In the long-standing tradition of the cinema, it is clear that the artists who make films lean into their values while making their craft. It becomes abundantly clear when ones biased political stances come forth in their films. These tropes have dominated social politics for the better part of the past few hundred years and have staked their place in our media. However, these tropes stem from old ideas are placed into film genre as certain types of imagery. The old style of western films made popular by directors like John Ford and starring actors such as John Wayne were inspirations for the western genre. Focusing on needlessly objectifying people by focusing on simple class tropes. One of the western films that get brought up in this conversation is a Wayne/Ford piece called The Searchers from 1956. This paper will take a closer look at the portrayal of common character types usually used in the western film and how those tropes have changed along with the times in the name of representation. Staring with the “macho” hero character that John Wayne made his career off of. The poor representation of the adult female character and children as well as the role that Indigenous or Native Americans play in the film as well. The western genre of film has used certain problematic approaches to characterizations that have shifted over time for the benefit of political correctness.
In a male-dominated industry, it comes down to which actor fits the leading male role best and in the western genre during the middle of the twentieth century, John Wayne was that inescapable star. He developed the soft-spoken, tough, manly persona that put a face to the look of the modern interpretation of “Cowboy”. However, it was not just his copy-paste character that gave the western its place in cinema. Writer Andrew Tudor has written extensively on the identity of genre. He boils genre theory down to a personal idea of “a common set of meanings in our culture.” (Tudor, 6). He alleges that all westerns have common variables that as a society we understand as pieces or props to attribute to the Western genre. To compare the western to the horror genre, you could find just as many common tropes that through the ages have come to define the genre. In the horror genre we find; the scary house, a paranormal entity, a killer chasing a helpless victim and an eerie tone. The same can be said about the western genre. The horses, the barren landscape, the costumes, the way the characters speak and one of the most important and iconic being the firearms. These symbols are all relative to the western genre and are all points of reference when trying to determine any genre. Writer Peter Wollen speaks on these types of symbolic imagery in world history. He writes. “What should we say about the hammer and sickle, the Christian cross, the scales of justice? We must distinguish clearly between a depiction or image and an emblem. An image predominantly iconic” (Wollen, 182). What Wollen is trying to argue is that imagery that our population sees throughout our lives are not simply an image laid forth by a team of marketers. They are emblematic of a certain ideal or belief.
This is when we see John Wayne’s character of Ethan Edwards come forth in conversation. He encompasses all of these tropes that you’d get from a western films main protagonist. The stern and cocky attitude, the “do no wrong” patriotic backstory, everything Wayne could bring to a role. The characterization of the strongman patriot is shown in this film. The conversation of “how does this character shine through?” can be asked. In John Ford’s film The Searchers, every plot point is driven through the character of Ethan Edwards. The narrative of the film presents Edwards as the arbiter of all knowledge and all power. They have Jefferey Hunter’s character of Martin Pawley play the second fiddle to Wayne. Always being berated, taking orders left and right. It makes it seem as if Edwards is the only strong character in the film, creating a sense of patriarchy between not only the male character in relation to the female and Indigenous characters but also the secondary male characters. Edwards is the character that brings all of the identity of the western strongman to cinema. Creating the patriotic, confederate, war veteran that is so idealistic in the southern United States. Ford and Wayne write this character as if he is the only one who knows right from wrong. Throughout the film, it is clear that Edwards is the leader. Whenever he scouts ahead that’s where to go. Or whenever a character dies, he is the one to console or discover the gruesome end to their lives, and consistently with zero expression. Wayne is essentially trying to portray the idealistic American male as an unfeeling, tough, strongman that can do no wrong. All of these characteristics of the Edwards character run rampant through the western genre. We see them in Sergio Leone’s The Man with No Name Trilogy as well as other John Ford pieces like Young Mr. Lincoln and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valanc e.Shane (1953) is another prime example. Where we see how a family flocks to the attention of Alan Ladd’s Shane character. In films such as these, its common to find the focus of the narrative placed on the shoulders of a typecast, chauvinist character who is simply there to reflect passé rhetoric about the “ideal type of man”.
It is correct to equate these forms of male dominant character tropes with those of the western genre. Similar to the arguments put forth by Andrew Tudor, these ideas of what a male character “should” be is a backbone to how we see the western genre. In the world of the modern western there are some examples to how we have changed this rhetoric. In the James Mangold directed 2007 remake of the classic 3:10 to Yuma we see a shift from this style of narrative. The character of Dan Evans portrayed by Christian Bale is done completely different then you’d see from the style of a John Ford piece. We are presented with a patriot and war veteran narrative. However, the difference being how vulnerable Evans is as a character. We watch how he is unable to provide for his family, how his farm is unstable. It helps us understand the weaknesses of our main protagonist instead of being presented with one that has no personal flaws. We watch the Evans character struggle and claw to succeed for the benefit of his family, showing a vulnerable side to the male protagonist in western cinema. Another example is a second film by Mangold, Logan (2016 ). In Logan we are witness to the deterioration of the “superhero” character. It is a good allegory to this argument, having a writer tear down the pre-conceived notion of an unbeatable character. Logan or Wolverine has been a character on the big screen since 2000. However, this is the most vulnerable we have seen him since his debut. Mangold writes him as a broken man, forgotten in the shadow of what he used to be. Taking that idea of a patriotic soldier and spinning the narrative to talk about how a character can be vulnerable and also a hero in the end. Logan bookmarks the end to that character’s story, but it does not affect the narrative or the sense of the genre by writing him to be a flawed individual. These examples of modern leading men in the western are reasons to believe that these tropes that form our comprehension of genre according to Tudor and Wollen. But in relation to those, the genre is able to establish a stronger identity while shifting the narrative away from that created in the name of John Ford and John Wayne.
The Searchers is a film that is dominated by the presence of men on screen. However, it is able to be a film that pushes stereotypes about the female character as well. In multiple scenes during The Searcherswe see the visual of the female character being excited for the arrival of the male character. We see this at the beginning with the arrival of Ethan Edwards. Along with multiple arrivals throughout the rest of the film in taverns and in his arrival in the third act when interrupting the wedding. The film often portrays the female characters as simple house-dwellers who’s only focus is on the male characters when they arrive. It’s incredibly rare to find female characters outside of the house in the film. The film relegates both women and children to pawns in the motivation of the protagonist, this is a problem with a lot of older western films. They refuse to give a sense of being to the female voice and it leads to stereotyped identities. The film either portrays women as common housewives or as damsels in need of rescuing. These tropes have extended into other genres as well. In Star Wars (1977), Spider-Man (2002)and Taken (2008) women are used as motivating factors to drive the male characters forward. In The Searchers it makes it obvious that this is the drive for Edwards and Pawley. Tudor would agree that this type of character is a part of the genre. The character of the helpless female in destress is a big motivating factor for the male character in cinema. Wollen would argue that the damsel in destress plot point is a symbol of something more. This character could simply be seen as a vessel that needs a rescuer. In the film, we have no elongated time spent with the character of Debbie Edwards. We are not attached to her motivations or her arc. But we are supposed to feel for Ethan and Martin on their quest to rescue her. Debbie as a character is simply there to make the story go forward for our main protagonists. We have no prior connection to her as a character and are only supposed to focus on the quest of the male characters. It leads to a false perception of the potential strength of female characters.
In modern productions of western films, we see a drastic uplifting story that allow for female characters to take the forefront of the conversation. Director Kelly Reichardt’s 2010 film Meek’s Cutoff (2010) takes the over-played damsel in destress narrative and allows to show how strong female characters can achieve a proper character arc while using that line of storytelling. Giving a cast of female characters such a strong amount of screen time and personality allows for a different way for audiences to view certain narrative structures. Another film we can see this progression is the story of True Gritfrom both 1969 and 2010. Both of these films are driven by the voice of a young girl, the character of Mattie Ross. In the original, the male lead is played by an older John Wayne. But even he takes a back seat to the plot which is driven by Ross. This storytelling is interesting because of how symbolic children are in the narrative of western films. Children are usually reserved for needless side pieces or plot drivers for the leading character. However, True Grit circumvents that by giving us a strong, younger female character who seeks to drive the story forward herself alongside the male characters and not relegated to the background of the narrative.
The final character trope that is often criticized in the old style of western is the portrayal of Native Americans or Indigenous Peoples. In pop culture throughout the early era of on-screen entertainment audiences have seen racist or insensitive depictions of “Indians”. In films like Disney’s 1953 animated film Peter Pan.They include the song “What Made the Red Man Red?”, in reference to the skin tone of the natives presented in the film. Along with stereotypical war calls and “rain dances” children’s films had made poor attempts to convey a true sense of proper individuality for Native Americans. The Searchers is no different. The film makes Native Americans out to be pure villains and savages. They seemingly lack any kind of motivation and are simply there to cause havoc for our heroes. They are shown to simply murder, and burn down the house of Aaron and Martha Edwards for no reason outside of their need for destruction. This is an extremely poor representation of the Native American people. In the film, they are referred too as “Comanch”. An Americanized version of the Native Comanche people who populate the plains and are commonly victims of the poor representation that arises in the “Cowboys and Indians” traditions of entertainment in the twentieth century. The symbols that make up the Native people in western films are items such as traditional headdresses, bow and arrows, certain cultural customs such as war chants and dances. These dances and chants are usually played for humour or in negative connotations such as their appearance as villains in this film or their poor representation in entertainment in Peter Pan.
These symbols are placed in this film as a way to show how different their culture is to that of an American. Writer Christian Metz has said in relation to the language of cinema, “Cinema is only in theory the art of images” (Metz, pg.140). He tells us that cinema is made up of individual frames that build a bigger picture from said images. The images that make up the form of a Native or a Cowboy are what constitute a hero or a villain in the eyes of the filmmakers ofThe Searchers.These forms of rhetoric make it harder for marginalized groups to receive proper representation in cinema. We see alternative ideas be presented in children’s films. Like those in Peter Pan or in another Disney piece Pocahontas (1995). Where children’s films either trivialize or shy away from historical accuracy, The Searchers is a manifestation of all of the ideas that negatively affected the culture of the Indigenous peoples of North America. Playwright John Dryden first used the term “Noble Savage” in his play The Conquest of Granada (1672). This term has grown to represent negative ideas put forth by philosophers for reasons to create villains of Native people. The negative connotations of Native people are reasons they are used and symbolic villains in films depicting Americana due to their culture and how it differs from our own perceived notion of culture.
In the modern age, people have become more attune to the struggles of marginalized communities. The entertainment industry is starting to feel the ripple effects. In 2017, writer director Taylor Sheridan made a modern western the focused on the unseen lives that millions of Native Americans live through on reserves called Wind River.He allows for audiences to understand the nature of their lives through the eyes of an FBI agent who, similar to most of the viewers, does not know the implications behind living on a reservation. Wind River is a film that understands the difficult living that Indigenous people are forced into. Sheridan does not marginalize the community by presenting them as pawns in the film. They are the victims and for the majority are portrayed by Indigenous actors such as Gil Birmingham and Tokala Black Elk. Unlike in The Searchers who have White and Chinese actors and actresses portraying the Native people. These are examples of how symbolic imagery that is referenced in Native culture can be used to make light of the people who are being portrayed instead of making them out to be villains for the American patriots to kill in the name of entertainment on the silver screen. These are the kind of ideas that artists are trying to tell in cinema today. We see the style of aesthetic that Wind Riverwent for but in lighter tones to try and tell positive stories from the world of North American Indigenous peoples. A Film such as Indian Horse (2017)is a prime example of how to show a positive story based around a certain ethnic group and be able to tell it well without trivializing or even shying away from any hardships the characters in question may have faced. In the world of entertainment, it is important to tell a fair and balanced story. However, in the world of the western genre, it hasn’t always told those kinds of stories properly. In The Searchers they present woefully unjust and racist depictions of indigenous people and going as far to show them as close-minded savages. These are symbolic representations that have plagued entertainment and are finally seeing a form of revitalization with a new age of acceptance in the artistic world.
The world of cinema has only been around since the late 19thcentury. There are many eras to remember from those early ages and it is important to not forget where we have gone wrong in the world of political justice. Films such as The Searchers have done their part in cementing genre tropes into the fabric of cinema as Tudor would say. Nevertheless, the landscape of representative films is improving. There are numerous ideas being put forward by people unafraid to show alternate ideas to how male characters to be portrayed or how to allow female characters and children to be able to take charge in the western genre. Lastly being able to write marginalized people to be more than just a prop in a white dominated industry and allowing them to have their own voice in the years to come in entertainment. Genre films are inherently interesting due to their ability to be identified only by the symbols they possess. However, the way that characters are shown through the ages are able to be changed. It simply takes the courage to defy conventions and be able to write the change into history instead of resting on the shoulders of old ideologies.
Sources
Metz, Christian. “The Cinema: Language or Language System”. The Film Theory Reader,
Debates and Arguments. Ed. Mark Furstenau. London & New York: Routledge Taylor &
Francis Group. 2010. Pg. 140.
Tudor, Andrew. “Genre”. Film Genre Reader II. Ed. Barry Keith Grant. Austin: University
of Texas Press. 1995. Pg. 6.
Wollen, Peter. “The Semiology of the Cinema”. The Film Theory Reader, Debates and
Arguments.Ed. Mark Furstenau. London & New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis
Group. 2010. Pg. 182.
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