Starting at the beginning of The Searchers the audience is shown the novelty landscape that Tompkins’ wrote about in West of Everything. The landscape in The Searchers is one of pain and hardship; which is the same as the cowboy’s attitude toward life. The cowboy shows a strong relationship with the landscape as is described by Tompkins. John Wayne’s character, Ethan, always acts as though he has the “power, endurance, [and] rugged majesty,” (72) that the landscape posses. Ethan is the typical Western man, as described by Tompkins, “a man whose hardness is one with the hardness of the nature.” Ethan steps up to, “the landscape [which] challenges the body to endure hardship.”(71) He experiences tons of hardship on his quest to find Debby, the girl who was stolen in the beginning of the movie. This is exemplified when Ethan gets shot by an Indian bowman, and finds the strength within him to run, cover and fight back. He also recovers and denies the help of Martin. The cowboy reflects the nature of the landscape in his actions and personality.
Ethan confidence throughout the movie demonstrates his close relationship with the landscape around him. “Nature gives,” Ethan his confidence because as Tompkins explains, “he knows his horse will lead him to water, knows how to build a fire and where to camp.” An example of this is the scene when the Indians attack him and his friends. They end up crossing a river to gain footing. Then, find themselves in a better defending position because they have ground on which to fight, and they took the ground from the Indians. By crossing the river and stopping that means the Indians have to get into the river in order to fight the cowboys. Another good example of this is the scene after Debby tells Martin and Ethan to leave the Indian town. As the Indians come to attack, Ethan and Martin retreat to a cave where they are able to gain ground in order to fight back and end up driving the Indians away. The cowboy takes advantage of his relationship with the landscape to gain an edge in the battle.
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Starting at the beginning of The Searchers the audience is shown the novelty landscape that Tompkins’ wrote about in West of Everything. The landscape in The Searchers is one of pain and hardship; which is the same as the cowboy’s attitude toward life. The cowboy shows a strong relationship with the landscape as is described by Tompkins. John Wayne’s character, Ethan, always acts as though he has the “power, endurance, [and] rugged majesty,” (72) that the landscape posses. The cowboy reflects the nature of the landscape in his actions and personality. Ethan is the typical Western man, as described by Tompkins, “a man whose hardness is one with the hardness of the nature.” Ethan steps up to, “the landscape [which] challenges the body to endure hardship.”(71) He experiences tons of hardship on his quest to find Debby, the girl who was stolen in the beginning of the movie. This is exemplified when Ethan gets shot by an Indian bowman, and finds the strength within him to run, cover and fight back. He also recovers and denies the help of Martin.
ReplyDeleteEthan confidence throughout the movie demonstrates his close relationship with the landscape around him. “Nature gives,” Ethan his confidence because as Tompkins explains, “he knows his horse will lead him to water, knows how to build a fire and where to camp.” An example of this is the scene when the Indians attack him and his friends. They end up crossing a river to gain footing. Then, find themselves in a better defending position because they have ground on which to fight, and they took the ground from the Indians. The landscape helps the cowboys fight the Indians, and that is how the land gives confidence. Another good example of this is the scene after Debby tells Martin and Ethan to leave the Indian town. As the Indians come to attack, Ethan and Martin retreat to a cave where they are able to gain ground in order to fight back and end up driving the Indians away. The cowboy takes advantage of his relationship with the landscape to gain an edge in the battle, confidence to win the battle.