Ideology Blog

          The Searchers and High Noon both classic western films both made in the 1950s.  The two films both take place in the post Civil War era.  Both films have a lot of similarities in their stories as well.  In short The Searchers is about a man named Ethan Edwards and his nephew fighting against Indians to get his niece back who was kidnapped.  High Noon is a film about a Marshal who has to fight a an outlaw coming to his town at noon and when he goes out to ask for help he finds that the town decides they do not want to help and would rather just give up then sacrifice their lives.  It is safe to say that both films fall into the category of implicit ideology.  The protagonist and antagonists represent conflicting value systems, but are not directly dwelled on.  In both films the protagonists have other small problems they are forced to deal with but in these two it is obvious to see the main problem between the protagonist and antagonist.  The protagonist in High Noon is Will Kane played by Gary Cooper.  He is the Marshal of the town in Hadleyville and has to bring down the antagonist Frank Miller who is an outlaw and was brought to justice by Will Kane years ago and is now looking for revenge.  The protagonist Will Kane and antagonist Frank Miller and his gang are shown below giving evidence of an implicit ideology.

The protagonist in the film The Searchers is Ethan Edwards played by John Wayne. He had just come back from the Civil War and moved in with his brother’s family. He was recruited as a Texas Ranger to fight against the Indians terrorizing the surrounding area. He was out on a mission when his brother and his family were kidnapped by Scar the protagonist in the movie. Scar is an Indian chief who kills all of the family members except for Ethan Edwards’s niece Debbie who in the end they save. The protagonist and antagonist are shown in a confrontation below in the scene from the movie, once again proving an implicit ideology.

These movies both possess a thing called personality stars. In the American cinema the star system is often a clue to values when the protagonist is played by a personality star. A personality star is a well-known actor or actress that people admire and respect. Good looks and sex appeal and a good set of values are compelling traits for personality stars. The personality star in High Noon is Gary Cooper. Gary Cooper is one of the well-known actors of the 1940s and 1950s. The personality star that is in The Searchers is John Wayne both are household names maybe John Wayne a little more but none the less both are well known. There previous movies is what also gives them the category of personality stars. Both of these movies possessing personality stars give the movies a set of values. The movies both being western movies both men give the values that you have to be tough and to never give up whether that be in anything in life.
In all both movies have the ideologies of implicit because both contain a protagonist and an antagonist. The set of values comes from the characters in the movies being personality stars.

Sources:

Understanding Movies, 13th Edition, Louis Gianetti