A main thing I noticed in “The Searchers” was the portrayal of Indians. Ethan and Martin Paulie came into contact with a couple different Indian tribes on their journey. Every time they were coming up on an Indian tribe the drums started to beat and a flute would whistle. I found that to be very stereotypical of Indians, because in movies it’s known that the drums and flute is symbolizing Indians. Along with the music, all of the Indians lived in teepees, rode horses, and wore big feathered headbands. The film industry has portrayed Indians in such a way, that every tribe looks the same so it’s easy for the viewer to know they are Indians. Not only did the Indian tribes look intimidating, but they were also very offensive. The Indians in “The Searchers” were always on the attack, so if a villager turned around for any length of time, they could be under siege from an indian attack. The chief Scar had kept scalps, and live hostages. In the readings and in the movie “Reel Injun” they mentioned that Indians were not mean and didn’t like to attack people. They were not war going people.
The Indians were very flat characters and the only way they had depth was the view of the cameras, and the fact they had some feelings. Scar was smart enough to keep Debbie as a live hostage, because he didn’t want to kill a little girl, and knew Ethan and Martin Paulie would find them to get Debbie back. When the group with the reverend went to find Indians with their guns, the Indians retreated back because they knew they couldn’t win. Along with actual depth the camera angles gave them depth to the viewer. The camera viewed Ethan from the camera looking up at him, when the Indians were viewed it was looking down, to make them look small.
A western make Indians look bad, and gives the interpretation of Indians being the bad guys and all the tribes look alike. I am not a fan of westerns; I never have been because I don’t like the whole cowboy and Indian portrayal. I have seen other westerns, and to me you see one you see them all.
Flat characters--exactly! The one exception might be when we learn of Scar's history, which ends up uniting him thematically with Ethan (they both are motivated by revenge).
ReplyDelete