Heroes Anyone?
In the movie The General Johnnie Gray, a simple engineer,tries to win the heart of his girlfriend by enlisting in the army. Although he is refused, he eventually takes on a group of Northern soldiers who hijack his train. Not only does he rescue his beloved Anabelle (and General), but he also helps defeat a Northern army in battle. Yet, his methods are hardly standard derring-do. Is Johnnie just lucky or a true hero? Does this film endorse standard ideas of military heroism or make fun of them? Or does this movie redefine a hero? What does this movie tell us about heroism (or related concepts of machismo, chivalry, or militarism)?
In The General, Johnnie Gray is portrayed as a hero, but his heroism does not entirely fit with the typical hero’s epic of the time. Johnnie’s heroism is conventional as he not only wins in battle and succeeds in his endeavors, but he also saves the damsel in distress and gets the girl in the end. However, Johnnie’s story differs as the movie challenges the typical gender roles of a man during wartime and portrays Johnnie as a man with something to prove. When Johnnie is denied entrance as a soldier into the army, he becomes an outcast to everyone. His girlfriend refuses to be with him if he “is not in uniform” and her family disowns him and calls him a disgrace to the South. From this point, Johnnie loses his honor and feels dejected, thus beginning his journey. A year later, when Johnnie’s General is stolen, his opportunity to regain his pride has come as he embarks on a journey to reclaim his engine. Along the way, he saves Annabelle, finds his General, and defeats a section of the enemy army. He does this partially through luck, but also through his intellect as an engineer and his natural resourcefulness given the situation. In the scenes where Johnnie bests the Northern army who he chases/eventually chase him, the typical hero persona is present as he first successfully dodges the Northern soldiers attacks/traps, such as the many train cars that blocked Johnnie’s way. Next, he successfully launches his own attacks on the enemies through the firing of the cannon at their train car, the throwing of the debris on the track in front of them, the breaking of the train track, and finally, the burning of the bridge separating Johnnie and the Northern soldiers. This movie attempts to redefine the typical hero in cinema as instead of the hero further demonstrating how heroic he is throughout the movie, The General displays a man who must start from nothing and prove himself as a man and a hero before the curtains close at the end. This movie emphasizes that heroism can be within anyone, but the primary symbol of Johnnie’s heroism is a military uniform, so the movie continues to show that military men are all heroes and Johnnie’s has just been inducted into heroes ranks.
ReplyDeleteIn “The General”, Johnnie Gray is the epitome of a hero based on the results of his actions, but his heroic journey is most definitely not a typical story of heroism. He is denied the ability to enlist, but that does not stop him from chasing after a train the Union attempted to steal, rescuing Anabelle, and being a successful soldier in battle (even though he was still not technically a soldier). These actions solidify Johnnie as a hero, and although luck plays a tremendous role in his journey, this does not denote the courage Johnnie displayed throughout his journey, which is the courage only a true hero could possess. As exemplified in scenes such as when the sword slips out of his hand and kills the Union soldier and when he accidentally shoots the cannonball at the perfect spot to break the dam, Johnnie is definitely a lucky character. However, he presents incredible courage when he instinctively chases after “The General” by himself, when the Northern army steals it. He also goes to extreme measures to save Anabelle by breaking into a Northerner’s house and escaping. While he exhibits his clumsiness several times throughout the movie, Johnnie also shows his ability to think on his feet. An example of this occurs when the Union soldiers are dumping blocks of wood on the railroad tracks and Johnnie takes a block to hit off an upcoming block. Moviegoers are not accustomed to heroes who are as clumsy and scrawny as Johnnie is, but “The General” demonstrates that anybody can be a hero through the proper courage and dedication. Johnnie’s displayed courage trumps his luck and shows viewers that people do not need to possess machismo or any other popularized heroic traits to become true heroes.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe The General portrays Johnnie as a hero. He is a skilled railroad engineer trying to save his love interest, Annabelle, while staving off a group of Union soldiers. The "heroism" we may interpret instead comes from his luck of avoiding the soldiers. However, I would also like to argue that some of Johnnies luck isn't even that. If the Union soldiers were as knowledgeable about railroads as he was, then I doubt he would have made it as far as he did. Take for example when Johnnie bends the track, forcing the other train to stop. The soldiers stare at it, not knowing what to do, for a solid couple of minutes, leaving ample time for Johnnie to get away. As soon as the other railroad engineer takes a look at the track, he is able to bend it back into place with a mallet, while the soldiers continue wondering what had happened. If they had been trained as the engineer and Johnnie had been, this obstacle would not have been nearly as significant. Using his knowledge and various materials aboard the train, Johnnie is able to cause mild inconveniences to outrun the Union soldiers. In addition, his heroism is misinterpreted by the general that enlists him. The general is only able to see the outcomes of Johnnies actions and true luck, and does not know the story as the audience does. To him, Johnnie is a hero because he was crucial in defeating a Union army. That's all he needs to know in order to deem him a hero. The important missing aspect from this is HOW he defeated the army: through dumb luck (Johnnie's sword breaking and killing a man), knowledge (the railroad), and circumstance (it just so happened he was there to witness the plans for an upcoming attack and was able to warn the Confederate army). In this way, Johnnie is not a hero. He is merely a guy that just so happened to be in the right places at the right times.
ReplyDeleteIn, "The General", Johnnie Gray is portrayed as a hero, despite his unorthodox techniques. Firstly, the definition of a hero, in my mind, is somebody who attempts to do good no matter the situation. Johnnie Gray does exactly that, he attempts to do good no matter what situation he is faced with. Firstly, when Johnnie attempts to enlist in the army and is turned away, he doesn't just give up, he keeps trying to enlist, going to any means necessary to do so. Later in the movie, when Johnnie is the first person to notice that their train has been stolen by the North, he does not run away in fear or let someone else take care of the matter. He springs into action, using all of his railway knowledge to attempt to apprehend the Northerners. The most telling example, however, has to be when Johnnie goes to face the North at the river. No eyes were on Johnnie before the battle. The soldiers had left, his love was talking with her father, he could make whatever decision he wanted. Did Johnnie run? Did he flee from danger? No, even though Johnnie had the perfect getaway moment, he headed straight off to the front lines to fight with his fellow Southerners. Why does he do these courageous things? There is evidence to support that he only does this because his love asked him to enlist, however, "The General" is a silent film, and much is left up to interpretation. When I watched "The General", it seemed to me that Johnnie did not only want to impress his love, but he also had a desire to do good. He did not know that his love was on the train when he went after it. His love was busy talking with her father before the final battle. Despite this, Johnnie did the right thing, and did his best to do what he believed in.
ReplyDeleteWhile it may not be Buster Keaton’s intended message in the film, The General, to me, makes fun of the idea of military heroism during the civil war in America. Through Johnnie Gray’s initial motivation to join the army and his continuous luck to eventually earn a lieutenant role in the military, Keaton downplays the legitimacy of the military. Firstly, Johnnie Gray only enlists in the military because of the pressure of pleasing the woman he loves. This sends the first message in the film that men in the army care more about pleasing their wives/spouses than serving their country if his main motivation is the woman he loves and not pride in his confederate army. The argument can be made that it took bravery and tenacity from Gray to continuously chase down the union soldiers who stole his train engine, but his motivation was in saving Anabelle and recovering his engine and not stopping the union soldiers; they were merely obstacles in the pursuit of his goals. Secondly, Johnnie Gray is extremely lucky to defeat the union army during battle. Yes, Gray acts very intelligently in order to save Anabelle and initially escape the union soldiers chasing him, but during actual battle, his luck kills the union sniper when Gray swings his sword around and the blade flies off, and his incompetence somehow leads to the bridge collapsing when he fires the cannon straight up in the air. Keaton tells us that yes, soldiers are brave in representing their nation or cause, but sometimes the pure luck associated with winning a war trumps any sort of “war genius” one side may possess. This shows true with the last point; when Gray receives a promotion to the role of lieutenant in the army for winning the battle, Keaton is making the argument that soldiers are rewarded solely for their accomplishments, having their true skill overlooked. All of these points fit into the theme Keaton presents in the film that military heroism is not as heroic as it may seem.
ReplyDeleteIn "The General", Buster Keaton plays with the idea of what "heroism" is, incorporating comedy to tell Johnnie Gray's journey to save the South. In standard modern films such a superman, we can see that a hero is someone who is courageous and can be admired for their noble actions, despite their flaws as a human. In Buster Keaton's film, we can see that, in order to protect his loved ones, Johnnie was willing to sacrifice his life and attempt to sign up to become a soldier. Even though he was denied from signing up due to his value of being an engineer, Johnnie kept trying, getting in line over and over again to try to get enlisted, but was eventually forcibly kicked out without knowing why. Because of this, Johnnie was shamed by his girlfriend Annabelle and her family, portraying his humanity. These flaws are similar to modern films, such as Superman's weakness to Kryptonite. Even though Johnnie became discouraged temporarily, we can see his courage replenish immediately when noticed the Union stealing a train, pursuing them to hell and back. Using his wit and experience, Johnnie was able to pursue the North to the point he was lost in enemy territory. In the middle of Johnnie's train chase, we can see the South retreating backwards, which contrasts Johnnie's pursuit forward, chopping firewood to make his train move even faster. Johnnie's courage only increases when he was hiding under a table in Union territory, not only realizing the North had kidnapped Annabelle, but also hearing their plan of attack as well. Stealing a Union uniform, Johnnie risked his life to pretend to be a Northern soldier, using his wit and courage once again to figure out a plan to steal back a Northern train. However, in contrast to Johnnie's courage, he is once again humanized when he is throwing Annabelle in a shoe bag, accidentally throwing her in too hard (with other Northern soldiers throwing even more boxes on top of her), showing that even a courageous hero can have flaws. In the last scene of the fight on the river, we can see Johnnie's peak hero moment. Similar to his pursuit of the train, Johnnie courageously jumped into battle without question. Though he could have easily ran away from battle out of spite of the South denying him from become a soldier, Johnnie picks up a sword, and decides to fight. However, his humanity shows once again through comedy as he is actually not able to swing his sword since the blade kept shooting off. Despite this, it worked for him in the end as he was able to kill a North solder who was sniping Southern soldiers. In the end, we can see Johnnie acting out of courage to save what he loved. Protecting his train and his girlfriend (Johnnie was honestly too good for her though), Buster Keaton wanted us to view Johnnie as a hero, someone who not only courageously went into enemy territory, but also saved the two loves of his life, despite his flaws.
ReplyDeleteWhat defines a hero is hard to determine. Everyone has an opinion of what a hero needs to be. The General features Johnnie doing many heroic acts. He goes behind enemy lines, warns the army about an attack and saves the two loves of his life, General and Anabelle. He is hailed as a hero at the end of the movie, which at face value makes sense. Those hearing about his accomplishments are amazed, because they don’t know the full story that we the audience see. Many of his feats are the result of luck, or as its in movies, plot devices. Ignoring the fact that it is a movie, Johnnie’s feats are mostly luck. He does have some ingenuity and resourcefulness however to support him. Some of Johnnie’s feats that are not attributed to luck are a lot of the train scenes. When the North army is pursuing him, he tries many things to slow them down. He throws supplies down onto the track which require their train to slow and push them off. Another example of his cleverness, is when he destroys the track behind him. Destroying the track was strategic, and as shown in the film, the North soldiers were unable to figure it out on their lonesome. These feats are also combined with some cases of extreme luck. When using a broken sword, he happens to gesture and end up killing the main sniper. He also experiences extreme luck when the first house he finds and gets into just happens to be the house where the union generals are discussing a secret attack plan. This allows him to warn the south and save the day. In light of these events, its hard to determine whether Johnnie is a hero or not. What can be for certain is that he was a clever man who also got very lucky.
ReplyDeleteThis movie clearly lets us know that Johnnie is a hero through his actions and the way people treat him after he saves them. The movie first tricks the viewers into thinking Johnnie is just going to be an engineer on a train, not a hero because he did not get enlisted to fight in the war. People viewed the soldiers as the potential heroes and “macho” men in the movie. Little did anyone realize was that Johnnie can help win the war equally as much as a soldier could. The other side was chasing Johnnie down in his train, and Johnnie responded in a very heroic way. Johnnie first rescued the love of his life, who was in the train in front. He used a cannon to scare them and wood to attack them. His love was so thankful and treated him as her hero. She would do anything for him now because he saved her life. He really did need her help when the train behind them then started attacking and coming after Johnnies train. When Johnnie saw them coming, he was forced to think fast, and heroes are great at thinking on the spot. He started throwing fire wood across the train tracks and messing up the tracks. He was constantly thinking of what he could do to distract the train behind. His quick thinking worked, and he made it back to his town in enough time to warn them the other side was about to attack. This gave his town time to prepare and defeat the enemies. After, Johnnie was looked up to and respected as if he was a “macho” soldier. The movie shows anyone can be a hero.
ReplyDeleteAlthough that this movie shares large ideas of heroism to its audience, I do not think that the movie takes itself serious enough for the audience to do any critical thinking during the film with the presence of so many different gags. Overall, the movie doesn’t have the power to redesign what a hero is In “The General”, I think that Johnnie Gray is a true hero because of his intent to do the right thing even when the situation isn’t in his favor. One example of this happening is when his train gets stolen and Johnnie is the only one to chase the train. The message that the movie is trying to tell is that being a hero isn’t about how many people follow you or support you, and it isn’t if you can get the objective done. It’s about having the inherent intent to want to do the right thing no matter what. This film endorses ideas of heroism because of the classic saving the girl that’s in distress situation. While Johnnie’s girlfriend isn’t completely helpless. At the end of the day she is the one that has to be saved by Johnnie in the North, therefore reinforcing the idea of damsel in distress. Johnnie is a true hero in the way that he went to so many lengths to save his train and when he was in the North and was under the table listening to their battle plans, his first instinct was to get home and warn other of the impending attack, saving the south.
ReplyDeleteJohnnie Gray of The General is seemingly a simple engineer, however, he proves to be capable of much more beyond his career. Johnnie Gray demonstrates the true characteristics of a hero throughout his journey to interfere with a Northern battle plan, defeat their army, and rescue Anabelle. Johnnie Gray is working on the railroad track in the South when the Northern Army hijacks his train with Anabelle in one of the cars. Without hesitation, Gray springs to action to chase after the enemy. Gray’s sense of duty and courage is consistent with that of any hero. Many critics argue that Gray’s success in battle is largely due to luck. As lucky as Gray is in his quest towards defeating the northern Army, he is equally unlucky. After a series of failed attempts to chase after the hijacked train, Gray assembles an army to join him on his endeavors. However, Gray unknowingly leaves his army behind due to a disconnect between the front and back end of the train. Despite Gray’s missteps in execution, he has the valor to continue his journey. While Gray might have only been able to damage the opposing army due to a lucky cannon shot, he risks his life to achieve his goal. Prior to the perfect shot, Gray nearly dies in his attempt to fire the cannon when the latch attaching the back car to the train is released, the cannon angle is knocked loose to face Gray, and his foot is caught around a chain. No series of events in succession could have been more unfortunate than this one, but Gray would not stand down. Gray exerts his full effort to remove himself from his unfortunate bind, and ultimately, the cannon is positioned perfectly towards the enemy when it fires. Gray is fortunate to have avoided damaging himself and his own train, but what he lacks in combat experience and training, he makes up for in tenacity and determination. As a result, Gray is able to carry out his numerous missions in the nick of time. Regardless of the means by which Gray defeats the army and rescues Anabelle, his noble intentions and morals are evident. Gray is lucky to have survived the mission, but that does not make him any less of a hero. He has the courage and fierce determination to continue his journey despite his unfortunate challenges, and the outcome was similar to that of any heroic story: he defeats the enemy and saves the girl. Superman is lucky to have extraordinary powers, superhuman strength, and the ability to fly, however, he would not be considered a hero if he was not moral, courageous, and thoroughly dedicated to achieving his mission. The same applies to Gray and his exceptional heroism. Gray is celebrated and promoted to Lieutenant upon his return to the South. A hero does not always have to carry out the mission successfully, as evident by the many fallen soldiers that were honored during the civil war and are honored presently. A little bit of luck is always involved in battle, as it is impossible to exactly predict the actions of the opposing side and it is nearly impossible to foresee equipment malfunctions. Ultimately, the conclusion of The General reveals that a true hero is someone who is devoted to a noble cause, regardless of the unforeseeable challenges they face, and has the fortitude and dedication to fight until death towards achieving their goal.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIn The General, Johnnie Gray is portrayed as a true hero. After he is denied the ability to enlist in the army, he still finds a way to impress his girlfriend, Anabelle. After witnessing a stolen train that is holding Anabelle captive, Johnnie decides to do something about it. He decides to go and chase after the train. In the end, he saves Anabelle from the North and is deemed a hero. Although his methods are unconventional, his actions still portray him as a brave man. His tactics of defeating the Northern army are eccentric, but that does not stop him from his main goal of being a savior. During one scene, Johnnie takes the supplies that were aboard the train and he throws them down on the railroad. This would give Johnnie more time to gain a larger lead. Johnnie is for sure a lucky character, but that does not stop him from being extremely courageous throughout his actions. For instance, Johnnie is lucky when he throws his sword during a fighting scene and kills a shooter by accident, or when the entire bridge collapses right after his train went on it. Johnnie is courageous when he goes into the Northern Army’s base to save Anabelle or when he attempts to defeat the Northern Army all by himself. The General demonstrates that anyone can become a hero with the right mindset. Johnnie’s courage shows all audience members that people do not need to have machismo to become a real hero.
In the movie, The General, Johnny is not the traditional or stereotypical hero that is seen in movies in the 20s or of a heroic soldier from the Civil War. He was diminutive, academically intuitive, and clumsy. However, he still sacrifices himself for his love and his pride for the South. Many of his triumphs against the North are sheer luck but this not discredit the risk he takes. He travels from the train stations into a Union base where he sneaks past the heavy security to save his lover. There are many times where he could have easily given up and turned his back. Just like a hero, he is doubted by many and is initially considered a traitor to the South because his community does not believe that he tried to enlist. He has is own arc where he goes from cowardly engineer to a mighty hero for the South. Johnny has many miscues where his attempts to fight the north work out despite their apparent failure. The audience understands these episodes but the characters in the movie see him as a hero who defeats the North and saves the girl. The light in which the characters in the movie view him is quite important. The actions of Johnny are not the greatest, but the results speak for themselves. This movie redefines heroism as it is not just the stereotypical "macho man" who succeeds in the end. Johnny portrays a hero that many can relate to even though it's not conventional. The movie ultimately portrays him as a hero because the ending of the movie shows his receiving applause from his community. This is the last scene shown in the movie and as a result, what the last thing the director wanted us to see. The audience is meant to see themselves cheering on Johnny as the community has and see Johnny as the hero the South needed.
ReplyDeleteThough Johnnie is portrayed as hero in the film, I believe that the movie is actually making a mockery of what we think of as a typical hero. A typical hero is someone who has the brain and /or brawn to stand up and either fight against evil or for good, without any help from luck or the universe. The two most important and stereotypically heroic events in Johnnie's journey are brought on by luck. When he finds out about the North's plan to invade the South it was because he got lucky and ended up under the table of the Northern officers as they were making the plan. When he saved Anabelle it was 100% luck because he had no idea she was even being held hostage. Though not every event that happened along Johnnie's journey was pure luck, the important parts were. When he is awarded Lieutenant, it is only because the officers awarding him don't know anything about his journey, they only know the end result. The message this conveys is that the only thing that matters is that the result is good. How you get there doesn't matter as long as it turns out good. Which is the attitude a lot of films have towards the concept of military heroism. It doesn't matter how many people you hurt or kill in the process, as long as you win, you are a hero. This is an ideology that goes against the definition of a true hero. By awarding Johnnie the title of hero based only of the result of his journey, the film mocks the idea of military heroism by showing how ridiculous and far from the true definition of a hero it really is.
ReplyDelete