A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
|
|
|
World of Westfahl |
Encyclopedia Introduction |
All Entries |
Acknowledgements
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
(1883–1930). American actor.
In his best movies, we first observe on the silver
screen the archetypal narrative of horror: the good-hearted but unattractive
monster driven to violence by the cruelty of superficial people who value outer
beauty more than inner virtue. It is of course a narrative with distinguished
literary forebears, including Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(whom Chaney magnificently brought to life) and the monster of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
(whom, had he lived, Chaney surely would have portrayed with equivalent skill);
but Chaney pioneered in demonstrating the cinematic power of this narrative and
established several of its conventions, such as the shocking first appearance
of the monster and its climactic flight from an infuriated mob. This is the
narrative of King Kong, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Psycho,
and Carrie, the narrative that informs classic figures ranging from
Dracula and the Mummy to Jason and Freddie Krueger. The only difference between
Chaney's characters and those of his successors is that Chaney portrayed the
realistic monsters of everyday life that people might see on the street or at
the sideshow—hunchbacks, men horribly scarred and disfigured, men without
arms or legs—and masterfully transformed them into iconic figures who were
simultaneously horrific and sympathetic.
While Chaney's power to arouse audience support for
such unattractive characters might make horror films seem a positive social
force, another aspect of his success is less flattering to the genre. As his
legend grew, buttressed by studio publicity, filmgoers were always aware that
they were watching a normal person cleverly employing innovative makeup
techniques to change his appearance; and this knowledge enabled them to
overcome their natural revulsion to the ugly and malformed. Not understanding
this, one of Chaney's regular directors, Tod BROWNING, unwisely decided after
his death to make a Chaney film without Chaney, hiring real-life circus freaks
as his heroes, leading to a film, Freaks, that was viscerally appalling
to almost everyone at the time. A decade later, an actor disfigured by
acromegaly, Rondo Hatton, was equally unsuccessful in his brief career as a
horror film star. Clearly, horror films do little to promote genuine
understanding and tolerance for those unlike ourselves; people care for their
celluloid counterparts, as Chaney recognized, only because audiences know they
are make-believe.
Assessing those areas where Chaney has had a lasting
impact, one finds, strangely, that he had little effect on the field which he
pioneered, movie makeup, because later generations of makeup artists, unwilling
to torment actors the way that Chaney tormented himself, devised other methods
to make actors look terrifying. But Chaney's surprisingly modern style of
acting, paradoxically best seen in those films where he wears little makeup,
must have influenced some of his successors, and Chaney further played a key
role in cementing the Hollywood star system as one of the main attractions of
the silent film era.
Today, anyone afforded the rare opportunity to watch
one of his films should seize it. True, more than once, contemporary viewers of
his films will squirm and fidget due to their leaden pace and antiquated style;
yet one appropriately endures slow and creaky movements while observing the birth
of a monster.
|
|||||||||||
To contact us about encyclopedia matters, send an email to Gary Westfahl. Hosted & Designed By:
If you find any Web site errors, typos or other stuff worth mentioning,
please send it to our Webmaster.
Copyright © 1999–2009 Gary Westfahl All Rights Reserved Worldwide
