The Searchers, a film directed by John Ford (1956) is a classic American Western featuring America’s original cowboy John Wayne. In the film, the main protagonist Ethan Edwards comes home to Texas after fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War. Both John Ford and John Wayne depict Ethan Edwards as an extremely isolated, bitter, and misunderstood character. When Ethan finally comes home from the war he mistakes one of his brother’s children for another child that has since full grown in Ethan’s absence showing that Ethan has gone many years without contact with his family. In addition, John Ford further depicts the physical and emotional isolation of Ethan’s character by placing him up against stark and open landscapes, often creating a second frame by placing the camera inside the
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Ethan’s intense hatred for the native American people further separates his character. One scene early on in the film demonstrated Ethan’s race hatred as he and the Texas rangers find a shallow grave that belongs to a Native American man. The Texas rangers are deeply confused as Ethan shoots out the eyes of the already dead man so that he will forever have to wander between the winds and be unable to enter the spirit world. This action is acknowledged and further explained by director Martin Scorsese, “No one in his posse understands the meaning of the gesture: He hates Comanches so much that he actually has bothered to learn their beliefs in order to violate them.” The theme of desecration of Native American people continues throughout the film in one of the later scenes where the Indian chief, the orchestrater behind the murder and kidnapping of Ethan’s family, is found already dead in a teepee. Ethan proceeded to scalp the already dead chief, most likely as retribution for his scalped
Ethan’s intense hatred for the native American people further separates his character. One scene early on in the film demonstrated Ethan’s race hatred as he and the Texas rangers find a shallow grave that belongs to a Native American man. The Texas rangers are deeply confused as Ethan shoots out the eyes of the already dead man so that he will forever have to wander between the winds and be unable to enter the spirit world. This action is acknowledged and further explained by director Martin Scorsese, “No one in his posse understands the meaning of the gesture: He hates Comanches so much that he actually has bothered to learn their beliefs in order to violate them.” The theme of desecration of Native American people continues throughout the film in one of the later scenes where the Indian chief, the orchestrater behind the murder and kidnapping of Ethan’s family, is found already dead in a teepee. Ethan proceeded to scalp the already dead chief, most likely as retribution for his scalped