Take notes and be ready to present your interpretation orally tomorrow as a group (the people in the groups are selcted randomly). I will give you 10 minutes tomorrow to share your analysis.

 Don’t forget to organise your thoughts. 

  

 Use the following prompts to interpret the extract: 

 

 ⚫ Plot    → Describe the main events.  
 ⚫ Western tropes  → Describe and interpret the expected features of the genre. 

 ⚫ Americana   → Describe and interpret the American symbols. 

 ⚫ Meaningful symbols → Describe and interpret the symbolic elements. 

 ⚫ Stereotypes   → Describe and interpret the stereotypical representations. 

 ⚫ Narrative devices → Describe and interpret the techniques used to tell the story. 

 ⚫ Noticeable features → Describe and interpret anything you find unusual or interesting. 

 

 Watch the extract: from the beginning to 4.33

 Describe and interpret the following elements:   

 

 ⚫ Plot  

 ⚫  Western tropes   

 ⚫ Americana   

 ⚫ Noticeable features  

 Describe and interpret the following elements: 

  

 ⚫ Plot  

 ⚫ Meaningful symbols 

 ⚫ Stereotypes   

⚫ Noticeable features  

 

   

 Watch the extract: from 39.04 to 42.24

  Describe and interpret the following elements: 

   

 ⚫ Plot  

 ⚫ Noticeable features 

   

 Watch the extract: from to 1.25.30 to 1.29.36

Describe and interpret the following elements: 

  

 ⚫ Plot   

 ⚫ Western tropes  

 ⚫ Symbols 

 ⚫ Noticeable shots  

 ⚫ Stereotypes  

   

   

 Watch the extract: from 1.53.22 to the end

 Describe and interpret the following elements: 

  

 ⚫ Plot 

 ⚫ Tropes / Stereotypes 

 ⚫ Narrative devices 

 ⚫ Noticeable features 

Ethan, Aaron's brother is gone after the natives tried to trap him in the wilderness. Aaron is left with his family ; Martha his wife and his 3 children. But something feels wrong... Aaron who was outside notices some birds flying away which make his dog barks. He enters his house to take his riffle. Martha feels that something is wrong as Aaron is taking his riffle, but the children don't. Lucy wants to light up a lamp but her mother told her not to. Lucy understands what is happening and she screams. Then, Martha and Aaron are telling Debbie that she must escape the house but she will not did it without her doll. In fact, the Natives are coming to burn down their house. Debbie is now outside but the dog is too. It follows her and starts to bark. It goes away but Debbie has been found by one of the natives : Scar.

 MEANINGFUL SYMBOLS :
- (slide 2) the big rock symbolizes the fact that they are framed, trapped, that they have nowhere to escape but also the fact that Ethan could not come to save them from the Natives.
- (slide 11) the high angle view symbolizes the weakness of Debbie facing the Native. her doll symbolizes the end of her innocence as we can imagine what is going to happen to her when she will be captured by the Natives. she is also framed by the tombstone which indicates us that she really cannot escape from Scar.
- (almost every slides) we can see that the main colour of this scene is orange, which symbolizes the fire, but also light blue or white, which symbolizes death.
- (slide 4) the depth of field is here to show Aaron smaller than usually to indicate that he will be defenceless against the Natives.

 STEREOTYPES OR TROPES :
- (slide 1+9+10) the dog is a sort of trope : at the beginning of the scene, it alerts Aaron that something is wrong with the birds flying away. It is also betraying Debbie when she tries to escape.
- (slide 7) Lucy screams when she understands that the Natives are coming. It's a trope beacause it is very commmon in films in general. for example, when someone is discovering a corpse in a film, it is always a woman and she is always screaming because they are considered as hysterical.
- (slide 8) Debbie must escape the villain Natives.
- (slide 12) the Natives are the bad characters of the movie and of the Westerns movies in general.

 NOTICEABLE FEATURES :
- (slide 3) When Martha notices Aaron taking his riffle she knows that something is wrong.
- (slide 6) tragic irony : Martha doesn't want Lucy to light up the lamp but we know that their house will later burn down beacause of the Natives. the flame can also represents their lives.
- (slide 12) this Native (Scar) is actually not a real Native but a white actor (we can see it because he has blue eyes)
- (during the whole scene) the music increases the tension of the scene.
- (almost every slides) every lines we can notice in this scene are here to frame the characters as in the slides 1, 2, 4, 5 and 11.

[The use of slides makes your analysis crystal-clear. A few mistakes remain, but the report is still very easy to understand and contains a lot of relevant elements]

In our extract, Debbie, who became a Squaw, warns Ethan and Martin about an attack from the Natives to come. But here is the problem, Debbie is a Squaw and she doesn’t have the intention to leave “her people”. In consequence, Ethan wants to kill her, but Martin protects her. Then, the Natives interrupt them by attacking, just as Debbe said. A race starts, Ethan gets shot, however, even if they are 2 vs 10, they win anyways. 

1:25:30 The character Emilio Figueroa stands out with a close-up. He is the stereotypical Mexican character, with his sombrero, his pancho and his Mexican accent. He is supposed to be a white actor, so he painted his face brown. It’s called a brown face. 

1:25:54 The long shot makes that we can see two opposite sides : 

We can notice that Martin is standing right in the middle of these two sides, meaning that he can’t choose between them. In fact, he has native’s blood in his veins. Furthermore, he can’t choose between his sister who is a Native now, and Ethan who is American. 

At 1:26:16, Ethan grabs a rock and throws it in the river. It’s also a stereotype because every man will do that, in movies, when they feel frustrated. Besides the fact that the river helps Ethan to calm down, it also separates the two sides that we saw just before. Up, the wilderness, and in the bottom of the frame, the civilization. The river is like a bridge between these two worlds. 

 Let’s talk about the landscape now. It’s a desert that symbolizes a place of confrontation. The hills have an important role. Indeed, we’ll see that everything will come from behind these hills, without a sound. It’s the case here : 1:26:24, with a depth of the field. We saw Debbie arriving, but the characters didn’t. At the same time, a music which sounds like a Disney movie begins, as if Debbie were a princess. That’s a trope too. 

Besides, at 1:26:32, she is right in the middle, between Ethan and Martin, showing that she is the stake. 

 At 1:26:36, Martin is the only one who sees Debbie. Thanks to that, he will not try to kill her for the moment. Martin and Debbie can have their “brother and sister moment” (with close-ups), at 1:26:47. By doing this, they can talk without being heard by Ethan. However, at 1:27:21, Ethan, hand on his gun, gets closer and hears from Debbie : “These are my people”. Furthermore, she keeps speaking like a Native. In consequence, at 1:27:38, a music full of tension begins and Ethan takes out his gun, but in a particular way. In fact, he holds his pistol at the level of his pelvis, to show his manliness, his virility. Starts a duel between Martin and Ethan. At 1:27:49, we can barely see Debbie behind Martin, meaning that it’s a manliny duel between two men. 

Their duel will be interrupted by an arrow, hurting Ethan, thrown by a Native, at 1:27:55, who appears from behind the hills, without a sound, again. The shot is taken with a low angle view to show his strength. Then, the same Native will be killed by Martin and fall into plenty of stunts. That’s a trope. 

 At 1:28:04, a low angle view extreme shot shows 7 Natives coming from behind the hills. We didn’t hear them before they attacked. However, a mistake has been made. In fact, just 4 seconds later, at 1:28:08, the Natives aren’t coming down from the hills. They are now coming from the left, skirting the river. A race, a chase will begin. It’s another western trope. 

 At 1:28:28, we can clearly see the landscape. Indeed, Martin and Ethan are enclosed by the rocks. It symbolizes that they are enclosed, framed. They can’t escape the fight. 

 At 1:28:36, Ethan and Martin hide in a cave. The difference in light between outside and inside of this one, echoes the very beginning : the dark place epitomizes safety. 

Furthermore, during this fight sequence, (filmed in a high angle view to show the weakness of Ethan and Martin) the Natives, Ethan and Martin are shooting at the horses ! And at 1:28:44, two of the Natives were running to Ethan and Martin. They were ready to kill them. But they turned their backs.. This is quite ridiculous. 

 At 1:28:59, the chief, Scar, who is a red-faced actor, puts on his head a war bonnet. However, that doesn't make any sense, given that the fight has already started. Furthermore, we saw previously that many of the Natives were wearing a war bonnet. Besides that, it can mean that the real fight will begin.  

At 1:29:09, the attack starts and then, we are crushed by a horse with a low angle view. Which is a western trope. It is for the audience to feel threatened, in danger and that also increases tension. 

At 1:29:18, the fight ends with the fall of Scar, in a high angle view. He is weak because he has lost. Ethan, injured, and Martin have just won a 2 vs 10. 

               Juliette, Eloane, Charlie and Solène


[A nice and relevant analysis. Don't confuse past and present when you're telling a story. You managed to show the many tropes that are present in this extract quite clearly.]

1:42: We can see a dark setting, which lets us think that Martha is not happy in her life, because she is married to a man she does not love (Aaron) but she loves, on the contrary, her brother (Ethan). She is locked in the dark, but the background remains colorful: it is a frame. Moreover, the house seems very small in front of an extremely vast background. We can then see a contrast with the house and the decor: civilization / wilderness

This creates a play of light and little by little, there is a dolly in: the camera follows Martha.

1:50 Thereafter, there is a depth of field. We suppose that Ethan arrives, but we can only suppose it because he blends extremely well in the decor. It is as if he belongs to nature, that he is mysterious and that he is wild. Furthermore, the land is the desert which is a western’s trope.

2:01: Ethan arrives, and he is placed in the middle of the two rocks, which leaves us with the impression that he is in the middle of Aaron and Martha's relationship. In fact, it is due to the two rocks in the background which are very symbolic because it is present in many western’s movies. These rocks refer to Monument Valley. Then, Ethan is wearing a confederate uniform, which is a wink to the Civil war, but also Monument Valley boots, a typical hat and scarf of the westerns and weapons. 

In addition, when Martha puts her hand on her head while looking at Ethan, she overreacts. It is a typicalcinema’s characteristic. What’s more, she  suggests that she is really surprised to see Ethan coming back from the war after three years: it is a hand held camera shot: we see what the character can see.

Among the scenery, we can also see a blanket that can potentially suggest that the arrival of the natives is very )close or that there is a bad omen [why ?]

2:15 Aaron arrives and stands directly in front of his wife as if to impose his territory, to mark his ownership over his wife and his house.

2:20 We see the arrival of the women, and thanks to the lines we can analyze that all the women stay inside while the only man of the house is now outside the house [so ?]

2:29 a shot focuses on the youngest of the children: Debbie, in her arms, we see a doll that can come to show the innocence of the little girl [what does it foreshadow ?]

2:48 The two brothers meet again and shake hands, which can let us think that there is a kind of tension between them because it's been three years since they last saw each other. So maybe they're supposed to be hugging but instead they're just shaking hands without really looking at each other.

2:52 here, we can see many lines, like the fact that the children are separated on both sides. On one side we see Debbie and on the other Ben and Lucy, it's a long shot . We could distinguish on one side the innocence with Debbie, on the other the adults and finally the teenagers. Moreover, if we removed the right side, we would see a family: Debbie, Ethan and Martha. We would then see a couple, there is then the idea that Debbie is the daughter of Ethan and not of Aaron in this scene. 

3:06 Martha enters the house by walking backwards, which can imply that she is suspicious or even guilty. Here, we know that she loves another man than the one she is married to, which can support the idea of suspicion.

3:16 Ethan carries Debbie, at first, we see that he places her above everyone else and that he has this complicity only with this child. Moreover, it can echo the last scene when he finds her and that he carries her in this same way.

3:42 Ethan gives Ben a gun, which may show the idea that in the meantime and during this war, Ben has become a man: he is now able to have this gun in his possession [actually, it's a sabre]

3:55 The two men are here positioned above the woman, as if they were both superior. However, Ethan is still the taller man. He is then superior to Aaron.

4:22 Martha takes Ethan's coat and leads him into a very small room. This room is supposed to represent Martin's love for Ethan and the reason it is so small is because it is a secret.

4:30 Aaron shakes his brother's hand once again and says "Welcome home" to show once again that Martha is his wife and property.

To sum up, this extract introduces the context of this movie thanks to main characters such as : Martha, Ethan and Aaron. We could think that they are responsible for what will happen in the future (Debbie’s disparition and the fire in the house). Then, the land and different shots stand out different americans symbols and western tropes that we could see in other american movies. 

[A very good analysis. I appreciated the fact that you introduced it by showing the main point of focus of it, and concluded to sum up your whole point]

Il dépeint la quête longue de 5 ans d’Ethan Edwards pour retrouver sa nièce, enlevée par les Comanches. Le film pourrait paraitre daté, mais les thèmes qu’il aborde sont encore très modernes. De nombreux réalisateurs s’en sont inspirés et font de lui un classique du genre reconnu par la critique pour l’imagerie, la poésie et les sentiments qu’il véhicule. Les paysages et les lieux servent de théâtre au désir de vengeance d’Ethan, plus déterminé à exterminer Comanches et ennemis qu’à sauver sa nièce. 

Ce personnage complexe se rapproche autant du héros que de la violence qui agite chaque guerre. Ainsi, la sauvagerie est montrée dans chaque camp, et Scar n’est que le pendant d’Ethan.

The Searchers peut se voir et se revoir car, il y a toujours quelque chose de nouveau à découvrir. 

Such is the terrible man against whom Peter Pan is pitted. Which will win? 

On the trail of the pirates, stealing noiselessly down the war-path, which is not visible to inexperienced eyes, come the redskins, every one of them with his eyes peeled. They carry tomahawks and knives, and their naked bodies gleam with paint and oil. Strung around them are scalps, of boys as well as of pirates, for these are the Piccaninny tribe, and not to be confused with the softer-hearted Delawares or the Hurons. In the van, on all fours, is Great Big Little Panther, a brave of so many scalps that in his present position they somewhat impede his progress. Bringing up the rear, the place of greatest danger, comes Tiger Lily, proudly erect, a princess in her own right. She is the most beautiful of dusky Dianas [Diana = goddess of the woods] and the belle of the Piccaninnies, coquettish [flirting], cold and amorous [loving] by turns; there is not a brave who would not have the wayward thing to wife, but she staves off the altar with a hatchet. Observe how they pass over fallen twigs without making the slightest noise. The only sound to be heard is their somewhat heavy breathing. The fact is that they are all a little fat just now after the heavy gorging, but in time they will work this off. For the moment, however, it constitutes their chief danger. 

 

Excerpt from chapter 10

One important result of the brush [with the pirates] on the lagoon was that it made the redskins their friends. Peter had saved Tiger Lily from a dreadful fate, and now there was nothing she and her braves would not do for him. All night they sat above, keeping watch over the home under the ground and awaiting the big attack by the pirates which obviously could not be much longer delayed. Even by day they hung about, smoking the pipe of peace, and looking almost as if they wanted tit-bits to eat. 

They called Peter the Great White Father, prostrating themselves [lying down] before him; and he liked this tremendously, so that it was not really good for him. 

“The great white father,” he would say to them in a very lordly manner, as they grovelled at his feet, “is glad to see the Piccaninny warriors protecting his wigwam from the pirates.” 

“Me Tiger Lily,” that lovely creature would reply. “Peter Pan save me, me his velly nice friend. Me no let pirates hurt him.” 

She was far too pretty to cringe in this way, but Peter thought it his due, and he would answer condescendingly, “It is good. Peter Pan has spoken.” 

Always when he said, “Peter Pan has spoken,” it meant that they must now shut up, and they accepted it humbly in that spirit; but they were by no means so respectful to the other boys, whom they looked upon as just ordinary braves. They said “How-do?” to them, and things like that; and what annoyed the boys was that Peter seemed to think this all right. 

 

                                                                                   JM Barrie, Peter and Wendy, 1911

 

II)                  “  They were a great mystery to X, these xxxxxxxxxxxxxx . He could not think of them without getting his mind baffled.”
  

III)                 “When he whirled to meet the voice that had startled him out of his skin, X came face-to-face with the strangest sight he had ever seen.”

 

IV)                 “ And yet, on the basis of what he had actually seen, the xxxxxxxxxx inspired only pity.  They seemed to be a sad race.” 

 V)                   “They lived without families. And they lived without their greatest chiefs. With the Great Spirit in evidence everywhere, for all to see, they worshipped things written down on paper. And they were so dirty. They didn’t even keep themselves clean.”
 

VI)                   “When X saw this, his paralysis evaporated. He stopped thinking altogether, leaped to his feet, and scrambled over the top of the bluff. He shouted out, his bellow cracking the stillness like a shot.”
 

VII)         “X had heard disconcerting stories about their numbers. On more than one occasion he had heard people say they were as plentiful as birds, and this gave X an uneasy feeling in the back of his mind.”
 

VIII)        “A naked man. A naked man marching straight across the yard with his fists balled, with his jaw set, and with skin so white that it hurt the eyes.”

 

  IX)          “The man I encountered was a magnificent-looking fellow. ‘’

 X)           “Close to the fort, X stopped to watch the entanglement of two lovers. A pair of black water snakes were twisting ecstatically in the shallows of the stream, and like all lovers, they were oblivious, even when X’s shadow fell across the water.”
 

Like most children of the fifties, my first impressions of Native American people were not very positive. Indians were widely portrayed as devils, whose destruction was purely a matter of necessity in the process of taming the West. Every publication or film I saw as a child was slanted in this way.

 

But from the first, I sensed somehow that the story was incomplete. Late in elementary school I read a book by Quentin Reynolds that was written for young readers. I can’t remember the title, but the book was about Custer and the Seventh Cavalry and the Little Big Horn. I enjoyed it immensely and, as most boys would, I identified strongly with the white soldiers.

 

There was something else, however, that sparked my interest for years to come. One particular Indian was portrayed in Reynold’s book as a great warrior and leader—Crazy Horse. From the moment I read about him I wanted to know more. Perhaps it was the ring of his name or the description of his fighting spirit, but I recall distinctly that I laid the book down with the thought, I’d like to know more about that Crazy Horse.

 

In succeeding years, I never fully lost the desire to know more, but it wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I encountered the Indian people again, the time reading Dee Brown’s classic Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. I was stunned, heartbroken, and enlightened. [...]

 

Another ten years have passed and I am still reading Native American history. It is often a sad study of genocide, of cultural annihilation perpetrated by our forefathers inthe name of growth and of the “future generations” that we now comprise. 

 

When I think of what was lost in the trampling of the great horse culture and its people, I am made immeasurably sad. Here were a people living in rough perfection; at home with sky, earth and plain; strong families living in societies that valued and cared for their members. Not only was most of this destroyed but what little remained was locked up onreservations in desolate territory, far from public sight.

 

            So the novel Dances with Wolves was written in part because I wanted to present some of the record of history as I see it. It was my hope that in showing what was lost, something might be regained—not the least of which could be new respectfor the proud descendants of the people I wrote about, who are living yet onreserves where our ancestors confined them.

 

Michael Blake,Dances with Wolves, 1988 (afterword written in 1991)

It is entitled Independence and The Opening of the West and depicts an encounter between the Natives and the settlers at the top of a hill. 

The mural can be divided into two parts, that oppose civilization (hence the houses in the background on the right side) to wilderness (shown by the Indian teepees).

A lot of horizontal lines (houses/ teepees, Indian brave holding a bow and an arrow / frontiersman wearing a coonskin hat) draw a parallel between both peoples.

The doorway and the hill seem to create an effect of symmetry, placing both people on an equal footing in this meeting, which seems to be peaceful. The Indian chief is offering a peace pipe as a token of peace/ friendship and the settlers standing at the top of the hill are not aiming at the Natives. 

However, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Many elements hints at the tension present in the meeting. The dog located in the foreground is barking at the Natives as if they represented a threat to the settlers and the two children look scared of them. 

Moreover, although a peace meeting is going on in the foreground, a war is about to be waged in the background in the left part. The war bonnets the Indians are wearing and the fort refer to the many wars that occurred on the frontier throughout the 19^th century. (a bad omen reinforced by the presence of the rain).

Last but not least, the position and the stance of the different characters imply and unbalanced ratio of power between the two peoples. If the imaginary symmetrical line is located at the top of the hill, the setters present at that very place is a sign of domination from them who, as a consequence, are literally looking down on the Indians. They’re dominating over them and taking their land. 

The domination is emphasized by the Indian chief who is not only offering peace to the settlers but also bending / bowing to them as a sign of submission (contrary the the settlers who are standing straight). Although both sides are on their guard and armed, the sunlight that surrounds the settlers in the middle seems to justify their presence there, as part of their Manifest Destiny. They belong here, as much as the Indians.

Likewise, the fact that the settlers are armed can be justified by the presence of the woman and the children. The lines created by the rifles shelter/ shield them. Therefore, the settlers’ behaviour and need for land is not aggressive, but natural as they are meant to protect / provide for their family.

What is Benton’s message ? It’s hard to tell. Some will see a possible peaceful cohabitation between Indians and settlers (which would explain the presence of the fur trader among the Natives on the right). Others will see a realistic representation of the opening of the West (which the two blacksmiths - who turn their back on the conquest of the West - are excluded from). The viewers can also consider the symbols present in the painting foreshadow a negative outcome to the meeting, or on the contrary, an idealized vision of the conquest of the West. 

As a conclusion, much like The Searchers, Independence and the Opening of the West is a turning point in the portray of the Natives and the Conquest of the West, showing this period them in a less stereotypical way, but also clinging to the Myth of the west that prevail in the popular representation of this period.

In Cowboys and Indians by Andy Warhol, Warhol’s work creates a commentary on mass media and the way in which contrived imagery can affect how we understand our history. Images of Geronimo, Annie Oakley and Mother and Child are based on characters in the Hollywood adaptation of our history and do not truly represent the roles that these real individuals historically played.

Warhol interspersed recognizable portraits of well-known American “heroes”–John Wayne, Annie Oakley, Teddy Roosevelt, and General George Custer–with less familiar Native American images and motifs in his ironic commentary on Americans’ collective mythologizing of the historic West. Rather than portraying Native Americans within their historical landscape or Cowboys in their veritable forms, Warhol chose to portray a popular, romanticized version of the American West. The West that he chose to represent is familiar to everyone and can be seen in novels, films, TV series. Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians Suite is an ahistorical representation that mirrors a popular interpretation of the American West.

Andy Warhol created the Cowboys and Indians series during the mid-1980s, arguably his most prolific period. During this time, Warhol was forming bonds with a number of younger artists in the New York art scene including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel and David Salle. Warhol saw a re-emergence of critical and financial success during this period of his life.

source : https://www.guyhepner.com/artist/andy-warhol-art-prints-paintings-for-sale/cowboys-and-indians-by-andy-warhol/