Are you so-called 'lefties' capable of saying anything other than 'racism, racism, racism' about THE SEARCHERS?
And I find this passage hilarious:
"He wishes to kill his own family for inter-ethnic coupling. When Ethan speaks the wretched words he does, it is vital to remember that Wayne was saying on screen what a whole generation of fathers were saying in private about the idea of their precious white daughters going to school and perhaps one day dating African teens. The film’s literal Indian War is a deep analogue for the culture war that was going on at the time.... y understanding that Wayne’s Ethan is as psychotic and sexually-confused as De Niro’s Travis Bickle, it is possible to see the earlier film on a psycho-analytic level that otherwise escapes today’s viewers."
You describe yourself as 'queer'. I find it funny that a guy whose idea of 'sex' is fecal penetration with other men would be making a fuss about OTHER people's psycho-sexual hangups.
Maybe you haven't heard but sexuality is DARK. It is animal. It is about territory, pride, possession. It is not something so nice like a tea party. It isn't lovey dovey at its core, though there is a side to that.
The reason you don't get THE SEARCHERS is because your 'lefty' types see everything through the idiotic prism of 'racism'. Also race-ism is Truth insofar as different races and racial differences exist
But first, to get a better grasp of THE SEARCHERS, suppose we take out the racial element. The emotional dynamics would be more or less the same though, of course, the factor of race makes it more intense. It's like this: If a black guy kills a black woman, the family members of the slain black woman will feel vengeful toward black killer. They might even feel murderous. But the rage will even be more charged IF the killer is white. Then, it will be seen as white on black crime. Why was US so angry when Pearl Harbor happened. FDR was livid with joy since the anger at the yellow 'Japs' would get all Americans, even isolationists, worked up and willing to join the war.
So, race makes it more intense, but sexual dynamics are pretty dark and brooding even without it. Take THE ODYSSEY. The hero comes back and kills all the suitors. He also kills the female servants of the house who sexually serviced the suitors. Odysseus is about manly pride. He has to reinstate his power. He kills other Greeks, but the rage isn't different from that of Ethan Edwards. Though the element of race makes it more charged in THE SEARCHERS, Ethan's blood thirst is driven by healthy manly pride and rage. Maybe you, being a queer, lack an understanding of such manly pride. Maybe you are used to other men sticking their dongs into your butt. Maybe you like to play bitch to the stronger Negro. Maybe, maybe not. But real men are like Ethan, a true hero on the Greek scale. And it's not just about race, race, race.
Indeed, suppose his brother's family had been killed by Liberty Valance and gang than by Indians. Ethan would be just as vengeful and angry. He would want to hunt them and kill them.
As for wanting to kill Debbie, it's dark but understandable. Ethan really wanted to save her but fears that she will grow up to becoming a breeder for the Indians. Imagine that. A tribe of 'savages' murdered his brother and his brother's children. The woman Ethan dearly loved was raped and butchered by Indians. Same was done to the older daughter. OF COURSE Ethan is angry as hell.
Suppose I'm a leader of a gang, and my gang did that to YOUR family. Wouldn't you be enraged?
It's PERSONAL. It's like in THE GODFATHER. After the attempt on his father's life, Michael had to kill the Turk and the police captain. And Vito Corleone(Deniro) eventually went back to take revenge on the man who killed his family. Vito was calm on the outside but his vendetta had always been there. And Hyman Roth is obsessed about getting back at Michael cuz of Moe Green. Jews may act 'liberal', but they are intensely clannish deep down inside and never ever forget. They still want to destroy Germany out of revenge.
Maybe you don't understand such sense of honor and family loyalty since you're a deracinated white queer 'lefty' who prefers abstract ideas of 'social justice' that is mostly bogus and divorced from reality.
If Ethan's brother's family had been spared and if Jorgensen's place had been raided, Ethan wouldn't have been so obsessed. The issue here is PERSONAL. Ethan really loved Martha. It was bad enough that he lost her to his brother(just like Marty nearly lost Laurie to the guitar strummer). But to find her body raped and killed by Indians? That's some bad shit!!!!! Ethan loves Debbie and wants to save her. But he knows as yrs pass, she will become part of the very tribe that raped and butchered her family--Ethan's brother and Martha. She will be serving the very people who committed horrors to her own kind. Of course, we and even Ethan know that it's not Debbie's fault. She was taken when young and the Indians accepted as their own as long as she makes babies who will grow up to be warriors who attack white people. THIS is what Ethan cannot stand. But your queero PC mentality can only see 'racism, racism, racism'. You don't understand true manly pride cuz you're a homo.
But surely even a homo can have feelings like that of Ethan. Suppose my gang wiped out your family. Suppose my gang is ultra-right-wing and hate 'progressives' such as yourself. Suppose my gang takes your young sister(whom you dearly love) and plan to use her wombs to create ultra-right warriors who will attack and kill more 'progressives'. Wouldn't you be livid and angry? Wouldn't a part of you wish your sister was dead than join the enemy(like Patty Hearst, topic of a Schrader movie) and attack your kind?
Indeed, suppose we flip the SEARCHERS. Suppose it is about a bunch of white cowboys that attack an Indian village. Suppose these imperialist white men rape red women and kill almost everyone. But they take one Indian boy and raise him as 'honorary white' and teach him to hate and kill Indians. Suppose the Indian father or uncle of that boy wants to rescue him. But suppose yrs pass and the abducted boy has joined with the whites to fight Indians. Wouldn't it at least be understandable why the Indian father and uncle would be angry and possibly want to see him dead?
Do you know about the Turks? They ruled over Greece for 300 yrs. They took many Greek Christian boys, brainwashed them, and turned them into Janissaries trained to fight and destroy Christendom.
Many Greek mothers would have preferred to have their kids die than be taken and used that way. Does your queer mind at least understand such mindset? Or would you accuse those Greek mothers of 'racism'?
Indeed, Greek mythology and folklore are filled with such stories. And what is the main musical form of US today? Rap music which is about tribal blacks yapping about how their life is all about fighting and fuc*ing and that they finna blow away anyone who done dis their pride. You 'progressives' are okay with such dark sexuality, but you bitch about how Ethan is too angry about how his brother and family was wiped out.
You're too much of a pansy PC ideologue to understand human psychology and instinct. Sure, Ethan is angry, but his feelings are understandable. It is healthy. Man is, at root, an animal driven by survival, sex, territory, and pride. It is YOU who is sick because you lack such healthy instincts. Instead, you have the anti-instinct of decadence and racial suicide.
Now, I'm not saying men should act out their natural rage. World would blow up like in DR. STRANGELOVE. But those instincts are natural. They are virile and healthy. There is a powerful bond within the race and between parents and kids.
Why does the black woman in BELOVED by Morrison kill her own baby? She would rather have the baby be murdered than grow up a slave. To Ethan, Debbie is a sex slave of the very people who raped and murdered her family. And from her womb will come more warriors to kill whites. To him, that isn't 'being alive'.
Of course, you know and I know that the history of the West was tragic for Indians. From their point of view, they were just defending their own land from white invaders. This is all very true. Indians had their own reasons and pride. The Walter Hill movie GERONIMO is magnificent in showing a man who fights for his race, land,and pride. Sure, he does horrible things and kills 'innocent' white folks, but it is war, and war brings out the 'worst' in US. After all, it was the democratic powers that economically blockaded Germany in WWI, thus driving many German children to starvation. It's like Ethan shooting bisons to starve the Indians. And the Jews who control the US forced sanctions in Iraq in the 90s, killing 500,000 women and children. Ethan has nothing on the Jews when it comes to mass killing. And it was democratic Truman who nuked Japan and killed all those babies. And Jews use Obama to aid terrorists in Syria to bring down Assad. I find it funny that so many bitch about how 'racist-wacist' Ethan is but they seem totally okay with Jewish-Zionist mass murder around the world.
Anyway, we need to understand male pride. After all, what is the catalyst of events in SEVEN SAMURAI. One of the farmers had his wife taken by the bandits. He was helpless to do anything about it. His wife is being raped by scumbag, but he can't save her. He feels the kind of rage that Ethan feels. But I'll bet you're the sort of PC pansy who'd accuse the farmer of 'psycho-sexual hangups'. Or consider Angel in THE WILD BUNCH. He arrives in his village and finds out his father was murdered by Mapache. And his woman was taken... or worse... she freely went off with the very man who killed Angel's father. So, when Angel meets Teresa again and she mocks him and laughs at him, of course he's angry as hell and shoots the whore. It is a barbaric act in a barbaric world, but wholly understandable. A man's pride can take only so much humiliation. Kurosawa understood this. Peckinpah understood. So did John Ford. But all you can do is bitch about 'racism, racism'.
Also, you say Ethan's fear of miscegenation is some kind of sickness. Why? If a white man has a white daughter, he naturally wants the girl to look up to her father and marry someone like him. It's part of human nature. If she goes with another race, it means she finds the men of the other race to be racially-sexually superior. She would be sexually betraying her own kind.
During slavery, black men sometimes felt the same way. Some black women happily themselves to the massuh. White master had the power, and the black ho wanted the white man's seed than that of the Negro. Imagine how humiliated the Negro male must have felt.
In today's world, white women are finding out that black men are more muscular and bigger-donged. They look down on white males as 'slow white boys'. So, it is only natural that many white men would feel hurt and offended by this. Why wouldn't white men feel like Japanese men after WWII? Bigger and beefier white and black GI's were turning Japanese women into whores, and Japanese women flaunted their relations with American occupiers in front of defeated yellow men. Of course, Japanese men were hurt in pride. Races are different . Black men are more muscular and tougher than white men. So, it is NATURAL for white men to feel threatened in racial/masculine in relation to blacks, just like Japanese men felt belittled and humiliated by American men sexually conquering Japanese women. And there is a whore element in womenfolk. Women are naturally into hierarchy. They are not egalitarian in their sexual preferences. They want winners with money, muscle, and/or big dicks. So, Japanese men were bound to lose out to American men, and white men were bound to lose out to black men. It's like French women threw themselves at Nazi German victors when France lost. Given that France lost, you'd think French women would all stick with their own men out of national loyalty. But they didn't give a shit about that. They saw German men as winners and French men as losers. French women acted like Teresa in THE WILD BUNCH. Like Arletty said, "My heart belongs to France but my ass belongs to the world." Women are whores who will always go with Power. Women like power and look down on 'losers'. Women may be politically on the 'left', but their sexual preferences are very hierarchical. They wanna put out to the Best and reject all the rest.
Historically and socially, white men had the advantage over blacks, who'd been historically oppressed. But white men were right to fear that, if social discrimination were removed, black men would gain over white men. Black guys would beat up white guys, and white girls would black men as racially-sexually superior. You see, race-ism is TRUE. Races are not the same. Get rid of social 'racism' and you end up NOT with equality but natural 'racism' that picks new winners and losers. Look at sports. Social racism of old favored whites. But natural racism of today favors blacks and discriminate against whites, browns, and yellows. We say US is so diverse, but NFL and NBA is almost all black.
So, white fathers were understandably worried about their own daughters going with Negro men. It meant racial-sexual defeat of white males, not colorblind racial equality.
Such white girls were not opting for racial equality but rejecting white men as being less manly than mandingo-like negroes. We hear of the cuckold fetish among white liberals. Why is it racially so unequal? We don't hear of white couples inviting mexican, hindu, or asian men to their bedrooms. It is usually the Negro.
And what does Rap music tell us? Negro rappers say, "the only thing on our minds is fucking and fighting and whupping faggoty ass white boys and fucking white girls."
I find it amusing that white Libs condemn Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION for saying that black men are a bunch of sexual beasts, but when one looks at rap, porn, sports, and much else(all controlled by Liberals), the message is black men are wild studs, white girls should put out to them, and white boys should accept their wimpy secondary status and act like cucky pussyboys. White Libs SAY one thing but they CELEBRATE another. They say all races are the same and race is just a myth, but they really celebrate black superiority as athletes, singers, sex beasts, mandingos, and studs. And the music industry is run by Lib Jews and 'progressives'. Not by KKK or by D.W. Griffith. But their favored depiction of Negroes is as thugs and sex lunatics. And blacks themselves lead all the other races in promoting thug behavior, skank culture, and whore attitudes. So, it seems BIRTH OF A NATION, wasn't entirely wrong about blacks. Its fears about blacks were dismissed by Progs as 'irrational', but the favored Prog image of the Negro is as the thuggish sex stud or gangsta mandingo. Lib Jews control sex industry and Lib Jews own music industry, and the prevailing image of Negroes is a wild studs who have nothing on their mind fucking white women. The ONLY difference between Griffith and Lib Jews is Griffith saw this as a bad thing, a threat to the white race, whereas Lib Jews welcome it because they want to castrate white males so that the white race will never gain the pride and unity necessary to take on Jewish power. Indeed, check out the following old spice advertising: It says Negro is the sex stud who is racially-sexually superior to the cuckish white boy. It's the same logic as BIRTH OF A NATION. Difference is Griffith called on white race to resist the oncoming black sexual imperialism. But cucks like you and Ken Burns celebrate your own racial-sexual demise as beta-male wussies before the macho black man. You guys are like the Eternals in ZARDOZ. You have lost your male instinct to fight and survive. You guys really hate Ethan because he, like Geronimo, is a warrior for his race. You guys are collaborator cuck dork wimps. You can hide behind all this talk of 'social justice', but you have surrendered to Jews and blacks.
Anyway, sexuality is dark and brooding. It's like what Camille Paglia said. We have start from nature. Nature is at the root of all, and nature is 'unfair' and 'unequal'. It made men stronger than women. Nature is sexist cuz it created stronger men who can beat up women. Nature is also 'racist' because evolution made Jews smarter to rule over us all and made blacks stronger to beat up other races.
Indeed, if US had enslaved Vietnamese as slaves, would we have the same problem? NO. White males wouldn't be afraid of small yellow males. But whites bought powerful muscular blacks from Africa, and once the blacks were freed, they began to whup white guys who became wussified and afraid. White women lost respect for white guys and more of them go with Negroes. You see, this is not equality. It is the new inequality. More social freedom means nature will play a bigger role in sex and crime. Since blacks are stronger, social equality between the races means blacks will beat up other races. This is why white folks want guns. Man to man, a white man is likely to get whupped by a black guy who will then rape the white guy's wife. In fact, white guys are so demoralized that they now invite black guys to fuck their wives. White guys are into cuckold fetish. Do you see black guys invite white guys to fuck black women?
Ever see STRAW DOGS? Sexuality is fucked up. Dustin Hoffman got the girl because he's smart and successful. Girls like winners with careers who can provide. But girls also like studs, and studs resent and look down on successful geeks who lack 'genuine manhood'. So, the sexual dynamics in STRAW DOGS get all confused. That's how nature works. But you are too PC priggish and puritanical to have the requisite empathy to understand. Instead, you hysterically shriek, 'oh, that is so racist, that is so sexist, that is so... blah blah blah.' You will never fully appreciate art and reality if you are such a neo-victorian PC pussy boy.
Yes, all the characters in STRAW DOGS are sexually anxious and/or 'hung-up' but that is natural. You see, all guys are anxious about sexual matters. A big strong ugly guy can attract a girl with his toughness, but he is jealous of the handsome guy and smart guy. It's like Jake Lamotta in RAGING BULL. He got a girl cuz he's a tough boxer. But he is outwitted by old gangsters , and he is intensely jealous when his wife says Tony Janiro is good looking. Or a guy may be handsome and attract girls. But he may be anxious cuz he can be whupped by strong ugly guys. And a smart guy can get a girl with his money, but he may be anxious cuz she might be attracted to strong guys and handsome guys. It's like that Eagles Song 'LYING EYES'.
Surely, you know about Iliad. That was about a woman. A war for Helen. But then, what do men live and fight for? Land and pussy. That's what matters most. Before there are ideas, there has to be life. And life is created through man and woman. So, if man loses the woman, he is lost. No children, no lineage. And if he has no land, he is vulnerable. This is why Jews obsessed about race for 3,500 yrs. Unless Jewish women had children for Jewish men, the Jewish race would face extinction. And even after 2,000 yrs of exile, Jews found a way to take back the land with the creation of Israel. Even the most Liberal Jews supported this massive ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Also, blood matters a lot to Jews. Take the Moses story. Like Debbie was raised by Indians, Moses was raised by Egyptians as one of their own. But he rediscovered his roots. He sided with Jews, and to defend Jews, he worked with God to kill all the first borns of Egypt. Jews still celebrate that day as Passover. That is how Jews survived for 3,500 yrs. There was a bit of Ethan Edwards in all of them.
Such is the way of life. Ethan is like Moses. He fights for his people. And it's understandable why John Wayne stuck up for Ethan. Wayne's remark about the Indians in your article is valid and invalid. Wayne said the Indians were greedy for having all that land for themselves. He was right in the sense that US couldn't have been much if a few million Indians had all of it. There would have been no roads, factories, schools, hospitals, universities, and etc UNLESS white man took over and settled it. Besides, the moral logic of Wayne's pro-white-settlement account is now used by Progs. They say US is so big and bountiful that Americans must share the land and wealth with others. Whites mustn't hog it for themselves, just like Wayne said it was wrong for Indians to hog all this prime territory.
But Wayne's argument is also invalid because, for the Indians, it was not just a matter of economics or politics or 'social progress'. The land under their feet was sacred and mythic alive to them. Their folklore and identity were wedded to this land. And even though red 'savages' couldn't build a great modern nation like the Anglos did, they lived in a kind of balance with nature, and there is something to be said for nature and wildlife. America built by whites is a tremendous achievement, but so many animals had to be wiped out to make for farms and factories. We modern folks don't wanna live like savages, but Indians had a deeply meaningful relation to the land, and it was tragic that it was lost in the progress of industry and science and etc. Progress is good but comes at a price.
So, you see, there are always two ways to look at things. Even what you say of MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE misses the point. On one level, it is true that the man's career was built on a lie. But it was also built on a truth. While it's true that Wayne's character of Donifan was the man who really shot Valance, it is no less true that the Stewart character did show great courage when he picked up a gun to take on Valance. So, his career was built on a half-lie, not a total lie. He did have the mettle to stand up to Valance and be a real man. If Stewart had ran from Valance and taken credit for having killed him, that would really have been a lie. But Stewart did show incredible courage in challenging Valance.
One thing for sure, Ethan is very different from Travis Bickle. Ethan is a tough hombre, a leader of man. He is man among men. An alpha. He becomes enraged because of what happened. He can be sociable and is pretty sharp about the world around him. He is a good reader of people's character.
In contrast, Bickle is really messed up in the head. You can tell he is sort of like Norman Bates.
Also, the two worlds are too different. In SEARCHERS there is civilization vs savagery. Though Ford is somewhat sympathetic to Indians, the coming of progress means end of savagery and triumph of schools and churches and rule of law. In contrast, TAXI DRIVER is more disturbing because it is set in the heart of civilization, NY, the greatest city on earth. Yet, the decadence and degeneration is worse than savagery. It is savagery at the core of civilization.
Some say Bickle is 'racist' cuz he fears black thugs. But this is so dumb. I mean how could any honest person NOT notice black thuggery and crime in NY, especially in the 70s? Things got so bad that even 'liberal' NYers finally got Giuliani to clean it all up. NYers also elected Bloomberg three times to get tough on blacks through stop-and-frisk. So, in a way, Bickle's fears were shared by Libs themselves. You surely have it too. If not, go live in Detroit or the black part of Baltimore. It's easy for you to talk the lib talk while refusing to walk the lib walk. Indeed, look at all the biggest Liberal cities. They've been gentrifying to drive out dangerous blacks. San Fran is only 6% black. Housing projects have been torn down in Chicago to make way for posh condos for white 'progressive' yuppies. And all those 'nice libs' voted for Clinton who locked up tons of Negroes. So, while all you Libs put down Bickle, your ACTIONS confirm his fears.
In the original screenplay of TAXI DRIVER, the pimps were blacks. Some say Bickle is 'racist' cuz he tries to save a white girl from black thugs. What in the hell is wrong with that? Suppose a black taxi driver saw a bunch of white pimps exploiting black girls. Would it be wrong for him to feel rage?
Weren't Vietnamese men angry that whites and blacks were turning their women into a bunch of whores? Viet Cong men were a bunch of Travis Bickles who were trying to end sexual imperialism of the US. Bickle wants to save a white girl from black sexual exploitation.
If a bunch of Arab men sexually exploited Jewish women, Jewish men would be angry as hell. And good thing too. Any man who is okay with men of other race exploiting the women of his race is a pussy-ass motherfucker.
Anyway, sexuality is some dark stuff. It brings out the murderer in us. Consider what OJ did to Nicole Simpson. Or consider what happens in Othello. In Romeo and Juliet, the two young ones commit suicide or murder themselves for love.
Sex also creates family and new dynamics of bonds and hatreds. When Agamemnon had Iphigenia sacrificed to the gods, his wife got so angry that she waited for him to return from the war and then had him killed. And then her kids killed her. All very dark and crazy stuff but also very understandable since humans are driven by dark passions. But I'll bet you're the sort of PC pansy freak who can only think in terms of 'that's racist', 'that's sexist', or 'that's homophobic' when it comes to the arts.
This is why humanities have come to suck so bad. Too many ideological freaks like you reduce art to a bunch of buzz words.
You don't know the true nature of passion. Consider Marty in THE SEARCHERS. He is the voice of reason through much of the movie, but when he finds out Laurie his love is about to marry the guitar-strummer, he turns all savage. Indeed, more savage than Ethan as he gets into a brutal fight with the groom. You as a homo should know this since the homo community is filled with all sorts of obsessive freako people who are so vain, narcissistic, possessive, and even sociopathic.
