Tuesday, February 14, 2017
The Searchers
Think about the portrayal of the American Indian and the portrayal of the whites in The Searchers. Discuss in a hearty paragraph how John Ford cinematically portrays each group. Then think specifically about Ethan and Scar and use your second paragraph to discuss how Ford cinematically portrays each of them specifically. In your last paragraph (number 3), discuss how the American Indian has been portrayed in films after watching Reel Injun on Netflix. Feel free to write as much as you want--this is a huge subject. Extra credit goes to those who comment on a classmate's comment or comments.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In John Ford's film, The Searchers, Ford portrays the Indians as enemies while he presents Ethan and the rest of those searching for Debbie in a very positive light. Throughout the entire film, Ethan must search for his nieces (and eventually just Debbie) after a group of Indians razes their home. Since the film starts off placing such a negative light on Native Americans, we must assume the rest of the film will honor that viewpoint. Firstly, the Indians are always portrayed as weaker than the white men. They are significantly less advanced, choosing to fight with spears as opposed to guns. On top of that, in the fighting between the Indians and whites, having a reverend lead the fighting almost condones it in a sense. Jumping towards the end, when we see Ethan return Debbie to her home (and carry her as though she is helpless), we can see that even though Debbie was content with living with the Native Americans for quite some time, Ethan viewed what he was doing as a rescue mission, stating that he'd rather see her dead than living as an Indian.
ReplyDeleteEthan's character can be greatly juxtaposed with that of Scar's. Both had very similar life experiences - while Ethan's mother was killed by Indians, Scar's parents were killed by white men. While he was responsible for the kidnapping of Debbie (and supposedly the rape and killing of Lucy), Ethan uses his anger towards Indians (rooted from the death of his mother) and loses sight of the search for Debbie, focusing more on his anger towards Scar. Additionally, these feelings cloud his judgement towards all Native Americans, viewing them negatively.
In The Searchers, John Ford's 1956 cowboy film, Ford has two clear roles. The Indians are obviously the villains of the movie, as shown by how they kidnap innocent white girls and try to transform them into "insane" Native American wives. This is shown in the scene with the women who had been kidnapped and forced to live with the Native Americans. They are portrayed as freaks who are convinced that they are Indian, and had been converted by the evil different people.
ReplyDeleteThe searchers, on the other hand, are clearly the "good guys". They are often shown from low angle shots. They fight with guns and technology, whereas the "barbaric" Native Americans fight with spears. The Native Americans rape and pillage, and bury bodies under rocks. This is juxtaposed with the burial scene at the beginning of the film that features a seemingly Christian priest, with a seemingly Christian funeral.
Ethan and Scar are similar men but on opposite sides of the coin. They are both extremely one-sided and full of hatred for the other party. Ethan's family was killed by Native Americans, and Scar's family was killed by white settlers. Ethan and Scar are mortal enemies, fueled mostly by Ethan's hatred for Native Americans and Scar in particular.
John Ford's 1956 western masterpiece The Searchers is a very well done example of a traditionalist American western. I say this because, especially while watching for class and race differences, the time period of the film is clear to discern. Ford's filmmaking reflects the accepted viewpoints of Americans in the 50s; a racist psyche that seeks to put down the Native American people. The kidnapping plot seeks to put down these people and make them out to be nothing more than savages. The "hero" position of the white men is portrayed heavily in The Searchers with Ethan's anger and machismo against the Native americans pushed to the forefront of the film.
ReplyDeleteEthan, played by middle America favorite John Wayne, is the representation of this "white hero" character type in The Searchers. His strength and charm lead the appeal that his actions have. Ford sets up the film to always back up the actions of Ethan, and blame everything possible on the actions of Scar and the rest of the Native people. Scar's characterization is that of an evil savage, a personification of the bad ideas white Americans had on Native Americans. His actions as usually outlandish, and reflect a false idea of the reality; the Native American people trying to live peacefully on the land they have inhabited for centuries.
After watching Reel Injun, my thoughts on the portrayal of Native American people through pop culture and film has been solidified. films like The Searchers did massive amounts of harm in the swaying and furthering of negative and false white american views on native people. By representing them as violent and nothing but blood thirsty savages, directors such as John Ford did a major disservice to an entire community and set back the true perception of their people further than already imaginable.
The Searchers was definitely a film that fell in line with the stereotypical Western Film that took the idea of Indians and made them the enemy. But, It wasn’t as severe as in Stagecoach. This image was of the noble Indian which held values and principles. It got into the different tribes and their different ways rather than saying this is what all Indian’s look like. He does portray them as advanced and smart, but portrays Ethan as smarter and as the all knowing frontiersmen that has been hurt in the past and needs his revenge. The group of Indians is seen as lesser than Ethan who is your White Man with privilege and knowledge. But, Locals in the towns they visit are also seen as below Ethan. Due to the slow thinking people who stay in the town are often looked down upon as well.
ReplyDeleteHe is constantly showing Ethan from a low angle so that everything is always looking up to Ethan. Due to the fact that Ethan is a war hero everyone is always looking to him for help and advice. Scar is on the same level as Ethan and sometimes even higher than Ethan. Scar is seen literally on a high horse and is mysterious and noble because he always says what he doesn’t mean. Their relationship is sort of a power struggle because in the west they are supposed to be enemies, but because they are smart they share a relationship that makes these stereotypes more complicated than they have ever been on screen.
In this film it isn’t how the american Indian is portrayed as how the treatment of the american Indian is portrayed. Yes, they are the stereotypical plains Indians who wear headbands though no tribe wore headbands. But, because of Scar they were finally seen as intelligible rather than savages. It seems like the american filmmakers weren’t looking at the Indians as other human beings as smart as them, just with different beliefs, They look at American Indians as lesser as if they need help. In the documentary Reel Injun, they really look at the Indians perspective on how they feel being misportrayed and when they finally felt like who they are or were was accurately shown on screen. Ethan was seen as a terrible character which completely made the Indians in contrast look lost and unguided. The scene where Ethan shoots the dead Indian in the eyeballs so that he won't go to heaven or their idea of heaven. Ethan is a real example of complete disrespect and disregard for Indians as intelligible people.
It is completely disgraceful to recount this development in film and know that we are only so far in our new appreciation for the American Indian. Though many films have been made to demonstrate modern American Indian life, it is a disgrace in the amount of films that display that white supremacy. I think that it is crazy to know that there were American Indians on the set and they couldn’t realize that they were being terribly stereotypical with their costume choice and scripts. As directors I am dumbfounded as to why they didn’t ask the extras opinions on the reality of the script and how they thought the Indians were being portrayed. It is striking to be that they could stand being extras and watch their entire person be completely disregarded and misportrayed.
Carson Bloomingdale
DeleteIn this film, going along with society’s racist views of Native Americans at the time, the American Indians are portrayed in a very negative manner while the whites in the film are shown as noble heroes. The Indians are always shown in larger groups of people, as less skilled and sophisticated than the whites in the movie. There is no nobility shown in them and hardly any individual characterization other than Scar, the villain in the movie. We don’t see anything from there point of view, always from the whites, showing them as being evil and harmful towards them. Even in the fighting scenes, the Indians are always shown to be less adept at it than the whites, who, even though severely outnumbered, win because of their supposed intelligence.
ReplyDeleteEthan is shown as the stoic hero of the movie, and Scar the horrible villain. We see this all from Ethan’s perspective, because even when he gets Debbie at the end, when she tells him the Indians are her people now, he “saves” her anyway. In the end we see his opinion of the result, not hers, and definitely not the Indians’. Scar is shown as a savage, brutal villain, without any decency in Ethan’s mind. He imagines him as a complete villain and acts on him as one.
An interesting feature in the movie is the similarity between Ethan and Scar, both losing parents to the other group. Ethan is only seen as the hero because of the original nobility of his quest, but when he goes about it, he turns further from his original purpose to seeking revenge for his own feelings.
At the center of the western genre, John Ford’s The Searchers was regarded as a John Wayne classic of 1956 that concerned a man searching for his humanity, when another group of humans are stripped from their own. There is a very defined and stark difference between the portrayal of Scar’s army of Native Americans and Ethan’s band of white men. Cinematically, Scar’s group is often stripped of their humanity through shot composition and also seen as similar to animals due to the camerawork of the lake battle scene. Opposingly, we are meant to relate with Ethan’s clan through the camerawork as well due to the length of shots. In this scene Scar’s army is solely shown in long shots, making the viewers immediately feel detached from this group and real no relatability whatsoever. On the opposite side of the spectrum Ethan’s clan is shown in either medium shots or close ups which in turn suggests to the audience that we should feel closer to them. We are also able to see Ethan’s groups eyes with these close ups which are what further emphasizes their humanity while disregarding the indian’s humanitarian characteristics by juxtaposing these closeups with such long shots. What is most interesting about this scene is it’s denouement. In the final shots of the film we see low angle medium shots of Ethan’s group that emphasize their power and strength and make the audience feel envious of them, while the native americans are shown retreating from an extreme long shot. The length of this shot causes Scar’s group to blend in with the horses they are riding and reveals that they are looked at as animals with barbaric qualities. Seeing close-up’s of the most human physical aspect we have, our eyes, on Ethan’s group of white man adjacent to the extreme long shots of Scar’s group show how deeply The Searches fell into the poor treatment of native americans by making the audience see them as animals.
ReplyDeleteFord has an interesting technique of cinematically displaying the characters of Ethan and Scar, specifically. Through the lighting and non-diegetic elements the audience interprets these two men in drastically different ways. Looking at the introduction of Scar (when Debbie runs away from the house and ends in a cemetery) we first meet Scars shadow which characterizes him with an ominous and evil air as his large shadow is covering the entire tombstone that debbie is hiding in the middle of. We then cut to a low angle shot of Scar himself who is lit with low-key lighting creating shadows that cover Scar’s face, this shot is of great importance because it establishes the constant fear we have of Scar. The lowness of the angle shows the immense amount of power Scar holds which causes him to be more intimidating. The lighting on Scar creates an ominous effect, because there is so much we cannot see of him it reminds the viewers that we know nothing about him and are immediately thrown into a pit of fear. The non-diegetic noise is that of a very deep and dark toned instrument that allows the audience to infer that he has nothing but ill intentions. Overall, this introduction of Scar is extremely intimidating and causes the audience to immediately hold great fear for this character and categorize him as a villain.
(Continued)
DeleteHowever, when we are first introduced to Ethan the warm lighting and non-diegetic sound causes us to admire his character’s stance. When we first see Ethan it is during a bright day which automatically gives a completely different feel from meeting Scar at night, with this bright setting we are hopeful and speculate that bright days are ahead due to this man. The non-diegetic music is that of an orchestral, inspiring tone which only causes the audience to further admire Ethan. The music also goes back and forth with high and low, and short and long notes but ends on a long high note which allows the audience to form a deeper sense of trust with Ethan’s character because of the underlying soundtrack beneath him that resolves itself, in other words, this non-diegetic noise causes the viewer to believe that Ethan has the power and strength to resolve even long hardships. When comparing the shot composition of these two establishing shots aswell, there is no one with Scar except for darkness which only causes us to become more fearful of the unknown, while Laurie, Brad, Ethan, and his horse are all in his establishing shot this gives the implied meaning that he is a man with close relationships and therefore we feel more comfortable putting our trust into his character.
Neil Diamond and Catherine Bainbridge’s Reel Injun (2009), is a revealing documentary that speaks levels on the devastatingly poor treatment of Native Americans during the era of American Westerns. Simply, the Native American has been the scapegoat of every issue within westerns before the 1970’s referred to in Reel Injun as “Native Americans were the ones who stopped real Americans from settling in their country”, the blatant and utter racism that was tolerated, accepted, and repeated throughout the era of Westerns is elaborated on throughout this very eye-opening documentary that is truly disgraceful. Real Injun’s describe their experiences viewing these films during this documentary and it is almost unbelievable the amount of fights that broke out after the viewing of films and the shameful rhetoric true native americans had to face in and outside theaters as a direct result of this movement from 1939 to 1969. During the portion of this documentary where John Wayne is talked about, it is almost traumatic to put oneself into a native american’s shoes while viewing The Searchers. There is a scene that is specifically talked about in this documentary where Ethan Edwards sees a Native American’s corpse in a grave and deems it necessary to “shoot a dead indian corpse in the face”, these events seem almost unspeakable when looking through the viewpoint of a genuine Native American, which is why many chose to take a sort of “Revenge” as this documentary phrases it. Two Navajo extras who ubiquitously appeared in a number of John Ford’s Westerns were given the opportunity to watch some of the films they were in for the first time and while doing so they recounted on the memory of some Navajo actors changing their lines in their native tongue as a sort of inside joke to their peers and as a small form of rebellion. The treatment of Native americans during this time is definitely an interesting topic of discussion with Westerns but it is most importantly a devastating occurrence of pure racism and bigotry that was condoned and sponsored by so many Americans of this time period.