SeekersDirector John Ford’s “cinematic masterpiece” is a typical example of the Western genre. However, the main idea of ​​the film and its racist overtones originate in influential Victorian production produced half a century earlier. Seekers inspired many Western films after it.
Indian kidnapping“, filmed in 1899, is often called the first Western. Indian kidnapping This is not an American but a British film, shot in Blackburn, England, which is about a group of cowboys rescuing a young girl from a Native American raid. Far from a realistic depiction of the American border, Seekers was called “just funny” historian. However this whetted the audience’s appetite for such stories.
John Wayne’s The Searchers follows the same basic premise as the Indian abduction.
The premise uses a trope dramatized in the first Western.
Seekers lauded as a cinematic masterpiece and a cornerstone of the Western genre. Directed by John Ford and adapted from the novel by Alan Le May, the story follows Ethan Edwards, a grizzled former Confederate soldier who tirelessly strives to achieve save your niece from the Comanche tribe. Western icon John Wayne plays the troubled anti-hero. The film’s critical acclaim and commercial success cemented its status as one of the greatest Westerns ever made.
Its basic premise goes back to the true origins of the Western genre and unfortunate trope. The first Western was a British film. Indian kidnapping Filmed in Blackburn, Lancashire. The plot centers on a brutal Native American raid on a white settlement. The attackers set the camp on fire and kidnapped a young girl. A group of cowboys intervene, leading to a shootout. The captured girl is eventually rescued by cowboys. Its operating time was less than two minutes. Its themes reflected the interest in Wild West stories of the time..
Is Indian Kidnapping the first Western ever made?
Far from the wild frontier, a kidnapping by Indians was filmed in the UK.
While the idea of ​​a British film innovating the Western genre may seem ludicrous, the origins Indian kidnapping can be traced back to co-director James Kenyon’s youthful encounters with the Americans. These interactions ignited him fascination with the mythology of the Wild Westand combined with avid public interest in such stories led to the creation of this early Western. The Blackburn production featured local actors. Overall, this is a far cry from the authentic American frontier that he sought to portray, while Seekers it is partly inspired by real life.
The fiction of this period is characterized by escapism and world-weariness…
After the American Civil War, numerous cotton workers from Blackburn migrated to America, attracted by the promise of a new life. Their return to England was accompanied by tales of the wild frontiersparking a sense of curiosity and adventure among the local population. Issue Indian kidnapping in 1899 was part of a wider end of the century culture – fiction of this period is characterized by escapism and world-weariness, as well as decadence. The perceived exoticism of the film’s plot fits in quite well.
Other Westerns That Follow the Indian Abduction Story Formula
This image persists in films well into this decade.
Obviously racist Indian kidnapping The abduction trope has influenced a number of film plotlines, some of which are surprisingly recent. However, the 1899 film was not invented – it has its roots in folk tales appeared before the printing press and is known as “Tale of Captivity” (Television tropes). This makes the trope much more deeply rooted and enduring. Seekers, with its 1950s social mores, it was the perfect film to embody this stereotype. Against the crooked sky (1975) also uses this image.
This premise has been reworked in some more modern titles – e.g. Missing (2003), Mexicans replace Native Americans as kidnappers. A recent example of the use of an original image is the film by Paul Greengrass. World news, released in 2020. The film follows the journey of an aging Civil War veteran who is tasked with… the return of a young girl raised among the Kiowa tribeto his only surviving relative. A girl torn between her birth family and her adopted Kiowa family faces the difficult prospect of leaving her only known home.
Source: Television tropes