Deadpan

While watching those four short films in class I couldn't help but notice how slow paced all the films were. My written question for that class was asking why these filmmakers decided to use this slow pacing. These films were a complete contrast from what we have today in theaters. The movies nowadays are very fast-paced, and full of action, once you sit down you sit back up again. I was thinking about what professor Carl Bogner said about deadpan and then it hit me. To produce deadpan such slow pacing, as we saw in these films, is essential to create its affect. In Semiotics of the Kitchen deadpan is in clear effect through the movements of Martha Rosler's body. She delivers these movements without any expression or reservation. Deadpan can only be delivered through expression and emotion. A clear example of this emotionless expression is provided by Buster Keaton. He keeps a dead beat face all throughout his films, which involve an array of stunts where he is humiliated and physically put in harm creating an offbeat laughter. I think because you wouldn't expect his face to be that emotionless in such crazy stunts that it creates a certain laughter. Deadpan, to me, is the opposite of what we would normally see in a comedy. Although it is a more rare form of comedy, deadpan can be used in all forms of comedy, like slap-stick, situational, etc. So deadpan becomes an acquired taste.