To be honest, I expected "The Searchers" to be all about Native American stereotypes. They did manage to throw in some stereotypes on them, but they also played a gender role as well, depicting women as helpless, constantly in need to help or saving, overly emotional, and not very intelligent. To portray the gender roles, they first showed Lucy not listening to her mother when she told her not to light the lamp. I didn't believe that to be the reason that the family's house was destroyed and the girls were kidnapped, but they still made Lucy look foolish for not listening to her mother. After her mother yelled at her, Lucy randomly screams then starts crying. This made her seem extremely over-emotional. Maybe it was just the way I saw things but that's what I thought of the scene. They also had the scene where Martin accidentally buys himself a native wife. Not only does that show how little the tribe thought of women that they would let her go for a couple of hats, but it showed how poorly Martin treated her. Yes, he didn't want her as a wife, but he didn't need to kick her down the hill when she laid next to him.
As previously stated, "The Searchers" also shows an Indian stereotype. Everybody expects to see Indians in westerns, usually with the braids and feathers in their hairs, always riding on horseback. This movie not only hit that visual stereotype on the head, but made the natives seem like savages while Ethan and the rest of the gang seemed like good guys. They achieved this through the tricks of cinematography. When they showed Scar or another Native American, they always had the typical drum beats in the background, or shots of them charging towards people, both of which give off an aggressive visual. Not only that, but they had Scar showing off his "trophy" of scalp victims in his uncomfortable looking teepee in a village of unwelcoming and uncomfortable looking teepees. If the Indians spoke, which was far and few between, they either spoke in a native language or said something rude and insulting in English. They also make Ethan occasionally seem incredibly against the Native American race. So much so, that he tries to kill Debbie when he first sees her and takes Debbie out of his will because she wanted to stay with "her people".
All the while, they used cinematography to make Ethan and the team seem like decent guys. They always played a more positive background music if showing them, always had their homes look more welcoming, and always had them appear as if everything they did had a good intention. Aside from the gender roles, the racism, and the violence, "The Searchers" was a pretty decent film. I did find it interesting, though, that all the gender roles, racism, and violence was okay to be shown in this film because they had the good intention of rescuing their family.
Yeah, I'm not too upset that Lucy's acting doesn't make additional appearances in the film. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteThe gendered stuff is also interesting, and inconsistent. They kick "Look" down the hill, but then they are sad when she is killed? And Lucy seems so weak, but Laurie (Martin's "girl") seems quite strong in comparison.
I think your point about the music is spot-on--we could probably figure out the plot of the movie with no dialogue or visuals at all.
It's very interesting how Native women are treated in comparision to the white women. They are still treated as inferior but white women atleast have some choice in their husband, whereas the Native American women are often sold, like in Martin's wife's case. They are also treated better than the Indian women. For example, Martin's treatment of his wife would most likely not happen to white women. It's also interesting how these movies have such a big influence on the views of Native Americans today. Many people buy into these stereotypes and don't really question them. These stereotypes are so strong that often when Indians watch these types of movies, they often relate to the settlers and their values rather than the Indians.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comments on the background music. Music is such a large part of movies even if the viewer doesnt consciously realize the purpose, it still helps set the mood of whatver event is happening. Without music, movies not be nearly as exciting because they help convey emotions. Dialogue and acting would have to focus more on emotions if music was not used. Also, in The Searchers, positive, upbeat music was used for the white settlers while daunting music was played for the Indians. Clearly music is important in movies.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comments in this post, the women were very much treated with less respect just as the Indians were shown in a poor light. The way Martin treated his wife would not be acceptable in any society today. Even the white woman were not given very much credit and portrayed as having great intelligence. Personally I did not pay much attention to the music during the film, but I have seen several other Westerns and believe this to prevalent in many. The upbeat music is always used for the heroic, white settlers. And the more intimidating music is used when the Natives are shown.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with your comment about the Indian stereotypes. In that their always expected to be seen in Westerns, hair always in a braid of some sort, and with feathers in their hair. In this movie, their shown as the bad people, which in Western seems to be the obvious role of Indians. With that, the music also goes along with their roles. Indian stereotypes carry from one movie to another.
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