HUM 3280: Narrative Film
Dr. Perdigao
Fall 2012
Film Response #8
DUE: Friday, October 19th
in hard copy and to www.turnitin.com
Choose one of the following questions and construct a 1-2 page (250-500 word) typed
response. It is not a formal essay but it should demonstrate your knowledge of the
texts, both the films and the critical texts on film. Make sure that you do not
approach this as a film review; instead, construct an argument about the film, its
composition, from individual shots to editing, its historical and cultural contexts,
and/or its placement in the history of film, its relationship to other films.
1. Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White write that one of the remarkable (yes,
they wrote that) aspects of The Searchers is the film’s refusal to show the
relationship between Debbie and Scar and ask “why is it not more directly
addressed by the diegesis?” (Corrigan and White 260). In addition to the
omission of the representation of this relationship, the representation of the
family’s bodies is withheld; in fact, Ethan prevents others from seeing them
and from even knowing what he exactly saw. While much of film analysis is
analyzing what is depicted onscreen, significance can be found it what is
missing as well. Construct an argument about how The Searchers plays with
revealing and concealing its narrative. How does The Searchers leave the
viewer searching for clues, for meaning?
2. Corrigan and White write, “the home lost at the beginning is figuratively
restored at the end, although both these homes/houses are, somewhat
disturbingly, associated with a darkened doorway” (261). How is the home
depicted within the film? How does the film redefine a sense of American
identity and the American home during this period—both the 1868 of its
setting and 1956? What is the resolution of The Searchers to some of these
issues? Consider the visual elements of the film and these representations as
well as the contexts behind it. You might reflect on the use of windows and
doors in Citizen Kane that frame the shots and the narrative.
3. The Searchers complicates notions of heroism in a post-Civil War world.
While it is set in 1868, it was released in 1956. How does the representation of
heroism reflect its historical moment? How does the idea of heroism
represented within the film connect with or depart from what we see in
Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and Rear Window? Discuss the film in relation
to its contexts but draw on the visual elements of the film as well.