The endless darkness inside the door was an exploration of the unknown of family civilization, an endless longing; under the glare of the sun outside the door was a barbaric slaughterhouse full of violence and bloodshed, full of threats.
John Ford's 1956-completed Searcher tells the story of a Western hero who spends 5 years rescuing his niece, Debbie. Its technical achievements alone deserve attention: practical and imaginative use of sound, clever cross-parallel editing, and meticulous and picturesque compositions. Because of these achievements, the film will always attract audiences from different countries and different eras.
The Searcher unfolds the narrative with a linear exploration. The brother's family was brutally murdered by the Comanche tribe, taking away the youngest niece, Debbie. Ethan and his brother's adopted son, Marty, finally meet Debbie after 5 years of sleeping in the open. But Ethan's violence and racism make him try to kill Debbie, who is insulted by the Comanche, and with Marty's help and self-soul scrutiny and tenacious confrontation, he spares Debbie and himself.
Take little Debbie home
The Searcher is based on the novel of the same name written by Alan Flamel in 1954. In the novel, Ethan is an uncompromising western hero, and Allen spares no effort to express the traditional, free, gritty, tough, and unconscioned personality in the form of praise throughout the novel. In Ford's screen, he thinks more about digging into inner faith and violence, showing his views on human nature and returning to the redemption of his own self, making the character image more plump, and providing a new way of thinking for future Westerns.
In this article, I will analyze the visual effects of the frame from the perspective of unique artistic charm and professional composition, the practical significance of the metaphor refraction with the dark door, and explore how to regain humanity in hatred and obtain self-redemption.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > frame shows the audience a selection of many chaotic realities, playing a "isolated highlight" technique, each part representing metaphor and symbolism. </h1>
The world inside the frame is the world of cinema. The frame isolates the film from the real world in the dark cinema. Therefore, the film director must not only take into account the composition in the frame, but also use artistic techniques to fully express what he thinks and thinks, and confirm that the audience can receive the message in time.
John Ford, the director of "Searcher", knows this well, and the exciting scenery of the West, the vast and barren Gobi Beach, and the cowboys galloping on the distant horizon make the audience feel like they are in the Western scene. This Oscar-winning film is known as Ford's most iconic Western, and in my opinion, the framing structure of each scene is even more exquisite. Next, I will extend the meaning that the director wants to convey from the difference in the position of the content in the frame.
The center of the frame often represents the visual focus, guiding the viewer to focus on the heart of the protagonist. As in this shot, the director places Marty in the middle of the screen, and when Marty discovers that his home has been burned to rubble, his disbelief, sadness, and anger are expressed through facial expressions, giving the audience a strong visual impact. At the same time, behind him is the boundless night with a vague focus, which also symbolizes the helplessness and loneliness in his heart.
Marty saw the ruins of her home after it had burned down
The upper part of the frame often symbolizes power, authority, and spiritual beliefs. In this shot we see Lola dominating, while Marty, who wants help, is placed in the lower right corner of the frame, in a position of weakness.
Marty begs Lola to tell her where Ethan is
The lower part of the frame represents obedience, vulnerability, and powerlessness. The tone of the entire shot is cool, emphasizing the eerie atmosphere while foreshadowing Debbie's disappearance. At this time, the director placed her in the lower right corner of the frame, and unknown characters and tombstones occupy most of the picture, representing "danger" and also representing being dominated by the subject in the picture.
Little Debbie meets the bad guy leader while hiding
In the whole film, each frame of animation is given life, and the background of each scene hints at the inner nature of the characters, revealing a more vivid sense of beauty, and also giving the film a strong westernist spirit; at the same time, the portrayal of the character language and action and the selection of the scene frame reflect the unique rough art style of the American Western in the 60s of the last century, helping the audience to better understand the ideas that the director wants to convey.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Ford's original "door frame framing method", which refracts reality with the help of dark doors, and expresses deep emotions under the language of plain lenses</h1>
Looking at the film, we can see that throughout the linear progression of the plot, the dramatization of the tension between Ethan's two pursuits is reflected through a lens pattern that focuses on the entrance to the dark passage. In plain camera language, Ethan decides to recognize his violent desire to understand himself and get away from the past.
At the beginning of the film, the 3/4 shot is shifted from Martha's gaze to an endless plain, with endless darkness behind her and a dazzling light in front of her, which is a stark contrast. This seems to me that the darkness here represents the first family life et al., which, while not using warm tones in the traditional sense, shows the unknown and mystery of real life.
Martha watched Ethan return
At the end of the film, Ethan finds Little Debbie and sends her safely back to her new home. The director also uses a long shot here, with the camera in the dark, watching Debbie and her adoptive parents walk into the darkness, watching Marty and his new wife walk into the darkness, watching Ethan stand in the doorway hesitating and then turn around and walk into the desert. It seems to me that the film places Ethan in the position of a wanderer, who yearns for family life and longs for peace, but the Western violence factor in his bones controls him. If you want to enter reality, you must pass through the wild and primitive society outside.
Ethan turned away from reality
When the "Dark Gate" is used as a metaphor for the complex change and ending of the protagonist's heart, there is also a scene in the middle, which not only undertakes the beginning and end of the story, but also measures the emotional tone of the entire story.
In the middle and late stages of the film, there is a long-term scene about the cave. When Ethan and Marty lead the team to wipe out the Comanche tribe, Debbie escapes all the way to the cave, originally obsessed with Debbie being defiled and trying to kill her Ethan when he approaches Debbie who is begging for forgiveness, Ethan does not kill her, but lifts her high and says to her, "Let's go home." As the climax of the entire film, Ethan is now fighting fiercely against Debbie's love for Debbie and his own violent tendencies. One step to become a Buddha, one step to become a demon. Fortunately, when he was about to step into the darkness of the cave, he suppressed the violence that was about to erupt, saving Debbie's life and saving himself.
Ethan held up Debbie begging for forgiveness
The entire film uses the "Dark Gate" as a means to metaphorically affect the conflict and change of emotions. Western hero Ethan chased the Comanche tribe for 5 years for the whereabouts of little Debbie, although he was blinded by violent factors and hatred, but all this actually stemmed from a "love" word. Because he loves his brother and family, he will not be soft when he meets the people of the Comanche tribe; because he loves little Debbie, he will not bear to see her defiled and want to solve the suffering with his own hands; because he loves the unknown of real life, he will turn away and not let his violence ruin all this. Turning around is not just the end, but the beginning of a determination to transform yourself.
The dark gate inside and outside the film does not exist independently, but is interconnected. In the film, the author uses cross-cutting techniques to reflect Ethan and Marty's pursuit of the Comanche tribe through a letter that Lola reads. In different dimensions of parallel time and space, everyone seems to be doing different things, but they are connected by fate with inadvertent clues, which makes us feel the subtlety of the film shooting angle.
At the same time, inside the door are the harmonious and happy Lola family who dare to love and hate, and outside the door are the ice and snow, the long journey of Ethan and Marty. When the kind and loyal Marty unknowingly influences Ethan on his own, it is not difficult to understand that Ethan resisted the demons at the last moment and redeemed his humanity.
Marty's kindness
Our lives are not in the West, nor do we have the superpower to go back to that era through the time and space tunnel, but we have to learn the spiritual core that Westerns pass on to us, under the influence of racism, in the process of blinding the eyes of hatred, when the violent factors in the body are stirring, how can we learn to restrain ourselves, care for others, and understand feelings?
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > only by restraint and letting go can we obtain "self-redemption" and lead to the next stop of happiness</h1>
The heroes of the West are free, independent, tough, jealous and hateful, but they are also wild, violent, racist, obvious, stubborn, and unscrupulous. When differences of opinion appear before them, they will not be flexible, only the gun in their hands; when hatred blinds them, they will temporarily close their humanity and rely on their instincts for revenge. But there are so many attachments in the world, where can we solve them all?
To be entangled in suffering is to be a lifetime of darkness; to close humanity is to become a puppet who does not know the cold and warmth of the world. Around us, there are many people like the characters in the film, with violent factors flowing in their blood, will not control their emotions, cannot control themselves in the face of hatred, hurt others while pushing themselves farther and farther away from the civilized world, and finally fall into the abyss of self-blame, unable to escape.
So how do we restrain our impulses, regain our humanity, and redeem ourselves?
(1) Look for the root of hatred and look at the yin and yang of the world with a dialectical eye.
Sometimes the hatred in the world can not be clearly explained in three words and two words, and perhaps the quarrels of the ancestors have been passed down to this day as the cause of your life-and-death struggle. Maybe our hatred of others is actually just a projection of our own hearts. If we want to hurt others, we are actually hurting ourselves, not sharing the sky with others, that is, not sharing the sky with ourselves.
When we can't live well because of hatred, the best way to solve it is to explore the root of hatred, resolve the contradiction with our own sincerity and love, and let our hearts be relieved: the past has passed, the future is still in the future, we should control the existing life, don't let the past ruin all our years.
Let go, reconcile, let the yin and yang of the world drift away with the wind, and also let yourself regain the glory of humanity.
Ethan who reconciles with himself
(2) Restrain the impulses of the heart, face up to the nerve pleasure brought by the hands, and let the reason regulate its words and deeds at all times.
Behind the emotional impulses, there are often needs that are not met, or even seen, as if there is a dragon wandering in the body, and it must be squeezed and vented out in order to obtain liberation. At this time, we must not fall into the "nerve trap", and do not rely on a moment of pleasure to resist the anxiety in our hearts. Because the psychological gap behind venting will often put you in endless darkness and can't extricate yourself for a long time.
In the film, Ethan lives in his own world, and when he first meets Debbie, he almost kills her because he can't restrain his inner impulses. If Ethan hadn't had a moment of sanity, he would have been forever lost in the pain of not protecting his brother's family, and would eventually become a murderous beast dominated by emotions.
Therefore, when we are in the face of hatred, in the face of impulse, do not try to resist hysterically, do not resist without humanity, try to quiet ourselves, slowly infect the heart with the brilliance of human nature, follow the self, accept the facts that already exist, and realize the true self-salvation of the heart.
Debbie, who was tightly guarded by Marty
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > written at the end</h1>
"Living to death" is not only to take today as the last moment of life, to live wantonly, but also to teach everyone to abandon the hatred of the past, suppress the impulse of the heart, face up to the future tribulations, and use all the spirit to make every decision and live every day. Just like at the end of the film, Ethan turns to the plains and says, "He has to find his heart and soul." ”
In my opinion, this wide-open western film is not only the subtlety and vastness of the composition, but also the use of the artistic technique of "door frame framing" to show the twist of Ethan's change of mentality before and after, and set an excellent example for later film works. In Kill Bill, Quentin has a shot shot from the inside of a shady church, with Uma Thurman standing at the door and the sunlit and somewhat dazzling western scenery outside the door. This shot is almost entirely a remake of the final shot of Ford's Searcher.
The death, parting, impulsiveness, violence, and courage to face ourselves in the film are like us struggling in the world. Life is already so difficult, if we still let hatred blind us, blinded by impulse, then isn't life without fun? Although we can't change the rolling flow of history after all, as long as we realize our own salvation through our own efforts and splash a small wave of our own in the river of time, it is worthy of the world's life.