The Searchers

John Wayne’s character, Ethan, intrigued me the most. I think because he should have been more prone to racism considering he fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War because racism played a large role in the War. However, he was friendly with the Hispanic people Martin and him encountered on their way to finding the girl. He also displayed a great deal of sympathy towards “Look” when she had been found dead.

Ethan was supposed to be a tough guy, barely showing emotion, but he seemed to progressively become more sensitive and kind as the film went on. While, the film from time to time portrayed that he wanted to kill/ do away with Lucy once he found she had assimilated into the Native’s culture/lifestyle. Yet, she was still a part of his family and Ethan seemed relieved to have found her alive so I doubt that he would have killed her at all. (Especially since he had spent a great deal of time trying to find her.)

Some others mentioned this before, but it was a good point how the “Savage” and the “Wise-Civil” Native were portrayed in The Searchers. Scar portrayed both, effectively to how the media would have wanted him to be. They gave him a reason for his revenge, about his sons, but it was still shown that he was over doing his pay back.

Something, I always think about too, though, when watching these types of movies, is that they were made to bring in money and to sell to the audiences. I’m not saying what the industry was doing was right, but movies need the antagonist and the protagonist and at the time it was the Natives and the Caucasian Americans.