Tompkins' West, is instantly portrayed in the film The Searchers. The west that she describes is vast open landscape that swallows everything that surrounds it. In The Searchers the hero, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne),is required to battle the harsh land and attempting to rescue his niece. His niece Debbie was kidnapped by Comanche Indians from her families home in Northern Texas. Ethan and Martin (supporting actor) treks for years across deserts and through snow storms, until he finally finds his niece at a New Mexican Comanche outpost.
Tompkins states that the land is "revealed on the opening shot of a Western film."(71) In the opening scene of The Searchers the director draws attention towards a lone women standing in the doorway of a darkly lit house, starring out across the open, naturally lit desert. The desert almost seems to engulf the house. Silhouetted across the horizon is a man on horseback slowly inching closer as the land builds up behind him.
The relationship between the landscape and man is almost too much for one to bear. This overwhelming vast landscape is barren, dry and full of its share of obstacles. Ethan Edward's arduous trek begins and ends within the confines of this vast desert in the American Southwest. Beginning in Northern Texas The Searchers setting is a landscape is riddled with spires of rock and vast open stretches where one can see for miles away. Tompkins viewed the desert as a place "where a person is exposed, the sun beats down, and there is no place to hide." The initial attack on the Edwards home at the beginning of the movie, follows in line that one is ultimately exposed in the West. A single home in the middle of what most people would call "nothing" (actually a desert in North Texas), is ultimately exposed. The landscape doesn't offer any protection from relatively anything. The house appears to stick out like a sore thumb in relations to landscape around it. By sending Debbie out to run away from the impending Indian attack, her parents were only delaying her death. The harsh desert land left Debbie with nowhere to hide. She would not have lasted long in the desert surrounded by the elements for more than a couple of days at her age. However like Tompkins stated this harsh Western land will always leave man exposed to the elements and with nowhere to hide.
Cowboys of the Western brave these odds and undertake that challenges that the exposed landscape provides. Ethan Edwards in pursuit of the Comanche Indians remained on their trail all the way until winter. In the winter the pure force of the West battered the men and they lost the trail after a blizzard. Ethan Edwards however was broken into the land. He never once turned back at the first sight of hardship. After a long life of facing the landscape and becoming acquired to the bare minimum for all of nonessentials of life, Ethan Edwards was hand in hand with the land. He had a knowledge of the land like most Cowboys did. If you respected that land the land would not kill you, but if you pushed things too far it would be your last. Ethan was what I would call a manly man. He was what the ideal image of a man would be. He was intelligent, strong, and respectful. Tompkins found that "the hardness and austerity seems to have selected its heroes from among strong men in the prime of life, people who have a certain build, complexion, facial type, carriage, gesture, and demeanor. who dress a certain way, carry certain accouterments, have few or no social ties, are experts at certain skills."(73) Tompkins Western hero is exactly what Ethan Edwards was to The Searchers. Tompkins felt that it wasn't the hero that shaped himself but rather the landscape that shaped him that way.
The land gives the hero or even just man a sense of empowerment. Man feels in control and dominant when he can see the land before him. In The Searchers Ethan is the dominating force, he knew the lie of the land and was able to track his foe with precise skill and expertise. He developed these skills according to Tompkins by being in "constant contact with the land."(78) I fully agree with Tompkins because as the store progresses and Martin is exposed to the land longer and longer his naive behaviors are no longer visible. Like Ethan, Martin learned that the land shapes you and not you it.
My only objection to Tompkins with the relationship between man and the land is with her comment "In the Western as in Genesis, the physical world comes first. The only difference is that instead of being created by God, it is God." I disagree with the fact that the land itself is God, however I see the direct correlation between qualities of God and those of the land. God is the maker and created the land. While the land can also be the maker and the land can also shape itself, but I don't believe in the statement or the general idea that if something is God-like that it is God. Only God is God.
Revisions
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between the cowboy and the land as described in Tompkins’ West, is instantly portrayed in the film, The Searchers. In The Searchers the hero, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) is required to battle the harsh land while attempting to rescue his niece. Ethan treks for years across deserts and through snow storms looking for his kidnapped niece Debbie.
Tompkins states “the land is revealed on the opening pages or in the opening shot of a Western is a land defined by absence of trees, of greenery, of houses, of signs of civilization, above all, absence of water and shade” (71). Similar to Tompkins claim, the scene of The Searchers the director draws attention towards a lone woman standing in the doorway of a dimly lit house staring out across the open naturally lit desert of Monument Valley. The director chose Monument Valley because the alpha male cowboy is similar to the buttes rising out of the land. The alpha male cowboy is rugged and appears to conquer the flat horizon. The viewers see Ethan Edwards emerging out of the land as the alpha male cowboy.
Cowboys of the Western brave the elements and undertake the challenges that the exposed landscape provides. Ethan Edwards in the Searchers was broken into the alpha male cowboy role by the land. As the alpha male cowboy Ethan faces a life of harsh landscapes and the acquisition of skills to survive on the bare minimum of life’s non essentials. Tompkins Western alpha male cowboy is exactly what Ethan Edwards personality and physical demeanor was to The Searchers. Tompkins states that “the hardness of the land and austerity seems to have a certain build, complexion, facial type, carriage, gesture, and demeanor. Who dress a certain way, carry certain accouterments, have few or no social ties, and are experts at certain skills” (73). I agree with Tompkins’ belief that it is not the hero that shapes himself but the land that shapes him into the alpha male.