The Searchers: Dehumanizing

 

Western as a genre for film like many others falls into its stereotypes, that it either develops or adapts throughout time. Though this isn’t my first time seeing a western, story wise it feels just familiar. I don’t think I’ve ever in the past bothered to remember or pay attention to western films due to many racist themes that seem to always go in hand with them. The Searchers made in 1956 and directed by John Ford if I hadn’t been watching for this class would have been the same for me, for I don’t have much of an interest in watching something that just depicts a terrible narrative towards a race. Though learning the background of the director and knowing how many praise Ford for his work, had me watch more carefully at how he depicted his white characters versus Native Americans. 

Yes there is the obvious racism with Ford not even bothering to portray Natives in a respectable or correct light, only using them as an easy and lazy villain character, not giving them any depth or reason for their acts. Even going as far as yes, hiring true Native people, but then having an American German actor Henry Brandon play the main Native villain, and he is known for playing roles of different ethnicities which it’s own thing to look at. Though I noticed that even in how Ford shot certain scenes, there was a clear difference in his white characters and Native ones. Characters like Ethan, Martin and Clayton had their own personalities and can stand on their own in the film, though Ethan definitely had the most to special attention on Ford would give the audience snippets of his person, other than just some  angry racist outsider. He has more to him, Ford made sure to show that fairly well in his storytelling. Though he didn’t even give half of that care to his Native American characters, only two of them we even got names for. Yes you can argue the fact that there are the “villain” characters that they don’t need that much depth, but if you want them to actually be interesting and not seen as just lazy writing, might want to give them an actual motive with rhyme and reason for their actions. Rather than just an inaccurate and heavily stereotyped Native tribe that killed for no reason and now gives the white lead something to do and made a story out of it. 

Though this film is praised for its beautiful shots, I took notice of a certain scene after the Edwards family is raided and killed, Ethan and the Rangers are facing off the Natives. The two groups facing off one another in the body of water, I noticed just how individual each person in the Ranger group was. They stood apart from each other physically and reacted differently to the shootings going on, basically showing how each is their own person and what not. Though we hadn’t been introduced or touched much on the Native characters, they were shot as though they were a hive, same reactions, same movements, nothing setting them apart or giving them character or any individualism. Sure you can argue there was some for Scar’s character, but he’s also a white actor doing red face, so I think that’s going to make him stand out regardless compared to the rest of the Navajo actors. That shooting scene stuck with me and to me set the rest of the mood of watching the rest of the film. Our white characters are going to be given the treatment of they’re not the villains and be seen as actual humans with emotions and personality. Where the Native characters just get written off as “savages” just wanting to cause destruction and not given any personality other than kill, hunt, take. To be blunt it dehumanizes them and again is just a disgusting racist portrayal.