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?
In The General, Annabelle Lee’s character reinforces gender stereotypes, portraying women as unable to help themselves, confined to domestic lives, and submissive towards men. Although there are moments when Annabelle has accomplishments of her own and helps the protagonist, Johnny, return to the South, the majority of Annabelle’s “contributions” are pitiful attempts that portray her as incapable and lacking intelligence. As a character, Annabelle’s sole role in the movie is as Johnny’s love interest, the damsel in distress whom the hero must save. From the very beginning, the film presents her as an object whose heart Johnny hopes to win over, who cannot possibly save herself without a man to do it for her. After Northern soldiers mistakenly kidnap her, Johnny gets her back, and they begin their escape back to the South as the soldiers race to catch them. Throughout this journey, Annabelle frequently does foolish things that paint women in an inferior light. Such as throwing out a piece of wood because it has a hole in it when fueling the train, suggesting a lack of intelligence, or beginning to sweep the train, implying her only way to contribute was by performing domestic duties. In addition, even her successful efforts were accompanied by a struggle that made it seem like she could not do anything right. For example, she mistakenly leaves Johnny behind and switches the train’s direction, despite that he has gone to meet her, causing Johnny to need to go back. Contrary to the primary portrayal of women by Annabelle’s character, there is one scene where she has the bright idea to tie a rope between two trees to block the Northerner’s train as it chases them. Despite this brief moment where The General slightly pushes the bounds of patriarchal gender roles, Annabelle, as a whole, portrays women as helpless and worthless when it comes to tasks outside of the home. Given that Annabelle is the only female character, therefore the sole representation of women, the film reinforces gender stereotypes of the 1900s and uses the damsel in distress trope to represent women as delicate and dependent on men.
ReplyDeleteI agree, in The General, Annabelle Lee´s character reinforces the stereotypical picture of a damsel in distress through her supposed helplessness and submissiveness towards men throughout the film. From the very beginning, the film already establishes her submissiveness when she refuses to marry Johnny because he ‘didn’t try’ to enlist in the army because that’s what her dad wanted and that’s what was expected of her. The stereotypical war-fighting husband and stay-at-home wife trope has already been established. This submissiveness continues throughout the film through her inability to help herself. She makes almost no attempt at escape until Johnny comes and rescues her and even then, he’s forced to do a lot of the work to make sure that they both get back safely. This point ties into the similar idea of her helplessness. After Johnny saves her, she doesn’t contribute much. Annabelle clearly cannot control the train to no degree, she made little effort in trying to keep the northerners off their tracks, and she even had to be carried in a bag because she couldn’t help. All of these little points demonstrate the big constant of the damsel in distress trope. In the end, Annabelle Lee is saved, and she returns to her father where she tells him the elaborate tale of her being saved. She then finds a reason to love Johnny again because he saved her and that’s how the film ends. Even the end plays into the damsel in distress trope since the typical fairytale story is about the princess falling in love with the hero because they saved her. What happened with Annabelle is the exact same trope, which makes no strides in diversifying gender roles from the damsel in distress stereotype from fairytales.
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