I found that Chaplin and Keaton had similar works. Although both were very similar, they still had their own presence and style. What I found most interesting in their work was that both men had a sympathy for people of the lower classes and this was reflected in their works. Likewise, their contempt for greedy people and the state apparatus. This stems from the fact that Chaplin and Keaton were raised in low-income families, with the former experiencing extremely poor conditions in England while growing up. It is interesting to note, however, that Keaton's works did not feature a protagonist as poor and miserable as Chaplin's. As far as acting styles go, there is a significant difference in the way Chaplin uses his body compared to Keaton. Charlie Chaplin mainly focused on the effects produced by different parts of his body to create a character's emotions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Bank is an excellent example of Chaplin using his body to convey the emotions his character is experiencing, as well as presenting comedy. In almost all of Chaplin's films, he has an object in his hand when interacting with the other characters, which allows for more lively movements to elicit whatever emotion Chaplin is trying to express within a scene. In contrast, Buster Keaton doesn't rely much on bodily movements. At the beginning of One Week, Keaton almost seems a little too stiff; this can be seen when he takes away the policeman's baton to stop the car. Even when Keaton swings the cane, it is much less animated and moves more slowly than Chaplin's movements in, for example, The Bank. I also noticed that they share a similarity in creating likable characters while behaving in a somewhat naive, almost distracted way. It seemed to me that Charlie Chaplin relied heavily on the detailed effects produced by his body, so the framing in his films had to be narrower than Keaton's. They were also taken, if memory serves, with a wider lens. Keaton did not use narrow frames and used a long lens, because he chose not to rely too much on body movements; he wanted to show the physical relationship between his characters and other, often larger, objects. The staging and blocking of scenes within each of these two were largely influenced by their respective acting choices. Buster relies more on staging and blocking simply because it relies more on the relationships between characters and the objects they are close to within a scene. It would simply need more orchestrated scenes to pull off comedic tricks. Charlie Chaplin's blocking and staging is on a much smaller scale as he is so physically involved in producing comic effects. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay I think the respective stories of each of the two men is also one to note. This, again, is heavily influenced by their acting choices. For Chaplin, this means making his stories more focused on a few characters, which allows him to focus more on detailed body movements. Keaton, on the other hand, focuses on large-scale stories that need more space to show physical relationships between characters and objects, as well as focusing on many, many characters (e.g. Cops).