Sherlock Jr. and Visual Stunts and Gags

Sherlock Jr. (1924) is a short film, starring Buster Keaton, about a young man who works at a cinema but is also studying to be a detective.  The initial thing that got me in the introduction of the film was the moral which, in short, was, "Don't try to do two things at once, you won't do either of them any justice."  Story of my life right there.


Sherlock Jr., being a "silent film," relies heavily on visual gags and stunts in order to carry the plot along or tell a joke.  Many of these gags rely on situations that are so ridiculous and exaggerated that the audience cannot believe (in a sense) that they are happening, creating a sort of situational irony. One of these is the scene where Keaton's character is running on top of a moving train, only to jump onto a water pump and accidentally pull it down causing the water to pour out as a massive waterfall onto him.  Firstly, running on top of a train: who would do that?!  The fact that Keaton's character even got himself into such a situation is ridiculous and hilarious in itself.  What makes it funnier is that his escape form the train only resulted in more bad luck: being under a mass of moving water.  It is not that he got wet, however, it is because the water pump seemed painful.

A lot of comedy relies on violence as well, especially in modern day comedies, be them films or television shows or cartoons.  In Sherlock Jr., many of the gag situations also pose a physical, violent threat to the characters, such as the falling axe trap that activates when one sits on the chair below it.  There is something about (mostly non-fatal) physical humor that instantly hits most audiences' funny bones.  I personally think that it is because, as a rule of comedy, something needs to be thrown under the bus, be it literally or metaphorically.