Sample Response for "Notes on the Sight Gag"

The following is an example of an exceptional response to the assignment on Noel Carroll's "Notes on the Sight Gag" as it applies to the silent films viewed in class.  The response is exceptional not because it goes beyond the assigned page length, but because the writer demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the incongruity that underlies the various types of sight gags Carroll discusses.  Throughout his analysis of the sight gags in class films, the writer also pays attention to Carroll's argument about the sight gag's role in rendering cinema an art.   

Noel Caroll wrote "Notes on the Site Gag" to further the understanding of the concept of the "site gag" and its place in film comedy.  The purpose of his essay is not to give an ultimate explanation or create a concrete classification of the sight gag, but rather, its purpose is to open up new ideas in this field in order to nurture an analysis of this film device.  Perhaps his hypothesis is of utmost importance wherein he writes that one must show that "film need not slavishly reproduce reality; it (can) also creatively reconstitute it"(Carroll 39).  Thus the concept of the sight gag gives good evidence to show that film is not just a mechanical representation of life; it is much more than that.

Drawing from Carroll's essay, one could say that a sight gag is a humorous device used in movies, in which different visual interpretations, both by the audience members and by the character's themselves, play an integral part in forming the humor.  Important to this definition is the viewpoint that "the type of humor of which the sight gag is a subcategory
is often analyzed in terms of incongruity"(Caroll 26).  We often laugh at things which are incongruent.  A particular type of incongruence used in sight gags occurs when two characters perceive a situation in an entirely different manner.  We as the viewers can see the incongruence in their viewpoints though they cannot. This creates a situation that can be funny or amusing.
        
At this time it is also important to point out that Carroll specifically points out that the reason for why sight gags are amusing is not contained in his essay.  He simply pairs the funny nature of the sight gag with incongruence.  In other words, one must discover, or analyze the basis of the humor that stems from incongruence in order to realize the answer to the question of why we are inclined to laugh at sight gags.

An example of a sight gag in the recently viewed film The General occurs when Buster Keaton walks along the sidewalk on the way to his house in order to meet his girlfriend, who we presume that he hasn't seen for sometime.  As he walks along the sidewalk he picks up (unknowingly) some children who begin to follow him, and most notably a young woman (whom is the girl the Keaton is looking for).  Thus the camera shows a train of people, in which Keaton is at the forefront, unaware of the two children and a woman at his rear.  As Keaton walks up to the house
and knocks on the door, he is nervous and fixes his hair.  It is amusing to watch because the woman whom he is knocking for is standing directly behind him and he doesn't know it.  The point is that we know it.  We are informed of the entire situation.  Finally he looks behind him and realizes his position and the gag is over.  
        
Keaton, as Carroll states, has an "inattention or unawareness of the surrounding environment-an inattention that is palpably portrayed in the shooting (Carroll 30)".  This type of sight gag works extremely well with this type of acted out personality. The gag and the unawareness are
potentially inseparable elements.  
        
The aforementioned scene is an example of Carroll's classification of the first sight gag: "The mutual interface or interpretation of two (or more) series of events (or scenarios)."  Another great example of this sight gag occurs when Keaton, at the end of the film, is forced to change
his uniform.  He sadly takes of his uniform (with the perception that he will have to wear his old clothes), yet he's given the new clothing of a general.  Thus we see that the man giving Keaton his clothes and Keaton himself have different perceptions of the situation but we, however, have
a mutual interpretation of both perceptions.

Still another example of this type of gag happens when Keaton luckily fires one cannonball into the path of the hijacked train in front of him forcing the bandits to perceive that Keaton is an army of men when in actuality he is just one man.  We again perceive and mutually understand the situation and it is funny.
        
The fifth classification of Sight Gags, the object analog (which seems to share a small gray or overlapping area with the switch movement and the switch image) is also portrayed in The General.  The object analog is well defined by Carroll's words in that it is "the refunctionalization of objects".  One example that occurs in The General begins just after Keaton is told by his girl that he cannot see her until he is in uniform.  This disappoints him and he then takes a seat on the wheels of a railroad engine.  Deep in thought he sits still and silently on the metal track that connects the wheels.  Yet the conductor starts the engine up, and as the engine starts to move, Keaton is led up and down by the
locomotive in a very amusing manner.  Yet he maintains his posture as though it was a perfectly normal seat, and still further he rides on the seat into the nearest tunnel all in seriousness.  Thus the engine performs the act of refunctionalizing as a normal seat.  And perhaps this sight gag can also be referred to and classified under mutual interference, simply because Keaton is unaware when the engineer is starting the engine and preparing to move the train.  In fact, neither the engineer nor Keaton are aware of each other's position.  

This set-up comedic device is the basis and the core of the sight gag.  The sight gag is a device that thoroughly readjusts one's view of silent film.  These throughout conceptions of humor show that silent film is an art form and not simply a medium defined by moving mechanical representation.