The movie The General set during the Civil War tells the unlikely story of a train engineer, rejected by the military with no obvious combat skills or training, winning a battle and become an officer in the Confederate Army.
What is the film telling us about the armed forces, about war and about the values of the military? Does the film promote the military or is it a satire -- and if so, how biting is the criticism? What is war good for?
The movie General can very well be viewed as satire and one could argue that’s the whole point of the movie. Back in the day Military men were viewed as the most brave, honored and intelligent men. The movie General mocks that idea and all stereotypes of Military men that comes with it. The main character, a scrawny, dumb, unintelligent man is the war hero in this movie. These characteristics alone are mocking military men but it’s the actions in the movie that really portray the satire. In many scenes you can see the man getting very lucky and being praised for it. He chased a train not knowing there was a girl on the train but was portrayed as a hero when he realized they captured the girl. Even in attempting to save the girl they made him look clumsy and stupid, hitting his head, tripping and falling and more. When the man was escaping and conducting the train you can see him falling all over the place trying to stop the north from chasing him, there’s even a scene where the train leaves without him. For the opposition they also are mad to look stupid. There’s scenes where the army spent 45 minutes on one railroad problem and couldn’t fix it and a Engineer came along and fixed It in 1 minute. Other scenes is where the General thought it was safe to cross a burning bridge and they all died. There countless scenes where the military is shown as the opposite of what people believed they were. So yes, I believe the movie is satire.
ReplyDeleteThe 1926 movie The General is an iconic slapstick comedy film that interestingly and satirical portrays the absurdities of the military through the zany misadventures of Johnny Gray. The General takes place during the heated tension of the Civil War, an era typically marked by violence, disconnectedness, and death. Instead, the film acts as a breath of fresh air, turning the otherwise sad era of American history into a wacky comedy. The film primarily does this through the apparently inept, moronic, and foolish character Johnny Gray– played by legendary silent-era film actor Buster Keaton. While typically, enlisted soldiers are viewed as stern, capable, and confident men, the film takes a satirical route, showing how one incredibly inept man could be revered as a hero through his unbelievably lucky actions. Initially denied admittance into the Confederate army, Johnny finds himself in the heart of chaos, narrowly escaping danger repeatedly. One such stroke of Johnny’s luck occurs when he finds himself behind enemy lines, and he coincidentally stumbles into significant Union plans that seek to disrupt the Confederate flow of supply. Johnny’s luck is once again realized in the chase scene, where he narrowly avoids peril through tumbling and his other zany maneuvers. One could also consider Union soldiers as incapable fools throughout the film solely based on their inability to thwart Johnny, a narrative that only adds to the film's comedic nature. In the end, Johnny rescues the “damsel in distress” and is hailed as a war hero despite his apparent foolish nature. The film satirically displays the intricacy of war and highlights how sometimes simple notions may be overthought. While the title of “war hero” doesn’t legitimately fit Johnny, his actions, whether lucky or not, have appropriately given him the praise.
ReplyDeleteThe 1926 silent film directed by Buster Keaton, The General, tells us about how the armed forces were not competent, how the Civil War was not very serious, and that the values of the military at the time were not what they should have been. On top of all of this, the movie satirically pokes fun at the military altogether. In this movie, we see a couple of examples of both militaries not being smart/choosing a clearly dumb option. An example of the Union Army making a poor decision would be their decision to cross the bridge while it was aflame. This resulted in their train falling into the river and a swift Confederate victory. An example of when the Confederate army took a misstep was when Johnnie was recruiting them to help him get his train back. They did not check to see whether their train cars were connected to the train engine and were left behind. Both of these blunders were examples of the satirical nature Buster Keaton chose to demonstrate the military. Keaton’s film demonstrated the military and what they do as a whimsical or silly group. An example of this is how at the end of the movie, the officer is giving Johnnie a sword and enlisting him as an officer. Even Johnnie knew this was ridiculous because most of his deeds were not on purpose. For instance, when a union sniper was targeting the men next to him, his sword broke off, causing him to accidentally kill the sniper. This satirical ending also somewhat throws off what we saw in the beginning, which seemed to be a strict group of people who would not let him in.
ReplyDeleteThe General is a 1926 movie by classic slapstick actor Buster Keaton which portrays him being denied by the military, and then getting on his train to go save his girlfriend who rejected him for not being in the army. I think that this move does not accurately show the idea of America's military and is instead a satirical joke about it. Buster Keaton does this by when in one sense he flies through some tracks and switches them so the Confederates cannot follow him. They come to a stop and take hours trying to figure out how to switch this train track back and the generals can't get it but then some engineer comes up and does it with no problem. This shows how he tried to make them look so stupid when the honest reality wasn't that but that's where the comedy came from, making fun of this conference that lost the civil war. In another scene, the Confederate commander decides that a bridge that is burning is still good enough to ride this heavy locomotive over. Which to the average viewer is a terrible idea and then the famous train crash happens. Buster does this to again make fun of their army intelligence. He wants to frame this southern army as stupid people who make these dumb decisions because they had lost the war and this was how. We know that this isn't true but it adds a brilliant level of comedy that would have not other wise been seen leaving the movie feeling very bland and boring.
ReplyDeleteThe General is a silent film classic directed by Buster Keaton and starring Buster Keaton himself, the events of the American Civil War are navigated here not by some purposeful epic but rather by the comic expression of privates actions as they come from a fine training engineer Johnnie Gray who at some point is rejected by the Confederate army and yet never runs out of the spirit of Although untrained for traditional combat, Johnnie inadvertently becomes the center of a battle scene, another reminder of how bravery can manifest from the most unassuming of the characters. Through it, the film takes a more complicated look at the armed forces and war, a critique usually subtly executed, that the bureaucratic structure of the armed forces fails to recognize potential and valor beyond its acceptable norms. Keaton’s narrative shifts the focal point to an everyman-hero, which implies that courage and tactical thinking are not exclusively the domain of those who wear a uniform. The humorous portrayal in “The General” celebrates the behalf of the unvoiced efforts of civilians during a war conflictivity stating that heroism takes on various forms outside the battlefield. Though being more of a satire, “The General” does not fall clearly into this category as not an indirect promotion of military values. Alternatively, it functions in the marginal, with humor and fast paced scenes that addresses whats ridiculous about war, an unpredictable source of heroism. Although the film maintains a critical edge, its comic approach allows it to criticize without alienating, implying some cynicism toward the glorification of war while celebrating courage and creativity. The question “What is war good for?” can be seen in subtle hints referring to the futility of war on one hand, and valor and personal developments found amid disasters of the other. This is “The General”. It shows war not for how grand it may seem in terms of heroism and honor, but as a journey of obstacles that challenge the human spirit.
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