Semiotic Analysis of selected scenes from
Western Films are the major defining genre of the American film industry, a nostalgic eulogy to the early days of the expansive, untamed American frontier and the borderline between civilization and the wilderness. They are one of the oldest, most enduring and flexible genres and one of the most characteristically American in their mythic origins. This indigenous American art form focuses on the frontier west that existed in North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries and are often set in the American frontier during the last part of the 19th century (1865-1900) following the Civil War, in a geographically western setting with romantic, sweeping frontier landscapes or rugged rural terrain.The Searchers (1956) is considered by many reviewers to be a true American masterpiece of filmmaking, and the most influential and perhaps most admired film of director John Ford. It was his 115th feature film, and he was already a four-time Best Director Oscar winner [The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952)], all for his pictures of social comment rather than his quintessential westerns. The film's themes include racism, individuality, the American character, and the oppo
The editing in the film makes use of a lot of dissolves between scenes for narrative story-telling effect and as a means to depict the passage of time, in this case, 5 years. Thirdly, when Ethan Edwards comes home to his brother's house, to find it destroyed and looks into and enters the store house to discover Martha dead inside. The element of the doorframe, that is being studied here, appears 5 times in the film. Dunbar discovers his neighbours from the Native American village bordering his outpost and is gradually drawn into their society. Tommy Lee Jones' character is similarly disenchanted with the social mores of the time and turns his back on white civilization but finds meaning in the rescue of his granddaughter. He finally finds love with a young white woman, Stands With a Fist (Mary McDonnell), who was taken in by the tribe when her parents were killed by the Pawnee. sition between civilization, exemplified by homes, caves, and other domestic interiors and the untamed frontier wilderness. The brilliant, glaring, sunny outdoor area represents the savage and threatening land of the western frontier loner. Metaphors and metonyms to the times the film is set in, constantly recur, mainly in Ford's depiction of the farcical enforcement of western ethics in the environment of the frontier west. At the Jorgensen's, when the couple walk through the door to welcome the home comers. The questions about the ambiguous benefits of the spread of white civilization in North America after the civil war in both of these films has echoes of Ethan Edwards' conflict in 'The Searchers'. Moving excitedly to the porch, she notices a man approaching, in the centre of the frame, who slowly rides in from the desert in a mythic entrance - the man is framed between two distant buttes. The interior area in the cabin represents civilized values and the settled family. But Edwards never crosses the doorway to his home; his home is in the past, just as is his mortal enemy's, Chief Scar. The scene presents the visual and iconic motif of the framed doorway and the indexical threshold between the two worlds.
Common topics in this essay:
Native American,
Ethan Edwards,
Monument Valley,
Civil War,
Green Valley,
Stan Jones,
Western Films,
Ethan Edwards',
Chief Scar,
North America,
civil war,
ethan edwards,
ethan edwards',
white civilization,
native american,
frontier west,
'the searchers',
spread white civilization,
film set,
john wayne's,
north america,
john wayne's character,
|
Acceptance Essays
