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)?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think the question of Johnnie Gray’s heroism is one that could go both ways. He is originally portrayed as a useless cause to the war, not being allowed to be enlist and not being accepted by his lover because of it. As he continues his duties as a train conductor, the Union army hijacks the train with Annabelle still on it and takes off down the railroad. Johnnie is the only one to attempt chasing after it, and after many failed attempts to reach it, he ends up getting control of another train to pursue them in chase. Throughout the movie, he rescues Annabelle and they end up being chased by the Union army when they realize there is no Confederate soldiers present on their train. The comedy of the movie is found in the mistakes, specifically known as gags, performed by the character Johnnie Gray. Most of his advances/successes in the pursuit come from non-intentional actions. Nevertheless, they still end up working in his favor or against the Union army. This does make him a hero, even if he doesn’t intend on a positive outcome of things. I think from this he can be considered an unexpected hero. I don’t think that this film necessarily makes fun of standard ideas of military heroism, but I don’t think it is endorsing typical standards. It gives wiggle room for what can be expected but I think people after this film would still have respect for the military and standards because they understand the failure of certain troops is used for comedy and not because that is how it actually is. I think overall this movie is endorsing the fact that anybody can be a hero and to not give up when at first you don’t succeed. Johnnie didn’t fit the typical ideal of a hero, especially in the standards of military, but he pursued the cause guided by love and ended up helping his side win a battle as well as get the girl. It does not matter if he meant to be a hero or not, he ended up portraying a true hero. Even if some things were by luck, all of his actions make him a hero regardless.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie The General, Johnnie Gray is in fact a hero in his own sense. It is clear throughout the film that Johnnie is not the typical person that one would think of when the word hero is used. However, because of his relentlessness and intelligence he is able to redefine what it means to be a hero. After his train is stolen, he attempts to chase it down on foot, using a handcar, and riding a bike. Although he falls off the bike, and his handcar flies off the train tracks (with some help from the thieves), he perseveres and steals a train of his own. In any good hero’s journey there is going to be failure, but what sets a hero aside from any ordinary person is their ability to bounce back from a stroke of misfortune or bad news. Johnnie Gray’s fight through adversity and eventual success is a key aspect in what makes him a hero. Another important factor of Johnnie’s success is his ability to outsmart his enemies. For example, when he bends the train tracks so that his pursuers cannot proceed, leaves the men that are supposed to be ‘the heroes’ dumbfounded. Despite this, one could argue that Johnnie’s good fortune is what lead him to success, meaning that he cannot be a hero. While this is partially true, his luck comes and goes throughout the film, but what always stays is his perseverance and intellect. For these reasons, in The General, Johnnie Gray is able to redefine what it means to be a hero. This movie is telling the viewer that one does not need to be strong or trained in how to fight to be a hero. This movie shows that anyone can be a hero in their own right as long as they have the passion for their cause to persevere.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen you hear the word 'hero', what pops into your mind? Probably someone strong and larger than life. Although, in the movie The General, Johnnie turns that stereotype around, he is a true hero, but in an untraditional manner. In the beginning of the film, he is not a hero, but his valiant actions lead him to heroism. It is true; he relied upon luck for most of his extravagant actions, such as throwing a sword in the air and falling on the only enemy in the area. Although, being lucky does not denote his persistence and cunning ability. In fact, I would argue that since his birth, Johnnie has been unlucky. In the time period, a man of his short stature was looked down upon and cut off from opportunities other men might have. Although, even after rejection from the confederate military he does not give up. Being shut down by his lover and his country does not stop him, for it empowers Johnnie to take action. Throughout the film, Johnnie has many setbacks that would stop other men, but through his persistence he not only survives, he thrives. For example, when the train was stolen Johnnie was the only one to continue chasing on foot because the other soldiers had given up without a fight. Luck, had nothing to do with him chasing after that train; his courage on the other hand had everything to do with it. Unlike many other characters in the film, when faced with adversity, Johnnie does not shy away because he needs to prove to himself that he can do it. Johnnie is a hero not because of rank, brute strength, or ability, but because of his persistence, courage and selfless actions. This film does not redefine what a hero is, but highlights that anyone, through his or her actions, can be a hero.
ReplyDeleteJohnnie Gray is portrayed as a very different kind of hero in The General than many other stories. Throughout the entire film, his accomplishments are achieved almost entirely through luck, with very little skill. He is also lacking in much noble motivation relative to his surroundings; although he ends up causing victory for his side of the battle in the end, his initial motivations have nothing to do with saving the day. The only reason he begins pursuing the opposing military officials in the first place is because he likes his train and wants it back. The typical hero in a story has some sort of strong motivation like fighting for those around them, stopping some sort of evil figure, etc, but Johnnie’s initial goal is an entirely personal one, with no thoughts toward saving others or doing something noble. However, he begins changing with the reveal of two pieces of information: that Annabelle has been kidnapped, and vital intel on the next moves of the opposing army. It could be easy to see this and just say that Johnnie just has a longer growing period than the average hero before becoming a valiant, brave figure, but I don’t think this is the case either. He obviously cares enough to save Annabelle and warn the military of the threat, but his character still functions as a much different take on the typical hero for the rest of the film. Most notably, he spends the majority from this point onward simply fleeing from the Union officers, which is very different from a lot of heroes. In many films, the heroes are often the ones doing the chasing, but in The General Johnnie is the one being chased for almost the entire second half. Lastly, when the fight between the two armies commences, Johnnie still doesn’t seem to be fitting the hero role, at least not in a serious way. He pretends to be commanding the army while not actually doing anything, just simply waving his sword around. The one major development in his character is that he starts relying on some more skill rather than luck as the story progresses, but his overall character serves to portray a less driven and brave hero than what is typically seen.
ReplyDeleteIn Buster Keaton’s The General, Johnny Gray is a true hero, but only because he is lucky; therefore, the film claims that standard ideas of military heroism are nothing more than over-glorified falsehoods. First, there can be no doubt that Johnny Gray’s luck leads him to be perceived by those around him as a hero. Throughout the entire ordeal of rescuing his girlfriend, Annabelle Lee, and either escaping from or confronting the Union Army, Johnny Gray consistently experiences fortunate events. For example, when Johnny tries to remove obstacles on the train track, he manages to hit one wooden log with another at just the right angle such that the impeding log is somehow knocked out of the way at the very last second. As an additional example, Johnny’s sword, which he uses to command his fellow Confederates, breaks at an impossibly perfect point such that it strikes and kills a Union sniper who would have otherwise shot Johnny. Although Johnny’s success throughout The General is entirely a product of his extensive luck, he nevertheless receives recognition as a true hero. Towards the end of the film, Johnny receives a promotion in the Confederate Army for his heroism as perceived by his military superior. Given that Johnny’s actions are perceived as heroic, there can be no doubt he is a hero; because the actions that lead to his perception as a hero all arise from his luck, the film argues that “true” heroism does not lie in skill. The General extends Johnny’s story to claim that standard ideas of military heroism arise from over-glorification. The film pushes this claim by emphasizing the incompetence of generals and soldiers, who are traditionally considered to be heroic. By simply hiding under a table, Johnny overhears the Union generals’ military plans. Even when one of the generals burns a hole through the tablecloth, not one of the men notice Johnny, who, in effect, becomes a spy. Generals are considered to be heroic because they are masters of military strategy and keeping their plans hidden. By showing that the generals are not able to keep their military strategy hidden, the film argues that their heroism is an over-glorification and not based on true ability. Furthermore, while the Union soldiers pursue Johnny, only the simple engineer is able to reroute the train track - the soldiers are unable to do so. Yet again, the film shows that the traditionally heroic soldiers are incompetent and that their heroism is unearned and over-glorified. Perhaps just like Johnny, any of their previous promotions and respect arose from nothing more than luck.
ReplyDeleteIn Buster Keaton's The General, Johnnie portrays hero-like traits, such as quick thinking, compassion and drive, yet only succeeds through luck and coincidence, which proves Keaton was making fun of standard military heroism, as he let a clumsy, yet lucky man defeat an opposing army. Johnnie was rejected by the Army and Annabelle Lee, which lit a fire in his chest he used to fight the North. This passion led to the act of stealing the train, avoiding obstacles and traps, and in the end succeeding, which was driven by mostly luck and quick thinking, not a traditional military strategy. He is a hero in his own mind, and though he did display traits of a hero, he does not fit the traditional role of a hero. When Johnnie is throwing wood for the engine on the train, he continually messes up, knocking off more wood than he put on in the end. This painted Johnnie as incompetent with simple tasks, which made it more surprising that he defeats his enemies. He is very clumsy, tripping several times throughout the film, knocking over a table as he rescues his maiden, ungracefully moving throughout the train as it moves, and many more instances. The film did not attempt to portray Johnnie as a well put together soldier, rather as more of an underdog doing his best. This is shown even more prominently when he sneaks into a Northern generals house to steal food, and gets trapped there overnight. However, due to his luck, Annabelle is taken to the same house, and he's given a chance to rescue her. Again he is put into lucky situations where he barely wins, able to be his own hero. In the end, this film pokes fun at how a clumsy, disorganized engineer can outsmart entire battalions, as he ends up becoming a lieutenant in the end. This movie redefines heroism on a personal level, allowing the underdog to take center stage and be the driving force to victory. Johnnie was able to defeat the enemy with no training, tripping his way through tasks, but in the end he’s a hero to Annabelle and himself, and that’s enough to him. That's what makes a hero in this film, which defy the societal norms from the era.
ReplyDeleteIn Buster Keaton's movie The General, Johnnie Gray challenges traditional ideas of physical strength and military prowess making one a hero; instead, he becomes a hero in other ways, including being clever, determined, and just being in the right place at the right time. The film establishes the societal norm of military heroism in the very beginning of the movie, as due to Johnnie being unable to enlist in the Confederate Army, his girlfriend says that she will not talk to him until he is in uniform. This rejection forced him to continue on his current career of managing trains, which ended up involving him in the war effort. As Johnnie's train was stolen by Union saboteurs, Johnnie used everything that he could in order to get his train back, even using outlandish methods such as using a bicycle or shooting at it with a makeshift cannon. This scene is interesting, as it establishes his determination (which is considered a generally heroic character trait), but the craziness of some of these methods establish him as a character who is rather clumsy, which helps to foreshadow his luck that comes in handy later in the film. As he rescues Annabelle and tries to get his train back from the Union Army, he utilizes traits such as cleverness and intelligence to throw the Union Army off his trail, by hiding Annabelle in a shoe sack and destroying one of the rails so that the Union Army cannot pass. These two traits of determination and cleverness, while not necessarily representative of military heroism, represent Johnnie’s heroism regardless and show that one does not need to be particularly strong or brave to be a hero. However, one of Johnnie’s greatest aids in the movie is his being in the right place at the right time, and this sets the groundwork for many of the actions that would render him a hero in his hometown. For example, the only reason that he finds out the plan of the Union Army attack is because he accidentally finds himself underneath a dinner table in a building being used by the Union Army; insofar as one of his most heroic actions (at least to his community) is helping the Confederate Army repel the Union Army, it can be said that this heroism was significantly influenced by luck. Another example of Johnnie’s luck is when his sword breaks during the battle at a very convenient time and angle, killing the sniper who was set to shoot Johnnie in an incredible way. Overall, The General challenges traditional heroic values such as bravery and strength. Johnnie Gray does not have much of these characteristics, but he is very determined and is quite clever, both of which help him become a hero at the end, not to mention his luck that sets the groundwork for many of these heroic actions.
ReplyDeleteIn Buster Keaton's movie, The General, Johnnie Gray is a hero, not because he is the greatest soldier or best fighter, but rather because he is clever and quick witted and is able to come up with solutions to problems on the fly. At the same time however, he makes a lot of mistakes due to how quickly he is coming up with these said solutions. As such, throughout the whole film, he is having to deal with problems that not only his enemies have caused, but rather problems he himself has caused. What this does is allow Johnnie to be a lot more relatable than your run of the mill big muscled action hero. Instead of being some knight in shining armor, he's just a raggedy engineer who is put in extraordinary circumstances to go and save his girlfriend from the enemy. It makes anyone believe that they can also be a hero like Johnnie, not through being an extraordinary human being, but rather by simply being clever. I believe that's the point of the movie. To prove that heroism isn't exclusive to those standout people who are able to take on any challenge with ease. It's to prove that often times a more relatable and grounded protagonist can lead to more entertaining and endearing character. For example, when there is that log on the train track, he had the clever idea of using another log to knock that one off. If he was purely lucky, then something else would have knocked the log out, but because he himself had to find a way to clear it out, that shows his talent and resourcefulness. That's not to say, however, that all of his actions are attributed to his cleverness and smarts. There are many times in the film where he is fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. For example, there is one scene where the sentry sees him and shoots at him. He could have easily been killed by the sentry, but he was luckily just outside of where the bullet hit. But we as humans make mistakes, and sometimes there are times where we should easily be killed, but due to luck, we make it out. Overall, The General challenges the general stereotypes of an action hero and flips them on their head, where a character wins in the end not out of sheer strength, but rather intelligence and intellect.
ReplyDeleteIn the “The General”, by Buster Keaton, Jonnie Gray is a train engineer that tries to enlist in the civil war and gets denied, but in the end he is the hero and helps win the war mostly by luck. Throughout the film, Jonnie accidentally gets himself into troubling situations and walks away basically unscathed usually in a humorous way multiple times. It is important to note that he does it humorously because he often gets out of these troubling situations unknowingly and sometimes Jonnie is going up against northern soldiers and wins. From this, an average viewer can see that Buster Keaton is making fun of military heroism because he makes it seem that some halfwit could part take in a war and almost single handedly win it for his side. For examples, Jonnie was able to get his hands on a northern uniform and a boot bag to hide his girlfriend, to sneak out of enemy lines back to the south on a train and then informed the southern army of an incoming attack and setting a bridge on fire to ambush the north later. While that might not seem hilarious, there were little gags Jonnie did that helped progress the film. These were some of the gags, when Jonnie got the boot bag he backed up into a tree and then put his hands up and look frighten because he thought it was a soldier when it was not. After Jonnie’s girlfriend got in the boot bag, he carried her through the northern camp to the trains and was undetected by the northern soldiers that were everywhere. One of the last gags of the scenes that were described was when Jonnie had set the bridge on fire so the northern trains could not follow them anymore, Jonnie was on the wrong side of the fire and had trouble getting around it so he tried to jump over the fire but just fell through the tracks, that just burned, into the water below. A little bit later, the northern trains arrived and the one in front tried crossing the bridge that was on fire because they thought it was not burned enough, but when they tried to cross the bridge collapsed and the southern army ambushed them, leaving the north to fight or turn back and retreat. From these gags it can be seen Jonnie was able to outwit the northern military and help the south win while he was just trying to save his girlfriend back to safety on the south side. This is making fun of the military because Jonnie main goal was not even fighting against the north, making it seem like just any average person could go join the military and have their main goal beating the other army and do it easily with little effort involved. However, it redefines heroism as something that can be attained as a by-product of someone completing their main goal by using their gut instincts, their intuition, and what they felt were the right choices to achieve their goal.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIn the movie The General, Johnnie Gray, an engineer, is a hero, but this is only because he is simply lucky. Johnnie Gray does not fit the stereotypical “heroic” build. He is not the big, strong hero with some sort of special ability, but rather a short, skinny engineer who is vitally clever. His ability to muster out solutions to major problems on the fly is why we see him survive many challenges in the film. With that being said, he does use a good amount of chance/luck in these solutions, which makes him seem incredibly lucky throughout the entire film. An example of this is when he is in battle with the Union, and he ends up miraculously killing a Union sniper. The sniper is picking off Confederate soldiers left and right, so Gray attempts to grab the attention of the soldiers by pointing his sword in the direction of the shooter. Eventually, the blade of the swords flies off the guard/handle and lands in the back of the sniper. This scene and many others throughout the film seem to cap off the thought that Johnnie Gray is a very lucky engineer. With this film taking place in the midst of a war (Civil War is being fought in the movie), this Buster Keaton movie seems to make fun of the ideas of military heroism. I say this because of the many scenes where the soldiers in the film are made to be unintelligent or even incompetent. The whole concept of the film where an ordinary engineer just walks into battle and forces an entire army to surrender is insulting itself, but it is truly telling at the end of the battle when Johnnie Gray places the Confederate flag. After the Union retreats, Johnnie picks up the big Confederate flag and places it on a rock. When he takes a step forward, it turns out the he is standing on the head of a soldier. This moment makes me believe the film is making a mockery of military heroism. Although there is a lack of military heroism in a movie that seems to be about war, the film does a good job redefining what it means to be a hero. It is expressing that a hero does not have to be the biggest or the best, but more so someone that is willing to for others and what they believe in. This movie reminds us all that anyone can be a hero.
I think that in The General, the main character Johnnie Gray proves that heroism is subjective. You don’t have to be a traditional, buff “knight in shining armor” to be a true hero, there are other qualities more important, and in many cases luck plays a large role in the success of his endeavors. At the beginning when he is sent away from enlisting he starts comparing himself physically to the “heroes” of the South. He is the most important hero in the end, and this makes fun of the stereotype of the hero being the strongest buffest person in the story. If not for Johnnie Gray, the North would have gotten away with their plan, so in the end he saved the South, the fact that he succeeded mainly due to luck doesn’t matter. I think that one of the messages this story tries to convey is that the qualities important to being a hero aren’t physical, things like perseverance, bravery, and quick thinking. Johnnie Gray demonstrates all of these qualities, such as when he’s trying to load the wood on the top of the train car and it keeps falling off, or when he quickly comes up with a plan to steal his train back, and when he’s building the fire to burn the bridge and gets stuck on one side, and tries to get back to the train. Johnnie Gray was a hero because he was lucky, but if not for his qualities of perseverance, bravery and quick thinking, he wouldn’t have created opportunities that could work out for him.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie, The General, by Buster Keaton, Johnnie Gray assumes the role of a hero. Although his character does not align with the stereotypical hero, he is a hero nonetheless. Buster Keaton writing Johnnies character as the hero challenges traditional ideas and opposes the concept presented early in the film of military heroism. He uses intelligence, cleverness and overall quick thinking to defeat the northern army. The movie paints the picture of a nontraditional hero challenging stereotypes at the time. Keaton argues that many people can be a hear in different ways. He questions the standard stereotype that a hero has to be a strong male character. Keaton demonstrates that intellect can make somebody a hero as well. I also believe that while Keaton was sending this message, he was also mocking the idea that soldiers are always heros. He portrayed them as less intellegent than Johnnie, and unable the figure out how to stop the northern army. Overall I think that the movie makes a statement on what it means to truly be a hero. There is no one way to be a hero. A hero can arise in many different forms and characters. In the end, saving Annabelle and stopping the hijack of the train makes Johnnie Gray a hero.
ReplyDeleteCara Kannensohn
DeleteIn The General Johnnie Gray is a true hero despite his mishaps and less than ideal qualities, but the film redefines and explains the conditions necessary for heroism. Johnnie Gray is certainly a hero because he does everything that a hero does and gains everything that a hero typically gains; it is merely that he does so in an unconventional and unexpected way. To begin, Gray is attempting to get into a warm house to eat when he must hide under the table to avoid soldiers and happens to listen to a general’s meeting about an upcoming major attack. While there is no doubt that this required an intense amount of luck, it also requires some skill to pull it off. Gray has to creep around enemies, avoid a poking cigar and feet, and console his grieving girlfriend in silence, none of that would be possible without his natural sleuthing ability. Furthermore, after he makes it out of the meeting he does not choose simply to go home, content to have narrowly escaped death, rather he decides to inform the southern army and save his country. The choice to help others beyond oneself is certainly an honorable action and a quality of a hero, even if Gray’s motivation was his personal desire for a girl. Later still, Gray steals a train to get himself and his girlfriend home by simply rushing onto a train and whacking three men over the head. While it may seem at first comically simple or even stupid, the plan demonstrates the incredible amount of bravery that Gray has and that is required when one is surrounded by enemies. Only a hero would think to go all in with a plan that crazy when everything was against them. Additionally, when Gray is on the train he ultimately succeeds in evading capture by the union soldiers chasing him by breaking a switch in the tracks. The soldiers, being fairly unexperienced with trains, have almost no clue on how to fix it and end up having to wait what feels like hours for an engineer to come fix it for them. This demonstrates that Gray is a hero but he is above all else an unlikely one. No one thinks a train engineer is a hero and a soldier is not but the purpose of the film is to recharacterize what to expect when imagining a hero. Any person can be a hero no matter their background or previous choices if they have some luck, are brave, and utilize the skills that are already to their advantage. In this sense while it may seem as if Keaton is attempting to mock or eliminate the hero, the film does no such thing; rather it recreates what it means to be heroic. This redefinition could not come at a better time, previous notions of heroism were based off the social standing of a person; the son of a soldier would come to be a soldier and hero, the son of a nobleman could come to be a hero, but almost never the lowly man. However, in the beginning of the 20th century all of that was changing, now any man with enough money for a camera could propel himself toward honor and glory. Thus, Keaton’s ability to redefine the hero as not someone who comes from the right background, but someone who comes from the wrong background and acts the right way saves the glory and honor that we reserve for those special people in society who really do save the day and get the girl so to speak.
ReplyDeleteIn Buster Keaton’s The General, Johnny Gray is a true hero. However, he only became a true hero with some incredible luck. Johnnie Green’s being seen as a military hero is a representation of how military heroism is actually a falsehood that is overpraised. All throughout The General, Gray overcame fatal obstacles extremely often in order to return the stolen train and save his girlfriend. He survived and defeated these obstacles because his own luck. How he was able to throw a log perfectly in order to hit another log off of the railroad his train was on, or how the blade of his sword kept flying off, accidentally killing an opposing hidden soldier, Gray was able to save the day because of his luck. Although Gray’s success is fraudulent, all of his peers praise him for his heroic duties, even being promoted in the Confederate Army. The message Buster Keaton suggests is that military heroism is only seen through what somebody accomplished instead of how they accomplished it. Realistically, a simple engineer would not be able to thwart a group of well-trained military soldiers and experienced generals, but Gray somehow was able to stop them. Gray had little military background, as seen by how he had no idea how to fire a cannon (which again he only landed a lucky shot because the train was going around a turn), yet he was the only person who was able to make a mockery of the Union army in the entire film. If he can do it, why cannot anybody else? The reason why he succeeded was luck, but the Confederate General does not care about how he defeated them, but that Gray did defeat them. Overall, Buster Keaton’s The General mocks the idea of military heroes because becoming one takes more luck than actual military skill.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Sewell