WHY IS THIS FILM IMPORTANT?

FROM STAGECOACH…

…TO RIO GRANDE

CHANGING RACE RELATIONS

PRODUCTION CODE

FORD’S FOCUS & REPRESENTATION

CLIP

Do you think this scene depicts the Comanche women in an insensitive or condescending

way?

ADOPTION, KINSHIP, AND INTEGRATION

CLIP

Do you feel as though the film treats the adoption and integration of the other as a

viable option? Why?

THE INTEGRATED OTHER

CLIP

Is Martin truly the embodiment of the ideal integrated other? How does he fit this role, and how does he stray from it? If anything,

what has he lost in the process of integration?

THE QUESTION OF ETHAN

CLIP

Scar functions as the overt villain in The Searchers, but does the underlying cultural question of Ethan place him as the hero, or

another villain?

EXCLUSION, INTEGRATION, AND RACISM

Why does Ford intentionally keep Ethan from community and family at the conclusion of the

film?

If Ford was responsible for the darkening of Ethan’s character, and the film, does that make him a racist? What was he trying to

say/do?

“Black-white relations were such in 1956, and arguably now as well, that the issues The Searchers treats could not be treated directly”

&

“Racism is the curse of the American soul”

Discuss in relation to the reception of the film.