Monday 22 February 2016

The Searchers

I have chosen the scene where the group of searchers come across a Comanche burial ground with a dead Comanche, killed by what is presumed to be a raid by another group of white settlers.

I have chosen this scenee because I believe it represents how white men and women felt about the natives. This scene, in my opinion, accurately represents the racism and hatred of the natives felt by white settlers. It is clear to the audience that this group in particular have a hatred for Native Americans as the group show no respect to this dead Comanche. This is made evident when Ethan shoots out his eyes. There was obviously no need for him to do this as the Comanche was clearly not being a threat to the group.  In this scene, Ethan in particular is portrayed as being racist and vindictive. You could argue that he has a right to feel this way as he believes this tribe abducted his nieces, however, I think this represents how many white felt, even if they had no apparent reason for feeling this way.

Racism is clearly shown in this scene when Nesby says "I Don't like it", the term "it" in this phrase indicates racism as it is implying that white settlers did not see Natives as human beings with emotion or feelings, but as objects to discard. Ethan's vindictive side is also shown as by shooting out the Comanche's eyes, he has condemned him as now he is forced to be in 'limbo' as he cannot enter the "spirit land".

 I think that this scene is a god representation of the west and the feelings of white settlers towards Natives as the racism and hatred shown by this group is likely to have been a shared feeling among many white settlers at the time.

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