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major theme behind such numbers is freedom from necessity, both spatial
and temporal, but also freedom from scarcity as another mode of necessity.
In silent comedy, the gags are focal. What we are asking is whether or not
automatism is the theme that governs most of the more elaborate and mem-
orable gags in The General.
Themes of The General 35
Scanning the film from beginning to end, we note that automatism gags
occur throughout. When The General is first hijacked, Johnnie, who had been
washing up, beckons bystanders, and lights out on foot after the train. The
chase begins, recorded by an overhead long-shot. Johnnie and four volun-
teers run towards the camera. Then, the camera cuts to a reverse-field
position with Johnnie running away from the camera. The audience then
observes that the four volunteers have stopped following Johnnie. He runs
onward, chasing the train all by himself. At this point, the story shifts away
from Johnnie to describe the initial activities of the Union spies and the
Southerners abortive attempt to wire ahead to their forward positions in order
to stop the hijacked train. It isn t until seven shots later that we return to
Johnnie. He looks around and suddenly realizes that he is alone. In the time
he takes to realize this, the Union spies have been able to subdue his girl-
friend and sever the Southern telegraph lines. Indeed, one feels that Johnnie
never would have turned around were it not for the fact that he stopped at
a handcar shack which he thought he and his cohorts could use to chase the
hijacked train. Again, we see an extreme tendency in the character for a highly
rigid and fixed viewpoint. His perceptual field is limited to a narrow swath
directly in front of him. His plan, presumably, is to run to the handcar;
this occupies him to the extent that he fails to attend to what is going on
immediately behind him.
A similar gag occurs when Johnnie, at the throttle of The Texas, fails to
remember to check whether or not the flatcar, loaded with Southern troops,
is connected to the rest of the train. With the camera on Johnnie s side of
the action, this sequence begins with a long-shot that is aimed diagonally at
the action. He looks outside the cab to check to see that the flatcar is loaded
with troops. The camera reverses field. As the train pulls out, the flatcar remains
stationary. The troops on the flatcar begin to shout and wave their hands.
Some troopers even leap off the flatcar and chase Johnnie on foot. But Johnnie
continues, thoroughly unaware that his army has abandoned him. Johnnie
is so occupied by the chase that he doesn t turn around. This is established
by a shot with Johnnie s back to the camera. Since there is only one inter-
vening shot of the cab of the Union engine and the shot wherein Johnnie
realizes that he is alone, one cannot be sure of how long it actually takes
Johnnie to learn that he has left the troops behind.
One can hypothesize, however, that Johnnie must be a considerable dis-
tance from the troop depot. For if he were close, wouldn t he simply back up
and pick up the soldiers? The shot where Johnnie realizes he is alone involves
a medium-shot, facing the front of Johnnie s side of the locomotive cab. The
36 Themes of The General
shot is in deep focus. Since the locomotive is on a curving section of track,
we are able to see directly behind the train as it turns the track. Perhaps, due
to the curve, this is the first time since the depot that Johnnie can look behind
the train. First, he bends out of the side window slightly. Then, he pokes his
body far out. Finally, he realizes he is alone. Again, the character s presup-
positions about a situation have caused him to fail to attend to the world. Johnnie
evinces an almost static conception of the environment, one which fails to
acknowledge the possibility of deviation from his mental picture of things.
Undoubtedly, the most elaborate example of Johnnie s tendency toward
maintaining a single track of behavior, despite changes in the environment, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]