In this essay the aim is to show how the western has changed over time, even within the same directors work. The western is a classic Hollywood genre which was highly popular in the 1950's and 60's. However in-between these years the genre developed greatly to give the audience something new to get from it. The comparison will be made between John Fords "Stagecoach" which was made in 1939 and his later film "The Searchers" which was made in 1956, and the aim is to show how the two texts differ and how "The Searchers" is more developed than "Stagecoach." There is a major difference in themes and character roles between these two films; this could be due to the different issues in society at the time each film was made.
John Wayne stars in both films, in Stagecoach he is the clear hero which is what you would expect an actor such as him to be, however in The Searchers he could be considered the hero or, however the way Ford portrayed him- having a very dark side to him he could be considered the anti-hero when referring to Proppian Archetypes.
Ethan (John Wayne) angrily confronts the Reverend ...
"I figure on gettin' myself un-surrounded," insist...
Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) prepares to gun down hi...Wayne's character "Ethan" is presented to be just as dangerous as the Indians. This is the first difference between the two films and a development in the genre itself, as characters are becoming more in depth and mysterious rather than just being the standard hero as Wayne's character in Stagecoach (Ringo) is portrayed. We never see too far into his character or understand how he behaves, where as in The Searchers a lot of the film is about finding out about Ethan and trying to understand his morals and values.
A similarity between the two films is the portrayal of the Indians, both in...