two other dialogues that aren't really recognized as plays, so I've been reading El paseo de Buster Keaton.
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OK, so in the intro to lit were are on Lorca. They are now looking at flamenco palos and poema del cante jondo, very basic and everything and designed for a general audience. This group is kind of smart and I was not going to do non traditional Lorca stuff but I was sort of hankering for it so I guess I will do Buster Keaton, they'll like it.
:-D
I introduced them to some surrealist games first, and explained who Buster Keaton is. We also read "Quimera," another sureralist-type play, but a bit easier the Buster Keaton.
Student of today tend to know only Chaplin, if we are lucky. Avant-garde intellectuals of this period like film because it is a new art form. There is a book by Rafael Alberti, Yo era un tonto y lo que he visto me ha hecho dos tontos, with poems inspired by silent film.
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