The Searchers

Tompkins’ chapter on the landscape correlates to the film, The Searchers. The chapter touches upon transcendence, influence, and domination; all characteristics that are exemplified in the film and are related to the cowboy. Tompkins understands that in Western cinema there are consistent spiritual undertones. The land is capable of an “ever-changing series of vistas, challenges, clues, surprises, mysteries” (Tompkins, 80). The undertones relate to creation of the world and to the initial insignificance of man in comparison. Man is no match for the world’s volatility and enigma. As seen in the movie, the landscape shots are frequent and show the massive plateaus in the background. The cowboys typically only take up the bottom half of the screen. The minimization of the cowboy and the emphasis on the landscape is used to show natures awe and power. In addition, the unpredictability of the weather, from hot and dry then to snow, shows the word’s transcendence over the cowboy. This austere land presented to the cowboy causes him to suffer. The land is a driving influence behind the cowboy persona. Tompkins articulates a cowboy must “be brave, be strong enough to endure” (Tompkins 71).  In fact, the cowboy needs to imitate the land as a means of survival and increased masculinity and ruggedness. Throughout the movie Ethan Edwards (played by John Wayne) shows little emotional expression—except perhaps for humor. He is sublime and has few social ties or kin. His hard, cold, bleak and dry attitude is a result of his western environment. At one point in the film, Marty believed that Ethan had the capability to shot Debbie because of her Indian behavior after she was kidnapped.  Ethan’s harsh and merciless behavior caused Marty’s belief. The rough and tough cowboy mirrors the environment. Eventually, once the cowboy is one with the land, the land appears less like a “mine field or a prison but [more like] a maternal home” (Tompkins, 81). The utilization of nature, whether though shelter or nourishment, causes the viewer to believe that the cowboy has dominated the awe inspiring West. In the film, cowboy domination of the land is exemplified in the beginning and the end when he is alone and in control on the horizon.  Also, the instances where the cowboy uses the landscape to his advantage (such as the scene in which Ethan kills Jerem Futterman and the scene in which Marty and Ethan hide in the cave) prove the relation of cowboy dominance to the land.  The cowboy experiences animosity, imitation and eventual affection for the western landscape.