Analysis of The Searchers cinematography in relation to Hollywood in the 1950s

In John Ford’s western film, The Searchers (1956), Ford innovatively utilizes cinematography, lighting, color, and camera angles in order to illustrate the reflection of Hollywood in the 1950s and American culture. The detailed establishing shots assist Ford in demonstrating the context of the film for not only the movie’s plot but for deeper meanings included such as the representation of a society. Ford’s use of lighting and color lays a foundation to express the mood of certain scenes and characters emotion. Lastly, the camera angles are utilized to dramatize certain scenes and evoke emotion not only from the characters but from the viewers as well.

Ford includes a variety of establishing shots to add context to the films plot and to demonstrate Ethan’s absence of conforming to civilization. Ethan spends majority of the film outdoors in order to show his characters individuality and inability to attach to societal norms. The wide shots of the wilderness are a representation of how large society is and how people roam through society. For example, Ethan and the rangers traveled through the wilderness with no control of the environment that surrounded them making them vulnerable to attacks by Native Americans, thus illustrating any individual is vulnerable to societal characteristics.

Ford’s lighting techniques are utilized effectively to reveal hidden concepts in film such as familiarity. For instance, in the opening scene of the searchers a door opens, and Martha is in silhouette lighting coming from out of the shadow to light. Next, the door is opened to Ethan and Ethan is open to coming in detailing the strength of familiarity pulling him in. The doorway presents two sides. Outside which is harsh reality of society and the inside represents civilization and ties into familiarity within the culture. To counter, the ending scene where Ethan stands outside of the doorway in the natural light away from the silhouette lighting demonstrates Ethan’s stance on rejoining society, which he chooses to avoid as he walks away and the door closes.

Though majority of the film contains natural lighting from the outdoors, Ford implements low key lighting in order to emphasize the facial expression of the characters to reveal intense emotion during indoor scenes. An example is the raid scene on the Edward’s family where the intensity is built up around the family and their surroundings using a dimmer light and heavy shadows that mainly highlight the fear in their faces. The scene is used to reflect a moment in Hollywood where the Red Scare occurred with a fear of communism to metaphor the Native Americans as a symbol of the rise of communism in America and the Edward’s family representing Hollywood.

The warm colors in the film assist in setting the tone and mood of the scene for the audience to interpret without dialogue being used. The warm colors such as red, brown, and yellow give the film a tone of energy as the film contains fast paced scenes and harsh yet vibrant settings. Through majority of the film the warm colors are shown continually throughout the background shots of the landscape such as the red and brownish mountains and sand as well as the clothing of the cast. For example, Ethan wears dark warm colors such as a red shirt or brown shirt with a black hat to notify the audience of his personality that can be very harsh. Also, the repetition of warm colors in the clothing mirror a familiar aspect that Americans seek. Ethan’s clothing reflects Hollywood’s continuous structural formats of film that will soon change.

To include, the bright warm color of the sun has a double meaning as it is sign of optimism that Lucy will be found, yet the harsh overpowering light of the sun can be blinding meaning Ethan and the rangers are unknown about the future as well as having trouble accepting reality. Countering, the blue and grey colors in the film represent gloom or will foreshadow a dark mood arising in the film. To illustrate, when Ethan tells Brad that Lucy is dead the background and lighting is visually dark and the sky very dark blue. Even Brad is wearing blue to illustrate his sadness adding to the effect of receiving bad news. The blue and grey colors set a dark tone and mood and are inputted to seek sympathy from the audience.

Lastly, Ford uses camera angles and certain shots to the advantage of representing the power structure of the film as well as the dramatic enhancement. For instance, when Debbie is hiding from the Native Americans during the raid the camera is placed at a high angle facing her so when she looks up her figure appears small and a heavy shadow is casted upon her to represent and dramatize her vulnerability and weakness. In addition, Ethan is portrayed as a powerful figure and the camera is positioned below him multiple times to give the illusion of a strong dominate man. The purpose of the high angle or low angle camera placement is to display to the audience the interchangeable power structure of not only the film but the film industry.

Overall, Ford’s utilization of camera shots, lighting, color, and camera angles all contribute the narration of the film as well as the unknown meanings beyond the films concept. Ford captivates the viewers with the use of natural and low-key lighting and color to reveal a character’s emotion and display the themes of conformity and culture. The camera angles assist with hinting to the audience the societal structures of Hollywood and America in the 1950s. Ford’s film style is left for interpretation by the audience to seek what lies behind The Searchers meaning, whether it is conforming to a society and continuing to follow familiarity and to not step outside the silhouette of society.