This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

Lecture 2 (2007): Keaton

Flash and JavaScript are required for this feature.

Download the video from iTunes U or the Internet Archive.

Note: This video is from the Fall 2007 class.

This lecture introduces the work of Buster Keaton. It also introduces the paradox of a capitalist-technological alliance as the enabling condition of a complex narrative art, and the emergence filmmaking methods like scripts, shooting schedules, and editing.

Outline

  1. The Fred Ott Principle, continued
    • The myth of technological determinism
    • A paradox: capitalism and the movies
  2. The Great Train Robbery (1903)
  3. The Lonedale Operator (1911)

Free Downloads

Video