Dreaming in Pictures: The Childhood Origins of Buster Keaton's Creativity

Abstract

Buster Keaton, the silent comedian who never smiled, remains an enigma still today. James Agee detected a freezing whisper ... of melancholia blowing through Keaton's work, but did not probe for its sources. Psychologist Alice Miller went further. In a brief essay, she linked the traumas of Keaton's upbringing with his low-affect comic persona. Miller' s insights provide a starting point for a detailed exploration of Keaton's unique comic vision. We believe that what distinguishes Keaton's work is its use of vaudeville convention as a vehicle for expressing, and attempting to resolve, psychological dilemmas rooted in Keaton's personal history. Our approach has two basic premises: first, that adults' personal struggles are often traceable to childhood traumas, the emotions of which have been repressed. Second, as detailed by Miller, that artists frequently use their art to recreate their emotional histories without being aware that they are doing so. Keaton himself was apparently unaware of the autobiographical dimension of his work, although he recognized that his films originated in fantasy. He observed, I used to daydream an awful lot in pictures.