#the general

To me, each of the Primes we have right now represent a very specific theme relevant to the USA's society and to the themes of the game itself:

Coyle: Power

Gooseberry: Nurture

Franco: Social Traditions

Twins: Politics

Liliya: Religion

Coyle does very much believe in the crazy bigoted things he says, but to a certain degree he perpetuates them because they benefit him as a white male police officer. A big part of his characterization is that underneath all the machismo and sexual agressions is a sniveling, insecure coward who uses his power to benefit himself, even if that ends up making him a hypocrite (following "Christian values" but denouncing and insulting Liliya for her faith). He was raised in a racist enviorment, and he carried that bigotry into adulthood because it was what was expected. He was in the military because it was what was expected of a man, to be a fighter for his country, even if he was just a soldier and not in a very high position of power. He follows in the footsteps of this bigoted society because it benefits him, it makes him feel less alone.

"Lovebirds make me fuckin' sick. I'm not lonely."

But from what we know, The General seems, at least to me, like he will touch upon a wholly diferent type of violence from what Coyle uses to put other people beneath him. This looks like someone that doesn't just use violence, but someone who is OBSSESED with it, and has it deeply, deeply internalized, especially if it's in the context of the military and war.

We only have two measly documents related to him, but even now it's incredibly apparent that The General is an extremely volatile and dangerous individual. He seemingly has had multiple recorded incidents of public acts of violence, and from what Avellanos has said, these have only gotten worse with time. He uses militaristic slogans to convince people to join his "gentleman's club" which is obviously a hate group, as if in his mind it's like his fellow patriots have the duty of oppressing people he deems as below him. This isn't just a cog in the machine of bigotry like Coyle is, if anything I would say he's going to be much similar to the Twins' mentality. Someone whose morals are fully defined by egocentrism and survival of the fittest, who wholeheartedly believes that those weaker than his own should die a horrible death. If I had to give a point of reference, I would compare him to someone like Sundowner from Metal Gear Rising Revengeance. An "honest warmonger" who finds pleasure in not just subjugating others below him, but in snuffing their lives out.

As a side note i've seen that people suggest that the games social commentary should focus more on the racial aspect, which I do agree with. However, I would like to point out that it's not the only aspect of 1960's USA that's not really elaborated upon in the story. For example, even though Dorris and Henrietta were explicitly a couple, and it's implied that Coyle is afraid of being seen in a homosexual context with The Warden, the ramifications of these characters' queerness and the resulting reaction of the sistem towards this "deviance" is never really explained, like how the racial implications of Amelia and Damon's relationship or Noakes' kidnapping and objectification done by Murkoff isn't fully touched upon. I do believe RB should expand on this in future content, not just for the sake of commentary, but also to further the growth of the worldbuilding.

So I just watched The General (1926), bc I’ve been wanting to get into Buster Keaton silent films and I read that this is considered his “magnum opus”, so I figured I’d bite.

I barely made it through bc I was incredibly bored, and keep in mind I’m usually pretty entertained by silent films. I’ll say the stunts were quite impressive and nail biting. Obviously the train scenes are quite perilous and thus impressive in their execution. But the rest of the movie is just….. not good.

First of all, let me address the elephant in the room— this movie is pro-confederate. It tells a story of a confederate underdog fighting back the union and has obvious pro confederate visuals like the constant waving of the confederate flag. This unsavory fact alone is enough for me to write it off as a bad movie. I didn’t want to root for the main characters and didn’t even care much for them bc of the fact that they’re confederate AND the story doesn’t do much to endear me to them. Keaton’s character is fairly sympathetic in his own right, but his girlfriend who spends much of the movie fighting beside him is absolutely unbearable. The fact that she rejected him for such a stupid reason as him not being able to enlist in the army made me dislike her for the rest of the movie. I wasn’t rooting for him, her, or their romance.

And the stunts…. While impressive, seem to go on and on. I suppose if I was obsessed with trains I’d find it riveting, but the movie to me felt like one big blur of train related shenanigans, during which half of the time I wasn’t exactly sure what was happening. There were a few scenes that got a chuckle out of me, which gives me hope that I’ll enjoy other works from Keaton, but as a whole, I was bored and irritated.

I recently watched another classic from the era, Safety Last! (1923) and can safely (or not so safely haha) add it to my favorite films of all time list. The General simply pales in comparison to the humor, heart and peril that oozes out of that movie.

I went into this movie eager to experience the supposed magnificence of this film, but was only left bored and confused as to how this is “one of the best films of all time.”

Here’s a funny observation: Buster Keatons character in this film looks a lot like the creature in Lisa Frankenstein! I’d bet he’s inspired by him— it’s obvious from the costuming to the hair to the deadpan. The creature is like if Sweeney Todd and Buster Keaton had a baby I SWEAR.

Anyways, I shall watch more Keaton in the near future but this was…. A bit of a bumpy start let’s say.

100 éves a The General.

Hihetetlen, mennyire komoly film ez:

- mozdonyos üldözés!!!

- égő fedett fahíron keresztül zakatolás, felgyújtott összeeső fahídról vízbe zuhanó gőzmozdony!!!

For the scene in which Johnnie sets fire to a bridge to prevent the North’s engine from crossing the river, Keaton had Gabourie construct a stunt trestle designed to collapse under the train’s weight. It was the only sequence that did not use existing track and it has been called the most expensive single shot in silent film history (Keaton biographies put the cost at $42,000). It is certainly the most expensive that Keaton ever executed. He had only one shot at the scene and ran six cameras to capture the spectacle. The engine that plunged into the river was one of the doubles used to stand in for the working engines and it rested there in the water, rusting away for 15 years until it was hauled out for salvage in the scrap drives of World War II.

- az összes trükköt Keaton játszotta, dublőr nélkül: több tonnás gőzmozdonyok előtt bohockódásról, azokon sétálásról, mozgó vonaton favágásról beszélünk, meg persze hídról vízbeurhásról

Keaton learned to drive the engine himself and before long, according to the publicity of the time, he could stop the train on a dime.

- polgárháború

- a polgári értékrend kifigurázása, a háborús hősök kifigurázása

- a délieknek “szurkolunk” a polgárháborúban

- ez egy megtörtént eseményt dolgoz fel: