A Film Canon

The apotheosis of Keaton's previous films, The General is the strongest silent comedy that I have seen to date. There's a perfect integration of gag and narrative, mainly because Keaton manages to isolate and perpetuate the moment at which he is objectified, thereby remaining on the threshold between subject and object for the majority of the narrative; or, alternatively, becoming both more of a subject and more of an object than in any of his previous films. As an unprecedented object, Keaton fills The General with a logistical ingenuity matched only by Sherlock, Jr. However, as an unprecedented subject, Keaton is forced to deflect part of this ingenuity onto the objects that surround him in a similar, but far more elegant, manner to the The Navigator. The clearest identification is between Keaton and his beloved locomotive, although his eventual incorporation into the army also signifies a deflection of sorts. The result is that Keaton's signature 'trajectory-gag' is slightly modified. Instead of becoming an object that moves through a continually fluctuating universe, Keaton attaches himself to such an object and subjectivises it, with the result that his locomotive feels like a body, a character and, ultimately, a house, or home.