I've been a lifelong fan of Buster Keaton. I remember as a child watching his films. More so than the movies of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, it was Buster Keaton who got my attention. I've been taking a deeper dive into some of Buster Keaton's films. It's an exciting look back not only at comedy, clowning (I consider Keaton, a clown), and filmmaking, but its also a look at our culture as it existed, literally one hundred years ago. Buster Keaton began making his movies around 1919. It's interesting to think that it was one hundred years ago. This look at history gives us a view of how our society worked. Most significantly, in this instance, for me, has been seeing Black characters in these films.

In this case, I'm looking at an early Buster Keaton Film called. "The Neighbors." It is a window into how black people were portrayed. But first, some of the comedic highlights of this film. It starts with a shot of an open yard. In the middle of this yard is a fence. On each side of the fence sits a three-story building. The first scene is a "mistaken identity" bit that leads to comic confusion based on a letter. The letter is passed through the fence. Buster and his sweetheart pass a love letter through the fence. Then, the parents of each of them see this love letter. Each character misinterprets the intentions of the message, who wrote the letter and to whom the letter is addressed. The comedy is simple, fast, funny, and sharp. Eventually, a police officer enters the scene, which presents the opportunity for a more slapstick comedy. At one point, Keaton ends up with his head getting stuck in the ground. His father twists him around in an attempt to get them out. Eventually, Keaton makes it out of the earth. However, now his face is soiled from being in the ground. His face is black. 

That's where things get, shall we say "problematic "for today's standards. Here's what happens. More physical comedy ensues. Keaton mistakenly hits the policeman in the head who is on the other side of the fence. Keaton looks over the fence to see what happened. The policeman reacts to being hit and sees Keaton, with his blackface. A chase scene occurs with a black face Keaton running from the police. I should note that he is in trouble because he hit the policeman. However, it's clear that the fact that he has a black face only makes the situation worse. Keaton manages to clean the dirt from his face.The policeman sees Keaton but doesn't know that this is the man who hit him because he's looking for a black man. The policeman sees an innocent black man walking down the street and takes him into custody, thinking that this is the black man who hit him. 

Later the comedy involves mistaken blackface identity again. This time Keaton, who earlier cleaned the dirt from his face, now has a bucket of paint fall on his face. He has a black face again. It’s the second time in four minutes he has a black face.  He manages to clean the black paint from the left side of his face leaving the right side still black. This leads to more mistaken identity with Keaton being mistaken  by police as the black "suspect," because the right side of his face is black, and an innocent white man because the left side of his face is clean. He gets away by hiding in the stroller of a black woman. This black woman goes home to her family. She doesn't know that Keaton is in the stroller. The woman has a stereotypical hair-raising scare when Keaton comes out of the stroller, looking like a ghost. These sequences enforce a few typical stereotypes 

1. Being black is a problem. It will get you in trouble.

2. Blackness is to be mocked, merely for being black.

3. Black people are highly emotional.

This film ends with an acrobatic stunt that could be in a modern version of Cirque du Soleil. There is a three high acrobatic scene that is almost unbelievable. Then the three high becomes a comedic chase scene that ends the movie. It's the type of scene that makes you question if they could do that without modern special effects. 

I should mention that many of the characters in these films are simplistic and two-dimensional. They're there to serve some comedic purposes. They often do things that don't make sense. Many of them do unflattering things and have bad traits. That said, these characters have autonomy. They are actual people living in the same world as Keaton. The Black characters in this film however are there as easy to understand stereotypes. Blackness itself is merely a comedic device. The characters are there only to be black. Keaton's use of blackface and his use of mere blackness reflects the reality of his time. They are there for his convenience. Once the stereotype is presented, and their blackness mocked, they are disposed of, not to be seen again because they are not needed or wanted. 

Typical of how black people were treated then and too often still are today, one hundred years later.