The Searchers

 Malachi Jay Bruno

Introduction to Film

The Searchers

The Searchers is a film directed by John Ford, released in 1956 and based on a novel. I think that it showcases a lot of themes, including the importance of family; despite the very obvious racism going on throughout the entirety of the film. Because Ethan Edwards, the main character of this film, was on the side of the confederacy during the Civil War, it's only right that it would justify the racism that was happening on the screen, as well as off-screen. From the jump, Ethan was shown to appreciate and have a lot of love for his family, especially his niece, Debbie. The way they went about this show of love, however, was bewildering and demeaning if anything at all. If any native Americans willingly went to take that role, I would personally be shocked; naturally, they had to take a different approach...

The thing that stuck out to me the most during this movie was not the plot itself. It was the sheer interactions and what was allowed to be said or displayed. This film is highly controversial, in a short sum of words. Not too far after the movie beings, we are introduced to Scar. Scar is one of the Native Americans that have a fairly important role in this film, however, it isn't too difficult to see that Scar isn't of Native American descent at all. That, along with all the racist undertones of the film, really made me question if something like this was even worth watching when there was already so much controversial material being presented to me. 

Overall, despite the strong messages of familial love, I couldn't get past the troublesome representation of Native Americans while watching The Searchers. The film had some excellent scenes, and the film work was also worthy enough to applaud, but it's difficult for me personally to glorify or support films that contain such trivial, disrespectful, and inappropriate representations of people of color. 

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