This essay juxtaposes the process of “Othering” in the 1956 John Ford western The Searchers with my own indoctrination into White privilege as a child growing up in suburban Atlanta during the mid-to-late 1960s. The film’s stark portrayal of anti-Native American attitudes confronts the problematic construction of the non-White racial “Other” in westerns as a threat to racial and sexual purity. Its relentless pursuit of the implications of racism triggers my own confrontation with the subtle but persistent degradations of African Americans in my upbringing.
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EcksteinA. M. (1998). Darkening Ethan: John Ford’s The searchers (1956) from novel to screenplay to screen. Cinema Journal, 38(1), 3-24.
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MathesonS. (2011). “Let’s go home, Debbie”: The matter of blood pollution, combat culture, and cold war hysteria in The searchers (1956). Journal of Popular Film and Television, 39(2), 50-58.
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