What makes a Western film different from any other? Is it the strong alpha male cowboy? The rolling hills and dry desert backdrop? No, it is the relationship that the cowboy has with the land. The land serves not just as a simple background or mise-en-scene; rather the land becomes a character in itself arguably as important as any of the other characters presented in the western. If we treat the landscape itself as one of the main characters in the film or novel, then it is only fitting that the relationship between the land and the protagonist becomes one of the most central in the entire story. The Searchers, starring John Wayne, excellently exemplifies this relationship between the western cowboy and the lands he roams.
In The Searchers, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), a classic western hero, scours the open, sandy, and majestic landscape of the western desert in order to find Indians that killed most of his family and took one of his nieces to live with them. Author Jane Tompkins almost perfectly describes this classic western cowboy in her writing titled West of Everything when she writes, “To be a man in the Western is to seem to grow out of the environment, which means to be hard, to be tough, to be unforgiving” (73). Ethan Edward is a tough, rough, and stern man, but the land seems to enhance all of these traits. The land itself molds cowboys like Ethan Edwards, as it seems to make an unwritten pact with the cowboy that says, “be brave, be strong enough to endure this, it says, and you will become like this-hard, austere, sublime” (71). By surviving the harsh conditions of the desert, the cowboy becomes tough as nails and almost superhuman, like Ethan when he endures traveling through desert and snow in order to find Debbie.
The land does not only shape the cowboy, but in fact the cowboy takes on many traits of the land and becomes almost one with the land. Cowboys spend so much time out in the wilderness that, “men imitate the land in westerns” (Tompkins 72). Again, The Searchers offers another great example of what Tompkins reports. The land in Westerns is dusty, dirty, and dangerous, “but the land doesn’t just test men; it also rewards them with food, water, shelter, and, finally, rest” (Tompkins 80). The land in westerns is harsh, but it also can be benevolent. Ethan Edwards’ imitates this tough but kind trait. Ethan kills many Native Americans and even savagely scalps Chief Scar. However, he displays kindness towards Debbie when he finds her in the cave at the end of the film and carries her home instead of killing her. Throughout the film Ethan and the land remain intertwined to create a bond between desert and cowboy that leads to a larger than life persona for the cowboy and increased respect for the land itself.
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What makes a Western film different from any other? Is it the strong alpha male cowboy? The rolling hills and dry desert backdrop? No, it is the relationship that the cowboy has with the land. The land serves not just as a simple background or mise-en-scene; rather the land becomes a character in itself arguably as important as any of the other characters presented in the western. If we treat the landscape itself as one of the main characters in the film or novel, then it is only fitting that the relationship between the land and the protagonist becomes one of the most central in the entire story. The Searchers, starring John Wayne, excellently exemplifies this relationship between the western cowboy and the lands he roams.
ReplyDeleteIn The Searchers, John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a classic western hero who scours the open, sandy, and majestic landscape of the western desert in order to find a tribe of Indians that killed most of his family and took one of his nieces to live with them. Author Jane Tompkins almost perfectly describes this classic western cowboy in her critique of westerns titled West of Everything when she writes, “To be a man in the Western is to seem to grow out of the environment, which means to be hard, to be tough, to be unforgiving” (73). Ethan Edward is a tough, rough, and stern man, but the land seems to enhance all of these traits. The land itself molds cowboys like Ethan Edwards, as it seems to make an unwritten pact with the cowboy that says, “be brave, be strong enough to endure this, it says, and you will become like this-hard, austere, sublime” (71). By surviving the harsh conditions of the desert, the cowboy becomes tough as nails and almost superhuman, like Ethan when he endures traveling through desert and snow in order to find Debbie.
The land does not only shape the cowboy, but in fact the cowboy takes on many traits of the land and becomes almost one with the land. Cowboys spend so much time out in the wilderness that, “men imitate the land in westerns” (Tompkins 72). Again, The Searchers offers another great example of what Tompkins reports. The land in Westerns is dusty, dirty, and dangerous, “but the land doesn’t just test men; it also rewards them with food, water, shelter, and, finally, rest” (Tompkins 80). The land in westerns is harsh, but it also can be benevolent. Ethan Edwards’ imitates this tough but kind trait. Ethan kills many Native Americans and even savagely scalps Chief Scar. However, he displays kindness towards Debbie when he finds her in the cave at the end of the film and carries her home instead of killing her. Throughout the film Ethan and the land remain intertwined to create a bond between desert and cowboy that leads to a larger than life persona for the cowboy and increased respect for the land itself.