The Searchers

This scene in the film The Searchers is where Ethan and Martin find Debbie for the first time. It is a significant scene in the plot of the film as, by finding Debbie, they have completed a five year long search. The entire film up to that point has been a story following the search for Debbie after she was kidnapped early on in the film. However, this scene is key in demonstrating some ideas and myths about the American West and the way in which people lived and the ideologies that they followed. Throughout the film, the 'Indians' are viewed as the enemy by Ethan, the Texas Rangers and the other white settlers and are demonstrated as such in the way that they ambush and attack the whites throughout the film. This reinforces the idea that white settlers and frontiersmen saw the Native Americans as the enemy and, despite trading with them, would often find themselves in some kind of conflict.

This scene in particular gives an interesting perspective on the way in which the majority of white settlers in the west viewed the Natives. Ethan tries to shoot and kill Debbie in this scene. The reasoning behind this is that she has become an 'Indian.' It does not matter to Ethan that she is his family, he sees her as an 'Indian' so tries to murder her as opposed to taking her home to the family. It suggests that people who decided to live with Native American tribes or follow their way of life were seen as bad as the Natives and no longer welcome among the settler community.

Furthermore, Martin has to stand in front of Debbie in order to protect her from Ethan. Martin himself is part Cherokee and throughout the film is on the receiving end of racist remarks from Ethan. This further reinforces the idea that if you were Native or even carried a little Native blood you were still inferior to the whites. The way in which he tries to protect Debbie suggests that he still sees her as the Debbie he always knew and still refers to her as his sister. This suggests the idea that family is the most important thing in life, which seems to prominent across the American West. His defence of Debbie, despite her change, offers the view that she is still family and they still have a duty to keep her safe and take her home to the rest of the family.

Sources

http://www.filmsite.org/sear.htmlThe Searchers (Dir John Ford, 1956)