Sherlock Jr

The silent film Sherlock Jr is shot and acted by Buster Keaton in 1924. It tells a story: after being framed as a thief and unsuccessfully saving own reputation in reality, the protagonist the boy” becomes the famous detective saves the heroine and penetrates crime in his dream. Again back to reality, the heroine finds the truth, and they are happily reunited together. Throughout the film, the humor of this film surprises audiences from the beginning to the end, the blending narrative of both reality and the dream creates a dual plot which indirectly makes audiences see the differences of the protagonist in both worlds. The protagonist is failed to do everything in the reality. In the dream, the protagonist becomes the ruler of this realm, and everything becomes his force. In traditional Hollywood cinema, films always panegyrize people’s dream world. However, the purpose of the film is much more than that, by showing the differences between the dream and the reality, Keaton demonstrates to his audiences that a
While in the dream, the substitution of both characters and events are originated from the reality, but with the perfection of the protagonist’s mind. All characters in the dream are much richer than they are in the real world, and they all wear fancy clothes. This time, the thing is stolen is much more expensive, the pearls. Different from dressing in lower class style, the protagonist is garishly transforming into the form of the famous detective and having a gorgeous suit in the dream world. The lavish dress definitely conveys his powerful control of the ongoing events. Unlike the over – humble personality in reality, by taking the persona of the most famous detective Sherlock Jr, he becomes confident in the dream no matter what difficult he meets, he always solves them