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Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series
The Searchers: Essays and Reflections on John Ford's Classic Western
In many ways a traditional western, The Searchers (1956) is considered by critics as one of the greatest Hollywood films, made by the most influential of western directors. But John Ford's classic work, in its complexity and ambiguity, was a product of post-World War II American culture and sparked the deconstruction of the western film myth by looking unblinkingly at white racism and violence and suggesting its social and psychological origins. The Searchers tells the story of the kidnapping of the niece of Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) by Comanche Indians, and his long search to find her―ultimately not to rescue her but to kill her, since he finds her racially and sexually violated.
The Essays and Reflections on John Ford's Classic Western brings historians and film scholars together to cover the major critical issues of this film as seen through a contemporary prism. The book also contains the first published, sustained reaction to the film by Native Americans. The essays explore a wide range of from John Wayne's grim character of Ethan Edwards, to the actual history of Indian captivity on the southern Plains, as well as the role of the film's music, setting, and mythic structure―all of which help the reader to understand what makes The Searchers such an enduring work.
The Essays and Reflections on John Ford's Classic Western brings historians and film scholars together to cover the major critical issues of this film as seen through a contemporary prism. The book also contains the first published, sustained reaction to the film by Native Americans. The essays explore a wide range of from John Wayne's grim character of Ethan Edwards, to the actual history of Indian captivity on the southern Plains, as well as the role of the film's music, setting, and mythic structure―all of which help the reader to understand what makes The Searchers such an enduring work.
392 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2004
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March 10, 2013
„With Art, as with All Kinds of Love, Take the Word of Your Heart.“ (p.326)
This is quite an unusual recommendation given by David Grimsted of how to make your own decision between different readings of a film’s message, but, of course, he also advises us to have a look if such a reading is borne out by the facts or if good arguments are put forth in its favour. Facts, arguments, but also the inklings of one’s own heart are always good to go by when interpreting a film. One of the most interesting things happening to me in 2012 was a discussion I had with a handful of film-buffs and friends of mine on John Ford’s western “The Searchers” (1956), each of us writing our own review on the film and prolifically exchanging ideas. It soon became clear what rich pasture-ground we had opened up – although this metaphor makes us seem like ruminants –, and when one of us recommended a collection of essays on this western entitled “The Searchers. Essays and Reflections on John Ford’s Classic Western” and edited by Peter Lehman and the historian Arthur M. Eckstein this gave us some more food for thought, or some new cud, if you want.
After a systematic introduction by Arthur M. Eckstein, which very convincingly shows how deep, ambiguous and unfathomable a movie “The Searchers” is – it even seems a moot point how many years the searchers were out there roaming the land in order to retrieve Debbie –, the book contains twelve essays on different points related to the film. For starters, Brian Henderson in “The Searchers: An American Dilemma” gives his reading of the film as an indictment of US racism in the 50s. According to him, the Comanche are stand-ins for the black population, a more direct reference to the film’s point of criticism being too risky with regard to the box office at that time. Four years later, however, Fort would finally go one step further with “Sergeant Rutledge” and directly voice his concerns about racial discrimination against African-Americans.
Richard Hutson’s essay “Sermons in Stone: Monument Valley in The Searchers” deals with the symbolic meaning of those famous buttes in the film, whereas Kathryn Kalinak’s contribution “’Typically American’: Music for The Searchers” gives an in-depth account of the score that accompanied the film. Much to Steiner’s chagrin, Ford retained final control even over the score and used it in order to carry his own messages into the film. The “Lorena” theme, for instance, serves to indicate the illegitimate love between Ethan and Martha and the threat Ethan poses with regard to the Edwards family structures. You will also learn a lot about the famous Sons of the Pioneers song and why Ford only used two stanzas of it in his movie. Kalinak’s interesting conclusion is that although Ford’s choice of music was iconoclastic in some ways, it still seems to encourage some nostalgic praise for the values of the Old South. Although I find it hard to fully agree to this conclusion, yet I appreciate her careful analysis of the score.
Another interesting approach is presented by Martin Winkler, who establishes some parallels between the Iliad’s wrathful hero Achilles and Ethan, who likewise vents his wrath on a dead man’s body when he scalps Scar – an action commonly regarded as outré if performed by a non-Indian in westerns. Gaylyn Studlar’s essay “What Would Martha Want? Captivity, Purity, and Feminine Values in The Searchers” tries to exonerate Ford from rather trite anti-western feminism à la Tompkins by pointing out the importance, and the final triumph, of the values represented by Martha. Nevertheless, for all the importance attached to civilizing female values by Ford, it cannot be denied that the western mostly, and “The Searchers” completely, confines women to the domestic sphere.
The following essay, “Incest and Miscegenation in The Searchers (1956) and The Unforgiven (1959)” by Arthur M. Eckstein provides a detailed comparison between Ford’s masterpiece and John Huston’s rather poorly-faring western. Douglas Pye provides another contribution to the question of racism and the fear of miscegenation in this movie in particular and the western in general; in “Double Vision: Miscegenation and Point of View in The Searchers” he argues that the rules of the genre render Ford’s efforts to denounce racism, for all their merits, contradictory at best.
Peter Lehman’s deconstructivist essay “’You Couldn’t Hit It on the Nose’: The Limits of Knowledge in and of The Searchers” is another of my favourite contributions, because the author points out how difficult it actually is to take anything for granted and regard it as secured knowledge in this movie. Whereas films like “Psycho” or “Citizen Kane” work with clearly-visible symbols and even go so far as to explain to their audiences the motives of their characters, Ford spurned all-too-obvious symbols and also avoided telling when he could, somehow, show. One short quotation may make it clear that in our discussions we were not the first ones to come up with rather bold assumptions: “ Did Ethan and Martha have an affair? If they did, did it occur before or after Martha’s marriage to Ethan’s brother? Or are their feelings for each other part of an unfulfilled, unconsummated relationship? Indeed, is it possible that Ethan is the father of one of the Edwards children? We learn the answers to none of these questions and while the latter might seem far-fetched, it is precisely because of the impossibility of knowing so many other things in the film, combined with the ambiguous nature of the knowledge we do have of certain actions, events and character motivations, that makes it even plausible to raise such a question.” Lehman even concedes that you may find reasons assume that Ethan killed Lucy on finding her raped by the Comanche.
Another very interesting essay is James F. Brooks’ “’That Don’t Make You Kin!’: Borderlands History and Culture in The Searchers”. Not only do we learn a lot about the importance of kidnapped people with regard to the borderlands economy and demographics, but, on the basis of this knowledge, Brooks also offers a new reading, i.e. that Scar did not marry, but adopt Debbie. David Grimsted in his very entertaining essay “Re-searching” comes up with another striking idea. According to him, it is us, the viewers, as well as Marty, who assume that Ethan has finally decided to kill Debbie, whereas the entire film never has a passage where Ethan actually says so. Therefore, the ending stands less in need of an explanation than most of us would be inclined to think. Finally, Tom Grayson Colonnese’s essay “Native American Reactions to The Searchers” is the first example of Native Americans’ reactions to this film in a scholarly context.
I’ve already written way more than I originally wanted to, so I’d rather cut it short now. Just allow me to say that 1) I found it very fascinating that “The Searchers” inspires so many different, sometimes mutually exclusive readings, 2) although you will certainly find favourites, each of these essays is interesting in itself and certainly shows the depth and power of the often so vilely underestimated western genre, and 3) you will certainly enjoy “The Searchers” even more after reading this fine collection of essays.
This is quite an unusual recommendation given by David Grimsted of how to make your own decision between different readings of a film’s message, but, of course, he also advises us to have a look if such a reading is borne out by the facts or if good arguments are put forth in its favour. Facts, arguments, but also the inklings of one’s own heart are always good to go by when interpreting a film. One of the most interesting things happening to me in 2012 was a discussion I had with a handful of film-buffs and friends of mine on John Ford’s western “The Searchers” (1956), each of us writing our own review on the film and prolifically exchanging ideas. It soon became clear what rich pasture-ground we had opened up – although this metaphor makes us seem like ruminants –, and when one of us recommended a collection of essays on this western entitled “The Searchers. Essays and Reflections on John Ford’s Classic Western” and edited by Peter Lehman and the historian Arthur M. Eckstein this gave us some more food for thought, or some new cud, if you want.
After a systematic introduction by Arthur M. Eckstein, which very convincingly shows how deep, ambiguous and unfathomable a movie “The Searchers” is – it even seems a moot point how many years the searchers were out there roaming the land in order to retrieve Debbie –, the book contains twelve essays on different points related to the film. For starters, Brian Henderson in “The Searchers: An American Dilemma” gives his reading of the film as an indictment of US racism in the 50s. According to him, the Comanche are stand-ins for the black population, a more direct reference to the film’s point of criticism being too risky with regard to the box office at that time. Four years later, however, Fort would finally go one step further with “Sergeant Rutledge” and directly voice his concerns about racial discrimination against African-Americans.
Richard Hutson’s essay “Sermons in Stone: Monument Valley in The Searchers” deals with the symbolic meaning of those famous buttes in the film, whereas Kathryn Kalinak’s contribution “’Typically American’: Music for The Searchers” gives an in-depth account of the score that accompanied the film. Much to Steiner’s chagrin, Ford retained final control even over the score and used it in order to carry his own messages into the film. The “Lorena” theme, for instance, serves to indicate the illegitimate love between Ethan and Martha and the threat Ethan poses with regard to the Edwards family structures. You will also learn a lot about the famous Sons of the Pioneers song and why Ford only used two stanzas of it in his movie. Kalinak’s interesting conclusion is that although Ford’s choice of music was iconoclastic in some ways, it still seems to encourage some nostalgic praise for the values of the Old South. Although I find it hard to fully agree to this conclusion, yet I appreciate her careful analysis of the score.
Another interesting approach is presented by Martin Winkler, who establishes some parallels between the Iliad’s wrathful hero Achilles and Ethan, who likewise vents his wrath on a dead man’s body when he scalps Scar – an action commonly regarded as outré if performed by a non-Indian in westerns. Gaylyn Studlar’s essay “What Would Martha Want? Captivity, Purity, and Feminine Values in The Searchers” tries to exonerate Ford from rather trite anti-western feminism à la Tompkins by pointing out the importance, and the final triumph, of the values represented by Martha. Nevertheless, for all the importance attached to civilizing female values by Ford, it cannot be denied that the western mostly, and “The Searchers” completely, confines women to the domestic sphere.
The following essay, “Incest and Miscegenation in The Searchers (1956) and The Unforgiven (1959)” by Arthur M. Eckstein provides a detailed comparison between Ford’s masterpiece and John Huston’s rather poorly-faring western. Douglas Pye provides another contribution to the question of racism and the fear of miscegenation in this movie in particular and the western in general; in “Double Vision: Miscegenation and Point of View in The Searchers” he argues that the rules of the genre render Ford’s efforts to denounce racism, for all their merits, contradictory at best.
Peter Lehman’s deconstructivist essay “’You Couldn’t Hit It on the Nose’: The Limits of Knowledge in and of The Searchers” is another of my favourite contributions, because the author points out how difficult it actually is to take anything for granted and regard it as secured knowledge in this movie. Whereas films like “Psycho” or “Citizen Kane” work with clearly-visible symbols and even go so far as to explain to their audiences the motives of their characters, Ford spurned all-too-obvious symbols and also avoided telling when he could, somehow, show. One short quotation may make it clear that in our discussions we were not the first ones to come up with rather bold assumptions: “ Did Ethan and Martha have an affair? If they did, did it occur before or after Martha’s marriage to Ethan’s brother? Or are their feelings for each other part of an unfulfilled, unconsummated relationship? Indeed, is it possible that Ethan is the father of one of the Edwards children? We learn the answers to none of these questions and while the latter might seem far-fetched, it is precisely because of the impossibility of knowing so many other things in the film, combined with the ambiguous nature of the knowledge we do have of certain actions, events and character motivations, that makes it even plausible to raise such a question.” Lehman even concedes that you may find reasons assume that Ethan killed Lucy on finding her raped by the Comanche.
Another very interesting essay is James F. Brooks’ “’That Don’t Make You Kin!’: Borderlands History and Culture in The Searchers”. Not only do we learn a lot about the importance of kidnapped people with regard to the borderlands economy and demographics, but, on the basis of this knowledge, Brooks also offers a new reading, i.e. that Scar did not marry, but adopt Debbie. David Grimsted in his very entertaining essay “Re-searching” comes up with another striking idea. According to him, it is us, the viewers, as well as Marty, who assume that Ethan has finally decided to kill Debbie, whereas the entire film never has a passage where Ethan actually says so. Therefore, the ending stands less in need of an explanation than most of us would be inclined to think. Finally, Tom Grayson Colonnese’s essay “Native American Reactions to The Searchers” is the first example of Native Americans’ reactions to this film in a scholarly context.
I’ve already written way more than I originally wanted to, so I’d rather cut it short now. Just allow me to say that 1) I found it very fascinating that “The Searchers” inspires so many different, sometimes mutually exclusive readings, 2) although you will certainly find favourites, each of these essays is interesting in itself and certainly shows the depth and power of the often so vilely underestimated western genre, and 3) you will certainly enjoy “The Searchers” even more after reading this fine collection of essays.
January 18, 2013
The Searchers is my favorite film of all time. It is deceptively complex and nuanced. It was with great curiosity that I discovered a book of essays about the Searchers. Many of the essays I agree with, many have the, yeah I can see where you get that. And others, wow, that's a stretch. Nevertheless there is a lot to ponder and it gives one a new set of eyes with which to view the film. Essays run the gamut from discussions of Geography, music, captivity narratives, 1950s society, miscegenation, etc. even a chapter by a group of Native American scholars to give their take on it. All in all it is highly recommended especially for fans of John Ford films and The Searchers in Particular.
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