MovieChat Forums > The General (1927) Discussion > Pro confederate

Pro confederate

posted 9 years ago by Royalcourtier
3 replies | jump to latest

As Keaton said, it is pretty hard to make a hero out of a Union soldier.
It is a pity that Civil War films these days are anti-Confederacy. Keaton quite rightly showed the fight from the point of view of the Confederates. Unfortunately most producers today are too ignorant bigoted and biased to represent the southerners as anything other than villains. Django Unchanged was one of the worst in recent years.

[–] saint_pat 9 years ago

Producers portray the Confederacy as the villains, not southerners. Which they were!
There were plenty of heroic southerners, but they supported the Union. Unfortunately in Keaton's day they were themselves unjustly vilified as "Scalawags" instead of the patriots that they were.

[–] brad_filippone 9 years ago

This film is based on a real-life incident, with some fictitious details added, such as the inclusion of a woman. It was therefore necessary to portray the main character as a hero.
As for the other person who responded to your post, you can safely ignore him (her?). Apparently he believe that people depending their own homeland and their own property--and most of whom did NOT own slaves--from invaders, could not possibly be heroes.

[–] ScopeWatcher 9 years ago

As Keaton said, it is pretty hard to make a hero out of a Union soldier.
It is a pity that Civil War films these days are anti-Confederacy. Keaton quite rightly showed the fight from the point of view of the Confederates. Unfortunately most producers today are too ignorant bigoted and biased to represent the southerners as anything other than villains. Django Unchanged was one of the worst in recent years.

A specific Keaton quote which I recall from one of the books I've read about him is that he felt "you can't make a villain out of the South." I hope the Original Poster appreciates the difference between the two remembered versions of the statement. Either way, I disagree with Keaton on that claim. Fortunately that doesn't ruin my great enjoyment of THE GENERAL, since its narrative completely avoids politics. (I also agree that DJANGO UNCHAINED was a terrible movie, though clearly not for the same objections as the OP's).

As for the other person who responded to your post, you can safely ignore him (her?). Apparently he believe that people depending their own homeland and their own property--and most of whom did NOT own slaves--from invaders, could not possibly be heroes.

Apparently this poster above is not aware of (or denies) the historical truth that Southern forces started our nation's Civil War by firing upon the U.S. Army facility at Fort Sumter. That was a pure act of sedition against their federal government -- which means that all those "people defending their own homeland and their own property ... from invaders" were fellow seditionists joining together in treason against their country.

The fact of most Confederate soldiers (and citizens) not having been slaveholders themselves only means that they killed, died, and/or buried family in that war to support an exploitive, wealthier class of people in the South who DID profit from slaves. Those leaders started the war in order to maintain and extend their profitable pursuit of slavery.

How interesting it was to read the OP's view it is "bigoted and biased" to villainize the pro-slavery bigots who launched a destructive rebellion against their government. (There's still a sizable sense of denial within 21st-Century America.) But OP needn't brood over DJANGO UNCHAINED havingmade villains of its slavers. Confederacy sympathists can console themselves with the truth that they'll always have THE BIRTH OF A NATION and GONE WITH THE WIND to reinforce the American screen heritage which they do enjoy.

Most great films deserve a more appreciative audience than they get.