Some may argue that the movie The General conforms to traditional patriarchal gender roles. Annabelle Lee, the heroine, is kidnapped (albeit inadvertently) by hostile soldiers and needs the heroic exploits of her lover to rescue her. She is portrayed as submissive to her father and brother, ineffectual in plotting her own escape (such as throwing a stick of wood into the train furnace or failing to stop the engine so her lover can board it), and often exhibiting domestic inclinations ( as when she sweeps the engine with a broom).
Do you agree with this picture of Annabelle Lee -- or is it more complicated? Is Annabelle a stereotypical damsel in distress or is she a more progressive figure? Is there something about her a feminist could admire? What is this film saying about gender roles?
I believe that the picture of Annabelle Lee is not a damsel in distress but is of a more progressive woman throughout the film. Even though there are times where she may not know what to do in a situation at first, she figures out how to fix the problem by herself. For example, when Johnnie gets off of the train to move something out of the way it starts to move in the opposite direction with Annabelle still on it. When he is too slow to chase it, he climbs over a hill to catch it on the other side but Annabelle accidentally starts to move it back in the other direction. However, in a matter of about 1-2 minutes she figures out how to operate the train and stop it so that Johnnie can climb back onboard. There was also a scene in the movie where Johnnie has Annabelle inside of a sack when trying to sneak through the enemy. He backs her up in between two train cars and she uses her intelligence to pull out a metal bar that holds the car together. Once Johnnie steals the train, he is able to get away must faster because he doesn’t have more than two cars connected to the engine. On top of this, there are plenty of times where Johnnie Gray messes up and makes something go wrong. Even though he ends up saving the girl in the end, I believe the movie portrays that women are fully capable to solve issues on their own. Johnnie may have not escaped the enemy if he did not have Annabelle along with him for the journey. The failures that Annabelle faces could perhaps have been implemented for the gag and not to show that women are incapable figures.
ReplyDeleteIt is true, that Annabelle Lee is portrayed submissive to her father and brother in terms of what she is expected to do; for example, she seems to value the status of her fiancé more than his actual character or look when she says: “Do not talk to me until you are in uniform”. This mindset seems to be common in that time and is portrayed accurately; it shows, that under normal social circumstances she has no own decisions to make and is more or less a marionette for her father.
ReplyDeleteWhen she is about to get rescued, she indeed brakes out of her role and has to make her own decisions. Although she makes some mistakes or seems to be too dumb to control the train, this first impression is in fact not right. She soon finds out how to manage the train and is even able to put it in reverse after some minutes, which is in my opinion pretty impressive. The scene, where she starts sweeping the train is mostly made for the gag and is greatly exaggerated to make it even funnier. In the end, Johnnie Gray makes at least the same amount of questionable actions which often nearly result in the failure of the rescue. This shows that those parts of the movie are also made to keep the tension up.
When the rescue is completed and they are all safe, Annabelle seems to get back into her role of the dominated woman. Only when she sees Johnny in uniform, she stands up to him and is not afraid to show her affection to him.
So the role of Annabelle is somehow split in two, while she has a free will only when she is not around her father, showing the dominance of men at that time. However, she can also be seen as strong when she tries to help and live out her own character when she is with Johnny.
While there are scenes in Buster Keaton’s The General that portray Annabelle Lee as the stereotypical domestic figure, her role in the film is more complex than the typical damsel in distress. There are scenes where Annabelle may be dependent on the support of the male characters in the film, but there are also scenes where her intellect and ability show through. She came up with the idea of tying two trees together to slow down the Union soldiers chasing after them. Once Johnnie saw what she has done, he had a look of shock on his face. I think Keaton did that purposefully to show that even though it was previously believed that a woman couldn’t think of a good idea by herself, that ideology was wrong. She also learned how to operate a train by herself in only a matter of minutes. Even though she messed up at first, she persevered and taught herself how the train works. Those two examples highlight her intelligence and dedication, and they are also two things modern feminists would love to see. Along with that, a defining feature of a patriarchy is that the male is superior and more intelligent than his female counterpart. However, in many scenes in The General, Johnnie makes just as many uneducated decisions as any other character in the film. He walked in front of a loaded cannon, and every time he tried to get more wood on top of the train it would fall off. Not only does Johnnie make mistakes, many of the soldiers in the film are portrayed as incompetent in some parts such as the Union soldiers who couldn’t figure out how to fix the train tracks. Taking that into account, The General’s commentary on gender roles is that women and men are both intelligent but also human beings who are bound to make mistakes. There is not one gender who is better than the other, and in that way Annabelle cannot be seen as a damsel in distress.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the film The General portrays Annabelle Lee as the damsel in distress, but only in terms of plot development in creating the “man saves woman” storyline. I do not believe that this is supposed to be indicative of gender roles created by the director. Johnnie Gray is the classic “hero” of the film, and he must save his girlfriend, Annabelle Lee, from the Northern army. This dynamic definitely reinforces gender roles as it portrays Annabelle as reliant and as the typical damsel in distress. However, I do not believe that this is the message intended by the directors. The damsel in distress dynamic is only present to support the storyline. Rather, The General carries a much more progressive and respectful portrayal of women throughout the rest of the film. The story is set up through the ultimatum Annabelle poses to Johnnie, but the film’s general message should not be defined by the fact that Annabelle does this. Throughout the rest of the film, Annabelle actually shows exemplary skill and ability. For example, when posed with operating the train on several occasions, she is able to pick up the controls rather quickly. Additionally, she ties the two trees together to impede upon the chasing Northern army. No doubt, gender roles are still present in the plot, as Johnnie is expected to save his girlfriend. My point is that the directors did not send the message that women are subjected to these roles. Rather, the dynamic in the film of “man saves woman” is a very common story theme, and the directors both used this and deviated from the typical in their portrayal of Annabelle throughout the rest of the film.
ReplyDeleteI believe that “The General” portrays Annabelle Lee as a damsel in distress by our standards but may have been considered progressive in the 1920’s. The basic plot points toward damsel in distress without a doubt. Annabelle Lee gets kidnapped by enemy soldiers, Johnny heroically steals a train, chases the enemies down, and eventually saves Annabelle Lee. It is when you take a closer look at the details that a question arises. While in many of the scenes Annabelle is seen sweeping or being of little help, there are a few where she is crucial to the situation. At one point Annabelle ties the train to a few trees to help slow down the enemy train. If she had not done this then there could have been a different ending to the movie. Now in today’s world we do not see that as much. She was only heroic in a handful out of the hundreds of scenes. We see it as an outdated film that portrays Annabelle as weak and in need of saving, but in the 1920’s people may have been shocked to see a women operate a train. Now we have movies with women being their own knight’s in shining armor and even coming to the rescue of men. When we compare characters in those movies to Annabelle Lee then she is undoubtedly a damsel in distress, but if we look at it from the eyes of someone from the 1920’s then this movie is quite progressive.
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