When watching David Lynches film 'Blue Velvet' certain scenes stand out to me and to others whom I know who have watched the film. The scenes I am referring to are the scenes which make use of the Roy Orbison song 'In Dreams'. The significance of the song to the film is it's subject matter, a song about dreams and the uncanny figure of the Sandman. Within Lynches film there are many references to dreams and the sometimes threatening subconscious. Around this subject the film is full of dislocated shots and sounds which invoke a dreamlike discordance. I will not go into all of the symbolism of the film but keep myself to what is relevant to the song I have before mentioned. The scenes in which 'In Dreams' is used both involve the main character Jeffrey Beaumont and Frank Booth the main villain of the film. Frank has an unusual attachment to this song, he is moved emotionally by it and uses it as a kind of soundtrack to his own scenes, fusing the association of Frank and the song, turning Frank into a profound character, an observation I will go into in more depth momentarily.
The first time we encounter the song the song is sung by Ben played by Dean Stockwell, Ben is a drug dealer which has its significance in relation to this subject as drugs supply a passage into the subconscious, accompanied sometimes by dislocations, confusion and waking dreams. Along with his providing of the song 'In dreams' on tape, he seems a kind of personal 'medicine man' or Shaman in some sense providing Frank with art and substances which satisfy his emotional and spiritual needs. Ben is most curiously wearing a subtle white face paint, to show perhaps how debonair he is but this white face mask acts as a mask, creating a sense of mystery and uncanniness about his character similar to the Sandman of the song who also prescribes a rout into dreams and the subconscious. Beyond this the white mask is also associative of actors who embody mysterious transformations and Clowns who embody the 'trickster' persona, a Jungian archetype. The trickster archetype can be found in any culture, first being manifested in society as a Shaman or 'medicine man' (with is relevant to Ben)the Tricker is a shape-shifter. The Trickster has evolved to be embodied sometimes as a jester or clown, masked and mysterious, revealing profound truths. The song 'In dreams' begins with the line "A candy colored clown they call the Sandman" infusing the 'Sandman' and the 'clown' together, and this fusion is used in Blue velvet as a mechanism to do just that, infusing the sandman with the clowns of Frank and Ben.
The second time in the film the music is played Ben is not present, Frank has taken Jeffrey to a secluded location and before playing the song from the tape player of his car applies lipstick to his lips messily so that it covers more than his lips and kisses Jeffrey in a sexually threatening display. However the image of his painted lips is two fold, not only does his painted lips carry with it sexual overtones but it also reminds us of the white faced clown, with big red lips. Frank embodies the Trickster persona (it is interesting to note that 'Persona' is Latin for 'mask'). Frank is a nighttime figure, seen in the night time hours of the subconscious. In this very scene in a convosation in the car Frank says to Jeffrey "Your like me". Jeffrey has at this point began to behave in some instances in a similar way to Frank. This sequence paints Frank as a reflection of Jeffrey, a trickster who reveals to Jeffrey his own dark side, the sandman of nightmares.
Sunday 18 April 2010
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Context and performance
The relationship between film and performance has always existed, films often have performers in them, whilst Performance artists often film their performances. On the course I am studying the most common way for a performance artist to document their work is through video, and by the end of the course in order to be assessed the performance artist will usually perform and have a DVD of their other performances and practices on display separately. The relationship between performance and film is one which has interested me since I began performing. My very first performance was not filmed or documented in any way other than in my own writing, my later work was filmed and photographed with minimal editing or manipulation, I attempted to show what the camera had captured.
Following my research into Heidegger's theory of Being which places Being as a situation always existing within a surrounding context, I view performance and film from the same stand point. No film or film maker can ever be completely neutral to the situation being filmed. I enjoyed films which made light of this point or admitted their own artifice. I noticed some performances ignored the presence of documentation and rely heavily upon documentation for advertisement and self-promotion. The audience appeared to do the same, ignoring the camera as having any significance to the works meaning, however they did not ignore it's presence as a camera, avoiding standing in it's way or standing in shot, and when in shot being noticeably self conscious of their own actions and conversation. I came across my own issues with documentation in my performances where I emptied a room, and in order for the room to be empty needed to move the camera, the problem with moving the camera out of the room is that of course without the camera there is no documentation which is required if you are performing on an art course where lecturers and examiners need to see evidence of your work. As well as this the integrity of the work would be compromised if the camera was allowed to remain within the room, treated as a transparent object.
It is important that the context in which an artwork exists is understood and taken note of. In the case of my work the context of the location in which my work is performed and my vocation as a fine art student creates a context for the artwork. My actions have focused upon the preparatory actions for performance, mainly cleaning the room I use to restore it's white cube status, a process which is specific to my university's M.A.P department's etiquette and practice. I find that actions which have a clear aim tend to be actions which are ubiquitous such as cleaning a room. A person tends to act in a certain way within the available script of the current social parameters they find them self in. In other words one only does what one does, so actions which have a practical aim seem to work very well. A practical and 'regular' action placed at the start of a perform seems too ease people into the work, adjusting the lens and creating a narrative and context which is assessable by the audience and which set up the next actions which may not be so recognizable or understandable. In my Cleaning performances the starting action is reflected by the ending action which is also to clean the room, emphasizing the temporality of the work and erasing it's own trace until all that is left of the work is a clean room which as a trace is indistinguishable from the white cube room. Recently I have been developing ideas of performing for film, and displaying the films as the only way for an audience to view the actions as the performances will have no audience. The film displaces the work in space and time allowing the viewer to engage with an 'after image' of the work, degraded and removed from reality into an electronic retrospective.
Film and performance are themselves glimpses into a persons life or soul. I have already in a previous post discussed John Ford's film 'The Searchers' and the bracketing scenes similar to those used in Orson Well's 'Citizen Kane'. My cleaning actions are a parallel to these, creating a clear 'begging' and 'end' to the audiences experience of the performance although the performance itself has been going on before and continues after. The Searchers is most relevant for these scenes because of the search that the main character embarks upon and the search which continues after the end of the film. I wanted my performance to continue, as the feeling and subject it is based upon does, allowing the audience a small glimpse into a personal journey.
Following my research into Heidegger's theory of Being which places Being as a situation always existing within a surrounding context, I view performance and film from the same stand point. No film or film maker can ever be completely neutral to the situation being filmed. I enjoyed films which made light of this point or admitted their own artifice. I noticed some performances ignored the presence of documentation and rely heavily upon documentation for advertisement and self-promotion. The audience appeared to do the same, ignoring the camera as having any significance to the works meaning, however they did not ignore it's presence as a camera, avoiding standing in it's way or standing in shot, and when in shot being noticeably self conscious of their own actions and conversation. I came across my own issues with documentation in my performances where I emptied a room, and in order for the room to be empty needed to move the camera, the problem with moving the camera out of the room is that of course without the camera there is no documentation which is required if you are performing on an art course where lecturers and examiners need to see evidence of your work. As well as this the integrity of the work would be compromised if the camera was allowed to remain within the room, treated as a transparent object.
It is important that the context in which an artwork exists is understood and taken note of. In the case of my work the context of the location in which my work is performed and my vocation as a fine art student creates a context for the artwork. My actions have focused upon the preparatory actions for performance, mainly cleaning the room I use to restore it's white cube status, a process which is specific to my university's M.A.P department's etiquette and practice. I find that actions which have a clear aim tend to be actions which are ubiquitous such as cleaning a room. A person tends to act in a certain way within the available script of the current social parameters they find them self in. In other words one only does what one does, so actions which have a practical aim seem to work very well. A practical and 'regular' action placed at the start of a perform seems too ease people into the work, adjusting the lens and creating a narrative and context which is assessable by the audience and which set up the next actions which may not be so recognizable or understandable. In my Cleaning performances the starting action is reflected by the ending action which is also to clean the room, emphasizing the temporality of the work and erasing it's own trace until all that is left of the work is a clean room which as a trace is indistinguishable from the white cube room. Recently I have been developing ideas of performing for film, and displaying the films as the only way for an audience to view the actions as the performances will have no audience. The film displaces the work in space and time allowing the viewer to engage with an 'after image' of the work, degraded and removed from reality into an electronic retrospective.
Film and performance are themselves glimpses into a persons life or soul. I have already in a previous post discussed John Ford's film 'The Searchers' and the bracketing scenes similar to those used in Orson Well's 'Citizen Kane'. My cleaning actions are a parallel to these, creating a clear 'begging' and 'end' to the audiences experience of the performance although the performance itself has been going on before and continues after. The Searchers is most relevant for these scenes because of the search that the main character embarks upon and the search which continues after the end of the film. I wanted my performance to continue, as the feeling and subject it is based upon does, allowing the audience a small glimpse into a personal journey.
Friday 9 April 2010
The Red Shoes (1948)
The Powell and Pressburger film 'The Red Shoes' (1948) has an interesting sequence in it. The film evolves around a dancers role in 'The red shoes' ballet and her love which is torn between to men. The sequence I am mentioning is a chapter of the film in which 'The red shoes' ballet is performed in front of a theatre audience. I first came across this scene by itself without watching the rest of the film which came before or after. By watching this scene and not the rest of the film I was fascinated by what I thought was a short film about the story of the red shoes. The scene begins with an man in the audience opening a theatre guide which contained the cast and crew, including photographs which I assumed where the real names, people and photographs of the actors within this 'short film' as I took this peek into a theatre guide to be the credits of the film. The ballet is filmed with shots of lights on stands at the sides of the stage, sound and film editing and special effects such as superimposition. I took this to be a film which did nothing to hide the fact that it was a film. To take this scene in such a way based upon some incorrect assumptions this sequence was to me fascinating and a very powerful work of art utilizing the techniques of theatre and film to create one work of art beautifully executed. Even to ignore my incorrect interpretation of this scene it remains a part of film which stands up as a work of art. My incorrect interpretation of this extract of the film lead me to experience it in a way which created through misunderstanding a new and unique experience of this extract. This unique experience of viewing was based upon a situation which was created in my mind and conjoined with the film I was watching. It is this chance misinterpretation which endears this moment to me.
The visuals of the film are stunning. The ballet's music makes up the only sounds of the scene, we watch the main character move upon the stage in silence and silently dance into a dream like sequence where the films special effects come into play much more. The characters decent off of the stage and into a dream world represents her complete rapture in the role she is performing, internalizing the story and performance to give a convincing performance. The scene was for me about an actresses engagement with a role whilst she performs. Indeed now knowing the full film and story this scene is still the case, we see an actress using personal emotions and experience coupled with situations and charters in the ballet to invoke a more genuine performance.
The shots of the stage lights behind the curtains and the gradual integration of film techniques with the ballet following my incorrect assumption, would show that the film was made to reveal that it is a film, reminding the audience that they are not watching a ballet but watching a film of a ballet, a cut and edited film of a ballet which was produced and performed solely for the film.
The visuals of the film are stunning. The ballet's music makes up the only sounds of the scene, we watch the main character move upon the stage in silence and silently dance into a dream like sequence where the films special effects come into play much more. The characters decent off of the stage and into a dream world represents her complete rapture in the role she is performing, internalizing the story and performance to give a convincing performance. The scene was for me about an actresses engagement with a role whilst she performs. Indeed now knowing the full film and story this scene is still the case, we see an actress using personal emotions and experience coupled with situations and charters in the ballet to invoke a more genuine performance.
The shots of the stage lights behind the curtains and the gradual integration of film techniques with the ballet following my incorrect assumption, would show that the film was made to reveal that it is a film, reminding the audience that they are not watching a ballet but watching a film of a ballet, a cut and edited film of a ballet which was produced and performed solely for the film.
Improvisational Collaboration
In order to expand my artistic practice I embarked upon an improvisation performance with Owen Lawrance. Owen's work had focused upon performance and mainly, audio work. I was interested in how Owen's sound work would effect my actions within the space in which we performed. We worked for a day in the 'Sculpture Instillation room', all the decisions we where to make regarding the work and it's set up where not discussed before hand, we both agreed than we should move in the objects and materials we wanted to work into the room and start from there. Owen set up his sound equipment which consisted of two speakers, an amplifier, mixing desk, and microphone in the corner of the room opposite the camera we had set up to document the work. Owen's set up was compact and defensive, he had created a space for me to perform in quite separately to his corner of sound work. During the performance because of Owen's amplified sounds a small crowd gathered to watch and soon disbanded, I can only imagine because they found no entertainment or artistic value in what we where doing. The performance began slowly as a dialogue between artist and material and a dialogue between myself and Owen began to form. Owen branched out of his corner to involve himself in the rest of the space and materials eventually after bordering off his area with soil and salt.
One audience member and fellow M.A.P artist Rob Offord stayed for much of the duration. Rob's review of the work highlighted aspects of the work which had a particular relation to the audience. Rob's continued presence in the room lead to our involving him with some of our actions. By the end of the performance myself and Owen had sat quiet and still upon an island of soil contemplating the performance and experiencing a scene of emotion created by a liberation that comes from acting impulsively, I felt an unease in leaving Rob to stand apart from us in the room as a passive onlooker and invited him to sit with us which he did.
Rob reviewed the performance to us afterwards remarking that as an onlooker and following the conventions of the M.A.P audiences he had tried to avoid effecting the work, but once bags of soil had been tipped empty and the fine soil particles had covered the room Rob found it impossible to move without changing the material. As the soil had effected the entire room the audience was no longer separate to the performance and found themselves participating actively with the performance than passively as they had done before. This was a point which brought to light my previous performance of cleaning in which the audience moved around me as I moved around the space to clean. My following performances also included actions and set ups which forced the audience into positions which kept them from sticking to the wall farthest away from the performance.
One audience member and fellow M.A.P artist Rob Offord stayed for much of the duration. Rob's review of the work highlighted aspects of the work which had a particular relation to the audience. Rob's continued presence in the room lead to our involving him with some of our actions. By the end of the performance myself and Owen had sat quiet and still upon an island of soil contemplating the performance and experiencing a scene of emotion created by a liberation that comes from acting impulsively, I felt an unease in leaving Rob to stand apart from us in the room as a passive onlooker and invited him to sit with us which he did.
Rob reviewed the performance to us afterwards remarking that as an onlooker and following the conventions of the M.A.P audiences he had tried to avoid effecting the work, but once bags of soil had been tipped empty and the fine soil particles had covered the room Rob found it impossible to move without changing the material. As the soil had effected the entire room the audience was no longer separate to the performance and found themselves participating actively with the performance than passively as they had done before. This was a point which brought to light my previous performance of cleaning in which the audience moved around me as I moved around the space to clean. My following performances also included actions and set ups which forced the audience into positions which kept them from sticking to the wall farthest away from the performance.
Exercise performance
The second and last module of my second year Fine art degree was a 'Venue Specific' one. The students of M.A.P were required to attain a venue to showcase their work for this module. This module was very beneficial for me and the other students, working together to form groups to them find and curate a venue for newly made work of ours. From my position in the M.A.P corridor as it is known by us, I group together with a group of peers. The M.A.P corridor is a corridor where myself and eight other students work. It may sound like a desperate situation to be working at a desk in a corridor but none of us would want to change it, we have grown to love it there. At this time many of the students in M.A.P where only acquaintances until this project brought us together in small groups picked and developed by the students themselves. The group I became involved in was made up of myself, Owen Lawrence, Shane Davis, Lucy Wright, Lucy Thompson, Andrew Hill, Glenn Muggleton, Ellie Hooi and Alice Tori. Together we produced a show entitled 'In Space' named after Lucy Wright and Lucy Thompson's collaborative video work which was shown in the show.
For this show I had written and performed a piece again without a real title, but as a title of reference was labeled 'Exercise performance' or as some call it 'Dancing Garuda'. The work's main action was based upon an exercise called 'Dancing Garuda' which is one exercise of one hundred and eleven which make up a practice of physical Yoga entitled sKu-mNye. The Dancing Garuda was taught to me by Performance artist Kira O'Reilly whom tutored my Class for this year.
The performance was one based upon personal themes of performance, humiliation, romance and sex. The performance was performed in the M.A.P instillation room, a small White cube room, during a 'Tuesday show'. A 'Tuesday Show' is a show every tuesday where students volunteer to exhibit work to other students and their lecturers who critique the work after it is shown or finished. My performance was of a physical exercise in a small room, I undressed fully so that I exercised naked as is traditional for those practicing Sku-mNye. As I exercised I sweated and my body oder filled the small room, this had started before the audience arrived. The audience came into the room to be confronted by the full frontal male nudity of a man panting, sweating and jumping in close proximity with them, creating an uncomfortable scenario from which some students left. By the end of the performance almost all had left, either not wanting to experience any more or too see other work which was being exhibited in the Tuesday show, two remained. The two audience members stayed I felt through concern for my condition, or I hope through some connection with the work. The reduced presence of the audience made me comfortable enough to respond to the presence of those who where there, I felt it right to make eye contact with them both and in those moments I felt a connection and attachment to them. The performance left me feeling liberated from embarrassment and self consciousness.
Unfortunately whilst performing this work to my class I broke a bone in my left foot, the third metatarsal and I was not able to perform that work for the show as I was still at that time in a cast and on crutches. I had a film of the performance, done alone one evening in University, this film was ran through a monitor on a plinth in a room for the show and stayed there running on a loop for the duration of the exhibition.
For this show I had written and performed a piece again without a real title, but as a title of reference was labeled 'Exercise performance' or as some call it 'Dancing Garuda'. The work's main action was based upon an exercise called 'Dancing Garuda' which is one exercise of one hundred and eleven which make up a practice of physical Yoga entitled sKu-mNye. The Dancing Garuda was taught to me by Performance artist Kira O'Reilly whom tutored my Class for this year.
The performance was one based upon personal themes of performance, humiliation, romance and sex. The performance was performed in the M.A.P instillation room, a small White cube room, during a 'Tuesday show'. A 'Tuesday Show' is a show every tuesday where students volunteer to exhibit work to other students and their lecturers who critique the work after it is shown or finished. My performance was of a physical exercise in a small room, I undressed fully so that I exercised naked as is traditional for those practicing Sku-mNye. As I exercised I sweated and my body oder filled the small room, this had started before the audience arrived. The audience came into the room to be confronted by the full frontal male nudity of a man panting, sweating and jumping in close proximity with them, creating an uncomfortable scenario from which some students left. By the end of the performance almost all had left, either not wanting to experience any more or too see other work which was being exhibited in the Tuesday show, two remained. The two audience members stayed I felt through concern for my condition, or I hope through some connection with the work. The reduced presence of the audience made me comfortable enough to respond to the presence of those who where there, I felt it right to make eye contact with them both and in those moments I felt a connection and attachment to them. The performance left me feeling liberated from embarrassment and self consciousness.
Unfortunately whilst performing this work to my class I broke a bone in my left foot, the third metatarsal and I was not able to perform that work for the show as I was still at that time in a cast and on crutches. I had a film of the performance, done alone one evening in University, this film was ran through a monitor on a plinth in a room for the show and stayed there running on a loop for the duration of the exhibition.
Thursday 8 April 2010
Say yes. At least say "Hello"
Watching Metallica's music video of their song 'The Memory Remains' I was struck by the image of an aged woman singing in a broken voice whilst the whole room around her rotates creating a scene of chaos and a sense of being ungrounded. The strange period style the room and the woman are decorated in suggest some sort of dream like sequence or metaphorical 'inner space'. Her voice sounds broken and one can see that she is a beautiful woman who was shurly stunning in her youth. I discovered that this woman is Marianne Faithful, a singer and actress who's personal life possibly over shadows her career. I admit I did not really know who Marianne Faithful was, and her name only rang a distant bell for me. Faithfull's involvement with the song is interesting as the song is about a woman who looses her fame and is driven mad by the memory of her past success, something which at some moments may have been a reality for Faithfull herself. The meaning of the song, Faithfull's life, raspy voice and aged looks along with a rotating room all come together to create a powerful image of being ungrounded whilst remembering faded potency of past youth and success. This image is at points within the video allegorically referenced, as in such moments as Faithfull standing in front of a coffin and in another scene singing a tune whilst stood alone as money rains down inside a rotating room.
Near the end of the video Faithfull says the words "Say yes, at least say hello" a line from the film 'The Misfits' where Roslyn Taber is asked by Guido "Will you give me a little time? Say yes...at Least say hello Guido". The line is a desperate reach for acknowledgment and human affection, the word 'Hello' is of particular importance. 'Hello' between two people who have been spending a whole evening together and mid way through a convocation is noticeably out of place. In this scenario the word which is used for acknowledgment and announcement is used to acknowledge a deeper meeting between the two characters, in this case as Guido is drunk and revealing personal depths, Roslyn gains some deep insight into his character and history. 'Hello' defines a new meeting between two people, separating two modes of socialising, Guido is making a transition from the normal everyday convosation and engagement to one which is deeper and more revealing. For these reasons the line seems appropriate for the song.
Whilst researching 'The Misfits' I read the script and found that the written dialogue worked extremely differently to being spoken. The broken convention of convosation and language by Guido in this scene whith Roslyn already mentioned read like some patchy telephone call, and I thought this to be the case as to begin with I skipped to this part of the script as I was looking for one line in particular.
Say... Say hello to me, Roslyn.
Hello, Guido. Please, huh?
Will you give me a little time? Say yes.
At least say "Hello, Guido."
Yes, Guido. Hello, Guido.
Hello, Roslyn.
Near the end of the video Faithfull says the words "Say yes, at least say hello" a line from the film 'The Misfits' where Roslyn Taber is asked by Guido "Will you give me a little time? Say yes...at Least say hello Guido". The line is a desperate reach for acknowledgment and human affection, the word 'Hello' is of particular importance. 'Hello' between two people who have been spending a whole evening together and mid way through a convocation is noticeably out of place. In this scenario the word which is used for acknowledgment and announcement is used to acknowledge a deeper meeting between the two characters, in this case as Guido is drunk and revealing personal depths, Roslyn gains some deep insight into his character and history. 'Hello' defines a new meeting between two people, separating two modes of socialising, Guido is making a transition from the normal everyday convosation and engagement to one which is deeper and more revealing. For these reasons the line seems appropriate for the song.
Whilst researching 'The Misfits' I read the script and found that the written dialogue worked extremely differently to being spoken. The broken convention of convosation and language by Guido in this scene whith Roslyn already mentioned read like some patchy telephone call, and I thought this to be the case as to begin with I skipped to this part of the script as I was looking for one line in particular.
Say... Say hello to me, Roslyn.
Hello, Guido. Please, huh?
Will you give me a little time? Say yes.
At least say "Hello, Guido."
Yes, Guido. Hello, Guido.
Hello, Roslyn.
Wednesday 7 April 2010
The Searchers
John Ford's 1956 film 'The Searchers' is a masterpiece. The searchers is in many ways the pinnacle of John Ford's directing career. Ford repeatedly used the same cast, crew and location for many films, developing a practice which evolved not only himself but also his cast and crew. Ford's dedication to the Western genre and his practice culminated into the film 'The Searchers' a film which stands as an artwork above many of the Western genre films ever made.
The story of 'The Searchers' follows Ethan Edwards, a man who fought in the American Civil war in the Confederate army who's bitter defeat still broods within him. Ethan approaches his brother Aaron's ranch in the hope of finding some home or peace, however during his stay his niece Debbie is kidnaped by Native Americans. Ethan embarks upon a five year search to rescue Debbie but during these five years Ethan's anger in defeat, his unsettledness and racism seem to drive him more than his original noble intentions leaving us to question weather Ethan's quest is in fact fueled by other desires of revenge.
The film is a brutal and relentless movie, reflecting Ethan's single minded search. The movie was filmed in Monument Valley, under the burning sun, clear blue skies and upon scored earth. The scenes of violence and tragedy are not cushioned by atmospheric sympathies, almost every scene is under the brazen sun which makes one sweet and squint, laid bare in the desert like the Native American's victims in the film who are left in the heat. The music is dramatic and shrill, conveying a tragedy and madness of grief. The relentlessness of the movie is one of the aspects which makes it a truly great film.
For me, one of the most powerful and emotional scenes in the film is the ending scene. The final scene is coupled with the opening shot of the film, in which we begin in darkness, a door opens revealing the bright landscape of the American desert. A woman moves out of the room in which we are in and the camera moves with her to reveal Ethan arriving on horseback. The final shot after Ethan's five year search is in the same location. The camera travels backwards into the house, watching the charters who overjoyed at Debbie's return enter the house, along with the men who went searching for her, all except Ethan, who stays outside. It is this moment which is one of the most powerful I have seen in all of cinema. Ethan is ignored by the rest of the charters who go inside, we the audience are inside the house looking out at Ethan. He turns and walks away, not to the horses which have been taken to the right but straight on into the desert. He stumbles a little rather than walks, as if he is giving in, to search evermore like the Native American who's eyes he shot out so that he would be condemned to wander in-between the winds forever. I half expect Ethan to disintegrate into sand and be blown away by the sideways wind, but instead and more abruptly the door swings shut, the film is over and I fall to pieces.
The ending scene is accompanied by a song 'The searchers' and the lyrics:
A man will search his heart and soul
Go searching way out there
His peace of mind he knows he'll find
But where O Lord, Lord where?
The first and final scenes in the film bracket the film in the same way I have discussed the bracketing scenes of Scorsese's Raging Bull, and before Raging Bull and The Searchers, Citizen Kane with the cameras peering through the fog and finally our retreat back into murkiness. In Martin Scorsese's 1967 film 'I call first (Who's That Knocking At My Door)' two characters hold a discussion about 'The Searchers'. The opening and closing of the door in The Searchers symbolizes not only the beginning and ending of the film but the door through which we catch "A glimpse of a mans soul". We know that the story does not end with the closing of the door, Ethan is destined to continue searching. In a sense the closing of the door which ends the audiences insight into Ethan's life by cutting off our experience leave Ethan to wander forever searching.
The story of 'The Searchers' follows Ethan Edwards, a man who fought in the American Civil war in the Confederate army who's bitter defeat still broods within him. Ethan approaches his brother Aaron's ranch in the hope of finding some home or peace, however during his stay his niece Debbie is kidnaped by Native Americans. Ethan embarks upon a five year search to rescue Debbie but during these five years Ethan's anger in defeat, his unsettledness and racism seem to drive him more than his original noble intentions leaving us to question weather Ethan's quest is in fact fueled by other desires of revenge.
The film is a brutal and relentless movie, reflecting Ethan's single minded search. The movie was filmed in Monument Valley, under the burning sun, clear blue skies and upon scored earth. The scenes of violence and tragedy are not cushioned by atmospheric sympathies, almost every scene is under the brazen sun which makes one sweet and squint, laid bare in the desert like the Native American's victims in the film who are left in the heat. The music is dramatic and shrill, conveying a tragedy and madness of grief. The relentlessness of the movie is one of the aspects which makes it a truly great film.
For me, one of the most powerful and emotional scenes in the film is the ending scene. The final scene is coupled with the opening shot of the film, in which we begin in darkness, a door opens revealing the bright landscape of the American desert. A woman moves out of the room in which we are in and the camera moves with her to reveal Ethan arriving on horseback. The final shot after Ethan's five year search is in the same location. The camera travels backwards into the house, watching the charters who overjoyed at Debbie's return enter the house, along with the men who went searching for her, all except Ethan, who stays outside. It is this moment which is one of the most powerful I have seen in all of cinema. Ethan is ignored by the rest of the charters who go inside, we the audience are inside the house looking out at Ethan. He turns and walks away, not to the horses which have been taken to the right but straight on into the desert. He stumbles a little rather than walks, as if he is giving in, to search evermore like the Native American who's eyes he shot out so that he would be condemned to wander in-between the winds forever. I half expect Ethan to disintegrate into sand and be blown away by the sideways wind, but instead and more abruptly the door swings shut, the film is over and I fall to pieces.
The ending scene is accompanied by a song 'The searchers' and the lyrics:
A man will search his heart and soul
Go searching way out there
His peace of mind he knows he'll find
But where O Lord, Lord where?
The first and final scenes in the film bracket the film in the same way I have discussed the bracketing scenes of Scorsese's Raging Bull, and before Raging Bull and The Searchers, Citizen Kane with the cameras peering through the fog and finally our retreat back into murkiness. In Martin Scorsese's 1967 film 'I call first (Who's That Knocking At My Door)' two characters hold a discussion about 'The Searchers'. The opening and closing of the door in The Searchers symbolizes not only the beginning and ending of the film but the door through which we catch "A glimpse of a mans soul". We know that the story does not end with the closing of the door, Ethan is destined to continue searching. In a sense the closing of the door which ends the audiences insight into Ethan's life by cutting off our experience leave Ethan to wander forever searching.
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