Film History - The Searchers and Brokeback Mountain - Movie Review Example

Film History Introduction One of the most essential research areas in film history is that of genre movies which indicate the commercial feature films that tell about more familiar stories, characters and situations through the process of repetition and variation. Genre movies are also important as they encourage expectations and experiences resembling the similar films which have already been seen. "Genre movies have comprised the bulk of film practice, the iceberg of film history beneath the visible tip that in the past has commonly been understood as film art." (Grant 2003. P. xv). Their exceptional significance may be realized from the fact that they are important in establishing the popular culture of cinema as a cultural and economic institution. In a profound research on screen history, one cannot ignore the importance of the genre called the Western and it is a fiction genre which has grown to represent the culture of western society. The westerns were the most common genre in Hollywood one time and between the 1930s and the mid-1960s it was the most dominant Hollywood film or an archetypical genre. "To say a film is a western is immediately to say that it shares some indefinable 'X' with other films we call westerns. In addition, it provides us with a body of films to which our film can be usefully compared..." (Grant 2003. P. 3). Arguably, it was the most significant American story form of the twentieth century, though the case is greatly changed today and it has become unlikely to find a western now. Thus, the influence, themes, and myths central to the classic Hollywood western, along with these movies, have disappeared, though the imprints of the genre can still be seen in the modern box-office success stories. Therefore, an analysis of the western genre has great significance today. "Western themes and myths are still alive and well, but they have migrated to other genres, most notably, science fiction and action movies A look at the western today is not a revisiting of a dying genre, but an examination of a type of film whose shadow still falls across the theatre screens of North America." (The History of Film). This paper focuses on a comparative analysis of two modern western genre films in order to comprehend the significant elements and the history of the genre. The Western Genre: Film texts The popularity of the western genre in the twentieth century may be understood as the result of their specific characteristics which are reflected in the modern blockbuster successes. The western, which was once a Hollywood staple, has fallen on hard times. "Its complex and rich intertwining of a frontier setting, male action and themes of national identity and history no more sustains a viable genre, and the framework for analysing it through the oppositions of civilization and wilderness, the garden and the desert, has been challenged." (Geraghty 2007. P. 136). Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903), which is the first western genre film, illustrates the essential elements of the genre and by 1929s the western became a generic clip. The Searchers (1956) by John Ford is an illustrious example of the genre type and the hero's status as a pathological outsider is a significant theme of the film which makes it an incredible celebration of the western genre. "In the history of the western, The Searchers is one of those movies that seems to define the genre. It includes all the characteristic elements of a western, and then adds some... Earlier in his career, director John Ford helped establish the western genre by making films about less complicated if still potent heroes, and in expanding the storytelling potential of this kind of film, he created a masterpiece." (The History of Film). In this film, one finds the hero who is not a person of easy affection or clean morals. Above all, he is cruel towards others and bitter in his soul. The outstanding opening and closing images in the film reveal Ethan's status as a pathological outsider and this theme gives rise to the spirit of individualism and makes it a wonderful western genre. "The Searchers came out of a period of severe personal and professional trauma for Ford: old age was catching up with him and his career itself was in jeopardy. It was his first western in five years - his return to the genre he loved most. The result was a western with a difference." (Eckstein 2004. P. 1). Therefore, it is most illumining to undertake an analysis of the film to comprehend the elements of a western genre film. Brokeback Mountain (2005) is another illustrious example of the western genre and it, along with The Last of the Mohicans, has created what has been called a revisionist western. Significantly, "the revisionist western... takes into account different ways of thinking about gender and ethnicity and that has questioned some of the modes of characterization conventionally associated with the genre. In the case of The Last of the Mohicans (Mann, 1992) the adaptation claimed to work against its source in dealing with the representation of Native Americans; in the case of Brokeback Mountain, the film seeks a close relationship with its source in presenting what was hailed as a mainstream breakthrough in the representation of gay sexuality." (Geraghty 2007. P. 135). It is significant to comprehend that in both the films, it is the setting which offers specific pleasures that makes, most prominently, these films identifiable as westerns. Although many western genre films were based on the popular novels and stories of the period, Brokeback Mountain is especially significant as it proved what difference the specific setting of the film would make to its impact on the viewers. Brokeback Mountain is extraordinary as western in the status given to the fact of adaptation and was a commercial success, though it was not a straightforward typical product. Therefore, the selection of the film Brokeback Mountain in this comparative analysis has vital significance as this would ensure the variety of treatment in western genre films through different ages. The Relationship between The Searchers and Brokeback Mountain As aforementioned, this paper undertakes a comparative analysis of two western genre films - i.e. The Searchers and Brokeback Mountain - in order to identify the essential characteristics of the genre. There is important relationship between the two films as both of them exhibit some essential features of the western. A comparative analysis of these films is most imperative as they belong to two different periods in the history of the western genre. More significantly, the two films are connected in a specific way: both of them are film adaptations of literary works. Thus, The Searchers is based on the 1954 novel by Alan LeMay which, in turn, is loosely based on a true incident of Texas history. Film adaptations of literary works was a fashion of the time at the release of the movie Brokeback Mountain which is the film version of E Annie Proulx's 1997 short story by the same name. There have been significant studies which focus on the connection between the story and the film adaptation which contribute to the understanding of the western genre. Another important relation between the two western genre films is that both of them contribute to the specific aesthetic sense of the audience through the employment of the best environment. In fact, one of the most essential aspects of these films is their setting which contributes to the western tradition of the genre. Therefore, there are several important similar aspects in both the films and a comparative analysis of the two movies - The Searchers and Brokeback Mountain - can contribute to a clear understanding of the various characteristics of the western genre films. Technology, Gender, and Audiences: A Comparative Discussion of The Searchers and Brokeback Mountain The Searchers and Brokeback Mountain are two illustrious examples of the western genre of films which belong to two different periods in the history of the genre. There are several similar elements in the films which essentially contribute to the general understanding of the genre. However, the fact that these films belong to different historical periods has special value, because an analysis of these films can contribute to the fundamental changes that have taken place over the years in view of the varying interests of the audience. "The western has a tradition of shifting and recreating itself to fit the needs of each new era of viewers. In keeping with this tendency, a new set of films reflects modern issues and contemporary audience." (Marubbio 2006. P. 228). Brokeback Mountain is one of the movies which has shifted and recreated itself to fit the needs of the modern viewers whereas The Searchers belong to the western genre tradition of an earlier period. Therefore, the comparative analysis of the two movies can be useful in understanding the genre in detail and there is opportunity for comparison between the genre traditions of different periods. Most of the modern films in the western genre tradition have revised the western genre which makes them revisionist westerns and these films depend on the revision of the location or the focus on alternative heroes and storytelling in order to ensure the revisionist effect. For example, the modern western genre example The Missing presents the white women as frontier hero; Hidalgo locates the hero to the Middle East; Firefly sends the cowboy hero to the space. In its turn, Brokeback Mountain overtly presents a homosexual relationship between two cowboys. Thus, the modern western genre films exhibit a variety of liberal approaches which also implies the desire to widen the scope of mythic frontier of hero to a hero who is more American in nature. There is significant difference between the traditional western genre films and the revisionist westerns and they almost place themselves opposite to one another in the treatment of the subject matter. Significantly, the "revisionist critics - and several 'new' western writers themselves - have frequently complained over the past few decades about the anxiety of influence and the historical falsehood produced by... the traditional western's stylised 'morality play'. Thus, 'newer' western writers and critics have often self-consciously positioned their work against the mythos of the popular or formula western..." (Graulich and Tatum 2003. P. 264). Analysis the gender aspect of the western genre, Brokeback Mountain presents exceptional departure from the traditional western genre, due mainly to the explicit portrayal of homosexuality. However, there have been doubts surrounding the matter as critics have often emphasised the diverse nature of the genre. Significantly, the film challenges some of the essential aspects of the classical western genre films. "In its overt portrayal of male sexual love, Brokeback Mountain appears to be a dramatic departure from earlier westerns. But is this really so The western is a diverse genre--Martin Scorsese has spoken of its "perverse variations"--and it has accommodated a range of attitudes towards masculinity and sexuality... Yet classic westerns are laments for a pioneering spirit that becomes increasingly irrelevant as frontier life gives way to more settled communities. They often have an elegiac tone, and portray an old nobility of cowboy pioneer-warriors who are destined to become as obsolete as the hunters who preceded them." (Swaab 2005. P. 40). Therefore, the film Brokeback Mountain, on the one hand, exhibits the characteristics of the western genre and, on the other, presents the revisionist version of the genre from the point of view of gender. This feature is not a complete denial of the traditional genre but a careful revision of the classical style in order to respond to the demands of the modern viewers. Similar treatment in the subject matter can be found in other modern examples of revisionist westerns. For instance, films by Sam Peckinpah exhibit tough male individualism being doomed by the dishonest metropolitan world. In fact, the best westerns in the modern times are often implicitly anti-westerns as well. Such films are considerately hesitant about violence and have little nostalgia for the old pioneer spirit. In its place, they welcome the more flowing idea of masculinity that replaced the classical spirit. "Brokeback Mountain is the heir to this more reflective tradition. Proulx's original story, like much gay fiction, imagines a beautiful, idealised landscape in which taboo love can breathe. On Brokeback Mountain the lovers Ennis and Jack...are 'suspended above ordinary affairs'... The film breaks ground in showing modern, working-class, gay characters in the American West trying to make a life together." (Swaab 2005. P. 40). Thus, the film Brokeback Mountain has the essential features of a modern revisionist western genre film. A reflective analysis of the history of the western genre significantly suggests how the themes and stories of the have changed over the years. Thus, one finds that most of the westerns before the 1950s concentrated on stories about the triumph of good over evil which very well reflects the moral tales of the world religions. "In the 1950s, a number of westerns pushed the genre beyond the realm of simple stories about mythic, quick-shooting heroes towards more complex psychological studies of individuals, families, and communities. Rather than simply glorifying the man with the quickest gun in the West, John Ford's The Searchers (1956)...looked at the motivations of men who kill and the effects these killings have on the communities and families they are supposed to defend." (The History of Film). To compare the techniques employed by the two western genre films, both of them make use of the most effective cinematographic techniques of the time and there are similarities between them. One of the characteristics of the film The Searchers, similar to the other western in this study, is that it is visually magnificent and the landscapes of the film present special effects on the appreciation by the viewers. In the film, the black desert of Monument Valley is shot inn wide screen and spectacular colour which is a stunning view for the audience. Thus, the film depends greatly on the merit of its landscapes, the visual images and a grim and dark story for the specific effects on the audience. "In terms of one's experience of The Searchers it is important to stress the intense visual pleasure that Ford created; as the great director Alfred Hitchcock said about Ford, the essence of any Ford the essence of any Ford movie, especially the Monument Valley westerns, was visual gratification - simple, clear, eloquent images. And yet - this visual beauty is undermined by a terribly grim and dark story." (Eckstein 2004. P. 2). Thus, the influence of the visual experience of the viewers on the popularity of the film is indubitable. To comprehend the impact of the film The Searchers on the audience, it is most essential to understand the connection between the narrative of race and the influence of the market. Thus, the text by Ford reveals the traffic sustained between economic and racial affect. One may notice how the absurd tides of racial feeling inflect the very category of the economic and the such racial categories are the result of the ways one bargains one's experience as economic agent. According to Jonathan Freedman, "John Ford's great 1956 film, The Searchers... links decisively the affect of the market to the most distinctively 'American' of narratives -- the narrative of race. Ford's text demonstrates the traffic sustained between economic and racial affect: the ways irrational tides of racial feeling inflect the very category of the economic, the ways racial categories are crucially shaped by the ways we negotiate our experience as economic agents." (Freedman 2000. P. 587). Thus, Freedman argues that the negotiation of racial identity in the film sets in motion a conflation of economic and racial affects. The narrative framework of Brokeback Mountain may be comprehended in comparison to that of The Searchers and one realises how the film brings about a break from Hollywood narrative conventions. The film tells the story of the doomed love between Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist which itself is unlikely in the narrative conventions of the western. The audience is totally engaged in the film due mainly to the quality of the narrative which produces great tension between the love and the everyday lives of Ennis and Jack. "As a sympathetic story about 'gay cowboys' in love in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Brokeback Mountain signalled an apparent break from Hollywood narrative conventions... A beautiful and powerful film, it opened with Jack and Ennis spending the summer of 1963 shepherding on Brokeback Mountain. Prompted largely by Jack, the homo-social intimacy of this rural setting slipped violently into the homoerotic." (Boucher and Pinto 2007. P. 311). Therefore, the overall effect of the narrative on the audience was especially different from that of the traditional western genre films. Unlike the film Brokeback Mountain, The Searchers persists in the tradition of the western genre, though there are deviations from it at times, especially in terms of the film's revolutionary and subversive attitude. In fact, The Searchers is profoundly ambivalent about traditions of heroic frontier narrative which along with its complexity adds on to the enduring fascination of the film. "Westerns have been described as in essence 'a white triumphalist genre,' and there are important elements in The Searchers which certainly fit that traditionalist bill." (Eckstein 2004. P. 2). For example, the white female captive Debbie is, by the end of the film, is found among the Indians and rescued from the traditional fate. In short, The Searchers is all about traditional western narrative framework whereas Brokeback Mountain deviates greatly from this mode to present the classic break from Hollywood narrative conventions. Conclusion The Searchers and Brokeback Mountain are two significant films of western genre which were the productions of two different periods and the comparative analysis significantly helps one in comprehending the features of the genre through the history. While the former belongs to the traditional or classic category of the western, the latter may be included in the revisionist western category which brings about vital revisions to the traditional style of the genre. However, there are imperative connections between the two as both of them are adaptations of some literary works and their impact on the viewers is the result of basic western features such as the setting. These films belong to different periods in the history of the genre - one to the mid-twentieth century tradition and the other to the early twenty first century or modern tradition - and a comparative analysis can bring about significant result. Bibliography BOUCHER, Leigh and PINTO, Sarah. (2007). "I Ain't Queer": Love, Masculinity and History in Brokeback Mountain. The Journal of Men's Studies. 15. (3). P. 311. ECKSTEIN, Arthur M. "Introduction: Main Critical Issues in The Searchers." (2004). The Searchers: Essays and Reflections on John For's Classic Western. Arthur M. Eckstein, Peter Lehman (Ed). Wayne State University Press. FREEDMAN, Jonathan. (2000). The Affect of the Market: Economic and Racial Exchange in the Searchers. American Literary History. 12. (3). P. 587. GERAGHTY, Christine. (2007). Now a Major Motion Picture: Film Adaptations of Literature and Drama. Rowman & Littlefield. P. 135. GRANT, Barry Keith. (2003). Film Genre Reader III. University of Texas Press. P. xv. GRAULICH, Melody and TATUM, Stephen. (2003). Reading 'The Virginian' in the New West. University of Nebraska Press. P. 264. MARUBBIO, M. Elise. (2006). Killing the Indian Maiden: Images of Native American Women in Film. Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. P. 228. SWAAB, Peter. (2005). Homo on the Range: As Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain Is Released, Peter Swaab Searches for Earlier Instances of Male Love in the Wild West. New Statesman. 134 (4770). P. 40. "The History of Film." [online]. Genre and the Western, The Searchers. P. 3. Last Accessed 12 February 2009 at: http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/education/pdfs/f_h_guide13.pdf Read More