The Searchers & the Western Myth

Based on the 1954 Alan Le May book of the same, John Ford's The Searchers is to many, the quintessential Western film. Due to the Western's symbolic role in contemporary popular culture, this film becomes inextricably linked with the myths of the American West as a physical space, lifestyle and set of ideologies.

One of the more interesting aspects to The Searchers is its interpretation of the archetypal conflict between the white men of the frontier and the indigenous peoples they found there, an encounter that, in cinema, invariably leads to combat. More specifically, it is the relationship and exchanges between Ethan, our Western hero, albeit one with moral ambiguity, and Scar, the war chief of the Comanche Indian tribe. When they finally meet outside of Scar's teepee, locking into each others gaze with each trying to assert his masculinity over the other, it is perhaps all too easy to revert to the long-established idea that Scar and Ethan are directly antagonistic. In this relationship, the traditional story arc dictates that one must triumph over the other with a series of moral and ideological consequences that conform to the binary systems that characterise the Western, many of which are detailed by Jim Kitses; good and evil, savagery and (relative) sophistication. By the film's conclusion, it becomes clear that this is true to an extent, as exemplified by Ethan's eventual triumph over Scar in order to return Debbie home and create a satisfactory ending. However, it is perhaps more interesting and relevant to a discussion on the Western myth to consider Ethan and Scar not as perpetual enemies, but rather, as counterparts who occupy an identical niche within their respective groups.

Returning then to their original meeting, the fact that this occurs in Scar's camp might be representative of Indian autonomy, as embodied by Scar himself. Otherwise, this setting might be considered as another mechanism through which the mythical qualities of the West are presented to the viewer. For example, the notion of the protagonists entering into enemy territory and striving for victory against all odds reinforces their heroic status and inevitably plays into the Western fantasies, both historically and cinematically. In order to further fortify his classically 'Western' qualities, Ethan begins to negate the Indian dominance implied by having met in their camp by making derogatory comments about Scar in an effort to humble him. This begins immediately with Ethan responding simply 'Scar huh?' when introduced to the war-chief by Emilio, going on to tell Scar that 'You speak pretty good American, for a Comanche, someone teach ya?'. This comment reaffirms the traditional disconnect between the white and Indian cultures that is so integral to the Western myth portrayed in these films by implying a kind of white superiority. Furthermore, Scar's attempt at bridging this disconnect through language is met with scorn from Ethan who suggests that this level of culture is unattainable by Scar on his own, thus disempowering him. Nonetheless, Scar is able to come back with an identical comment towards Ethan when the latter shows a basic understanding of the Comanche tongue, showing a form of equality between the two leaders. This begins to hint at a mutual respect between the two due to their comparable prowess and the fact that, as critic Robert B. Pippin acknowledges, "They are both on revenge quests." thus returning to the idea that they occupy an identical niche in their respective story arcs and communities.

We then enter into the tent where Scar attempts to intimidate Ethan and Martin by showing them his scalp collection, taken from white men as revenge for his two murdered sons. This is also the point of the film's major revelation when an older and 'Nativized' Debbie is shown displaying the scalps on a
pole. In many ways, this might be viewed as a challenge to the myths of the West, as through Debbie, an attractive white woman, Ford is able to humanise the Indians. This is reinforced through her harsh treatment at the hands of Ethan wherein Ford forces his viewers to reconsider the archetypal dichotomy between the Indians and white men and re-evaluate the morality of ethnic absolutism as an ideology.

Another interesting facet to this exchange is the idea of Scar being able to tame White culture (as represented by Debbie) and bend it against their own in a fashion that defiantly mirrors the kind of subjugation to which the Natives are typically subjected. Again, this has occurred both in the Western genre of cinema, and in real history, a key example being the evangelisation of the Native Americans throughout the Westward expansion of the 19th century. In using Debbie as a mechanism to display his own power, Scar assumes a more dominant role associated with the white heroes, perhaps supporting Pippin's view that "Scar sometimes seems another part of Ethan's character - his alter ego", implying an implicit link between the two. Pippin continues to postulate that Scar represents elements of Ethan that are "illicit that he nevertheless devoutly wants,such that, by killing Scar, Ethan will prove that those desires were never part of himself". This is an interesting idea and relates back to Ethan's status as a primordial anti-hero, suggesting that the elements of his identity represented by Scar are undesirable or immoral. Eventually, Ethan is able to kill Scar and he proceeds to scalp him - an act which is described by Martin M. Winkler as revealing "Ethan's utter inhumanity" in an "act of barbarism committed by someone isolated from society and its norms". This too is interesting as a kind of sadistic twist on the usually moral or exemplary individualism of the Western hero. Overall, Ethan's scalping of Scar, isolated from its moral implications, shows the archetypal success of white power in this perpetual conflict, and goes some way to creating a satisfactory ending to The Searchers. 

Finally, it is important to remain aware of the concerted effort to demonise Scar - through his (un-Indian) name, his actions and perhaps most notably, through his physical appearance which epitomises the terrifying ideas of the noble savage. Overall then, while the relationship between Ethan and Scar is certainly thought-provoking and evidence of significant progression or revision within the Western genre, the conclusion of this relationship reverts back to established generic conventions.

Bibliography

Primary Source - The Searchers. DVD. Dir: John Ford (1956; Burbank, CA: Warner Bros)

Secondary Sources

Kitses, Jim, Horizons West:Anthony Mann, Budd Boetticher, Sam Peckinpah: Studies of Authorship within the Western.

Pippin, Robert B. What Is a Western? Politics and Self-Knowledge in John Ford's The Searchers, Critical Enquiry 35, 2009.


Tinker, George E. Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993)

Winkler, Martin M. "Homer's Iliad and John Ford's The Searchers", revue interdisciplinaire sur la Grece archaique, Annee 2003, Volume 7, Numero 1, pp. 593-599.