Monday, February 6, 2012

Starter Questions for _The Searchers_

The Searchers is set in 1868 (historical, political, cultural context):

  • Ethan (John Wayne) is home from the Civil War (ended in 1865), fought on the side of the Confederacy (uniform, saber)
  • Abolition, Reconstruction, lots of backlash
  • Land appropriation in the west, battles, and Indian massacres are on the rise
  • there is still a "frontier" and the sense of "manifest destiny" is strong
  • image of encirclement and self-defense affects power relationships between the groups
  • parallels to Little Bighorn and Custer's Seventh Cavalry
The Searchers is made in 1956 (historical, political, cultural context):

  • 1954: Brown vs. Board of Education: Desegregation of Schools (March 1956 forced open after 381-day bus boycott)
  • Martin Pawley, a mixed-race American embraced by a white American family
  • Soviet nuclear threat/"containment"
  • fear of mutually assured destruction; families constructed bomb shelters
  • anti-Communist witch hunts (but in 1954 50% supported McCarthy)
Questions:

  • Through what character is the story told? With whom do you identify?  Why?
  • How are Indians represented?  What stereotypes do you see?  Are there ways in which the Indian characters seem to have depth?
  • How are gender roles present in the film?  
  • What commentary does the film seem to make about integration?  Is Martin "integrated"?  
  • Is Ethan a hero or a villain?  Is he a part of the family?  Why or why not?
  • How does the movie fit in with your readings about Westerns by Kilpatrick and Simmon?
  • Do you see any lingering traces of Mary Rowlandson or John Smith?

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