a perfect example of why academics have no business commenting on art: they exist only for themselves. sweet jesus, this reads like a grad school dissertation. what a buffoon. i would rather someone dismiss a movie w/ a shrug and say 'doesn't do it for me' than toss words like pathos and allegory around.
If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed.-- Stanley Kubrick
Wayne often played complex men who were both good and bad, intolerant and accepting, rigid and flexible. Even if you firmly believe this movie was written specifically for Wayne to play Ethan - I don't see how it deconstructs anything? Ethan is very similar to many other characters played by Wayne.
I thought this was Wayne's most intense role...seeking to kill Debbie, his blood kin...having some kind of previous relations with his brother's wife...the scalping of his enemy....but dammit, that's what made this movie so much fun to watch.
By the way, John Wayne is not dead...he's frozen....waiting...
Love it or hate it, I don't see how any cinephile can reasonably deny The Searchers' its iconic status. It's a landmark Western that has survived to the present day for very good reasons.
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