I find it intriguing to watch John Wayne’s The Searchers after having read Gibson’s essay “The Searchers – Dismantled” (Rouge 2005) as I find myself constantly asking where the camera is, or as he writes “Who or what is looking and listening?” The placement of the camera in The Searchers is very interesting and I intend to focus not so much on who or what it represents, but more how in certain scenes it could have been placed in a different position, yet the one chosen allows the viewer to see a small significant aspect of the image. Another aspect I find interesting is how the camera’s positioning can portray the characters in a certain way against each other and what it tells us about their relationship. Maybe this is how we find ourselves drawn to certain characters in The Searchers? Jean-Luc Godard once said “How can I hate John Wayne upholding [Barry] Goldwater and yet love him tenderly when he sweeps Natalie Wood into his arms in the last reel of The Searchers?” The way in which the camera portrays a character along with their actions can have a huge affect on how we as an audience feel about him.
“The entire film, in fact, might be read as a procession of characters with whom Ethan is doubled.”[1]
If we are to look at the film in this sense then let us compare Ethan to Aaron. Despite both men being of a very similar build the camera positioning and angle often produces a more upstanding view of Ethan: he appears taller and of more importance. Take the below shot as an example.
Ethan’s stance is accentuated by the cameras positioning. If we were to put the camera on the wall by the fireplace, giving us a view between Ethan and Martha, the focus would be on Aaron. Although this could seem fitting on account of the conversation being had at this point is directed by Aaron, I believe it is important to see this stance and sense of power that comes with it full on to get the impact. This shot in the sequence can tell us a lot about the relationship that Ethan and Aaron share. Ethan has an obvious authority about him in this image, with his shoulders back and hands on hips, seeing Aaron slightly bent towards him, to some extent cowering in Ethan’s power. It is also possible to see the relationship Martha has with these two men. She is stood at a small distance from both of them and from this angle they are standing together which portrays the triangle and although we are never actually find out what happened between them in the past, it is clear that there is an unconditional love between Martha and Ethan. This shot puts across the idea that she had to choose between the two of them, yet still feels like she wants the chance to pick again. The shot is ever so slightly from a low angle, which just accentuates the size of Ethan and Aaron in comparison to Martha, who looks most fragile in this scene.
Another shot in which we can compare these two characters in from the opening sequence.
We see Ethan approaching the house and although he is in the distance (granted only slightly) he appears taller than Aaron. The focus in this shot is clearly on Ethan, however I think more importantly it is on the look which is being exchanged between the two characters. In this shot it is not completely clear but noticeable; however had the camera placement been only slightly off to either side or from more of a distance; it would not have been seen. It is important for this shot to be as it is because it helps the audience to piece together the small hints of information to create the basis of the story. Ethan becomes a part of the landscape in this sequence, moving slowly through the sparse shrubbery into this shot in which he is almost like a third rock formation in between the two on either side of the screen. This gives him more power as the natural landscape of the West will always have more power than man.
Scar is the second character who can be seen as doubling Ethan so we should look at how the camera portrays the two of them.
When Ethan first means Scar we are given separate yet very similar, almost mirror images, of each character. A close shot of Ethan is first seen with a quick cut to a close shot of Scar for a couple of seconds, both held onto for too short a time to fully take in the image the character is projecting. Looking at stills of each shot it is clear that the two characters are very similar. Whether or not it was John Ford’s intention to put this across with these two shots, which I can imagine it somewhat was, this is definitely the impression given when comparing the two shots. Each shot is not quite a point of view from the other character and as the shots jump so quickly from one to the other it is hard to place yourself anywhere specifically in the scene. In this sequence both Ethan and Scar look and act very stereotypically in character, which can also be shown through the below still.
The stereotypical cowboy is the dominant male, always the leader of a group of travellers or a lone wander in search of trouble which can be solved by killing off the Native American tribes. The stereotypical Native American has almost the same characteristics as the cowboy, only different in race and often portrayed as much more savage in their ways. In the second image the two characters are fighting for dominating power on the screen, Ethan trying to take over Scar’s territory staring at him with a snarl as if about to lash out and rampage the camp. We are unable to see Scars facial expression but due to the fact that Ethan has been the one moving towards him and Scar has kept still in the one position it is clear that he has a strong hold over Ethan. If the shot had been an over shoulder of Ethan, therefore blocking the view of his face the shot would possibly not have had as much an impact as it does from the angle chosen.
I would consider the below shot to be one in particular which portrays Martin as a double of Ethan.
In the short space of eight seconds Ethan and Martin mirror each other completely, which I consider to be a way of showing how they have bonded during their search for Debbie. They are positioned at the same level and when Debbie lowers the rod with scalps tied to it they have a look of horror at the same moment then slowly turn their heads upwards to look at Debbie in the top left hand corner of the screen. The opposing movement of Martin towards Ethan and then Ethan moving in reverse to stop him is a classic moment of the film. From the moment they are together in the film, Ethan shows hatred towards Martin, dismissing him as an adopted member of his family. However, after having being searching for Debbie together for such a long period of time he begins to see Martin in a different light, maybe because he has stuck with him on the search for years.
The Searchers is an iconic film not only in its genre but in the history of Hollywood cinema. Did the use of camera to portray characters influence this? Possibly. However the way in which the characters are portrayed is definitely a key aspect of Ford’s film, providing a new western image to audiences.
“The film's perceived usefulness in different contexts can be partly ascribed to it’s problematic place in the Fordian oeuvre, which makes it necessary to look outside the film itself for an explanation of its ‘lack of fit’.”[2]
It is hard to know exactly what Pam Cook meant when she said to “look outside the film”, but I take it to look more deeply at the specifics within the film to discover the meanings within them. By looking at the camera angles and positioning within a frame it is possible to learn more about the characters and what Ford was trying to portray through them. There is a clear link between the camera and the representation of characters, not only in The Searchers but in all films and it is a very important aspect as it can provide audiences with more or less information needed to understand the storyline.
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