搜寻者 | 西部类型片中的景观

《搜寻者》作为John Ford的一部典型的西方电影，刻画了躁动不安的英雄，和半文明半野蛮的对立关系。关于种族主义和文化的讨论成为了“搜寻者”的主题。影片具有典型的西方视角的金黄色调，纪念碑谷崇高广阔的自然景观背景，塑造了影片的图像风格，同时加强了定居文明与自然荒野之间不同生活方式的对比。其次，带有阴影暗门的经典frame镜头，似乎是电影构图策略的重要元素。电影从玛莎Marsha走出场景开始。当伊桑（Ethan）面对黑暗的门框徘徊并转身离开时，frame的景框出现，将观者的视野终止在了眼前，这个符号似乎不仅构成了前景，而且也成为暗示角色背后个人英雄主义和正常家庭生活有着不可逾越的障碍。

《搜寻者》在一定程度上颠覆了西方经典电影的构景手法，乍看只是一部典型的西部牛仔电影，其中白人在当地人中占主导地位。但电影中不仅有摄影棚内的动作捕捉，还有许多室外取景的设置。就景观和“纪念碑谷”的背景设定而言，观者会不由自主地在观影过程中，注意到这片土地的广阔和荒凉。我认为导演是在暗中向我们传达着：尽管从人类的角度看这片土地似乎已经荒芜了，但它仍然充满生命。在这种死气沉沉，人迹罕至的环境中，剧本着重向我们展示了主角家庭的内部互动，和景观形成了一种鲜明的对比。作为角色背景的幕布，自然景观在这部影片中暗中发挥着其衬映力量。福特在镜头比例的选择上，也向我们暗示了这一点。我们看到福特在前景和中间景的设计中，地面和景观常常占据了主导地位，构图往往达到画面的三分之二。

作为“节拍一代”之一而闻名的导演约翰·福特，似乎模糊了字符集中二元对立的传统。这部电影揭示了英雄角色背后，人性的许多阴暗面和复杂性，为公众提供了一个新的种族和文化融合讨论平台。 “搜索者”还反映了白人和印第安人之间的某些潜在共性，印第安人的形象不再完全充满暴力和残酷，英雄形象也与一些灰色的道德挣扎和其他情感因素交织在一起。电影向我们展示着，美国历史上的种族文化概念，已经从过去的观念中发生了转变。我们可以从中看到，残酷的印第安人形象和光荣的英雄，以及种族，文化和暴力问题之间的对抗。这些反对派在这部电影中达到了一定程度的融合，共同构成了一个充满人类真正挣扎的故事。

主角伊桑（Ethan）是一个“圆形人物”，而不是一个绝对的正面的英雄，他有着勇敢，坚毅的一面，也有着阴暗的一面：行为充满了原始的欲望，以及悲观的，复杂的“灰色道德”。伊桑（Ethan）的形象既直立，叛逆，强硬，又固执于根深蒂固的种族观念，这已不再是正义的完全化身。他杀了商店以取回他的钱，为了保护家庭的尊严试图杀死自己的侄女，并杀死了整个印度部落以报仇。他的角色是一个鲜活生动的灵魂，充满着眼泪，仇恨与爱意，同时又动摇，犹豫，不时显现出脆弱和困惑。实际上，电影中的角色“Scar”伤疤在某些方面与伊桑非常相似，几乎就像伊桑的异己和影中自我一样，血液中都流淌着复仇的基因。伊桑（Ethan）发狂似的寻找疤痕（Scar），以拯救被带走的侄女。疤痕（Scar）则割断了那位白人的头皮，以报复杀害自己儿子的仇人。

电影中人们记忆中的“古老怀旧式的英雄梦似乎被粉碎了，新时代背景下的英雄梦又被重组了。约翰·福特（John Ford）站在观者的角度诉说着：“看，英雄与普通人之间没有区别。”最后，正是曾经无限光荣的英雄，被重塑成为了被排斥在文明与暴力，繁荣与荒凉之中的那一个。就像电影中的最后一幕的影像一样：一个寂寞的人回到空荡荡的门廊前，逐渐消失在视野中。

关于福特的摄影风格，他在电影中表达了明显的爱国主义导向。这部电影是在冷战时期的50年代拍摄的，可以说这样的电影的市场作用之一，便是用来保持美国人的士气和精神。美国的西部景观景象是如此独特，尤其是纪念碑谷一带，从某种意义上说，它已成为美国历史的一种象征。福特还讲述了白人统治当地人群体的故事，我认为这也可以被考虑成是一种树立树立新的身份标准的方法。

同时可以与福特进行平行比较的，是建筑师弗兰克和·劳埃德·赖特。尽管福特和赖特分别处于不同的年代，领域和地理位置，但他们关于”美国人不应受到欧洲思潮影响“的想法却异曲同工。赖特认为，中西部平坦的平原是美国的独特特征，因此，他将其应用于他在芝加哥设计的住宅建筑之中，例如他的房屋和工作室，罗宾住宅和，温斯洛（Winslow）住宅等等。所有这些作品的内部建筑结构都是水平的，就像中西部的平原一样，在赖特看来，它们是象征着美国文化精神的建筑，背后有着一种民族主义思想的表达。 《搜寻者》对我而言，最大的收获就是窥见了电影景观背后关于美国身份的塑造，这是迄今为止看过的一部非常”美国式“的电影，它向我们展现着美国的历史，原住民矛盾，阶级的建立，亲缘关系。

The Searchers, at a glance, is just a typical cowboy movie where the whites dominate over the natives, though this is true there is more to the movie than just action and catch phrases. In the terms of landscape and Monument Valley one could notice how vast and desolate the land is. I think Ford wanted to communicate though the land may seem dead it is still full of life, in the human sense. We see plenty of human interactions take place in the film in this lifeless uninhabitable environment. While the human interactions take place, the landscape is there to assert its power while remaining stagnant. Ford’s choice in composition for his shots imply this. We see Ford taking his landscape shots in thirds where the foreground and middle ground dominate but there is a datum applied in the background with the sky and the rock formations. The landscape is vast and always around whether we or the characters notice it or not. There are many mysteries in this movie which never really get solved like how did Ethan keep his Sabre after losing in the Civil War, how did such a nice house get built in the middle of the desert, is Ethan guilty of a crime, and how long have the people been around versus how long has the rock formations been around? There seems to be a temporal quality Ford is conveying, clearly the landscape is on a different time line than humans but it is not simply two parallel tracks which never cross. The Comanche seem to have found a way to work with the landscape while not trying to impede on it. Ethan seemed to understand the landscape well enough to find water within the caverns. Though people have tried to tame the land it is not possible. The mystery of the buttes and monuments will stand longer than human history, but it is also important to see human history play out it in this place. Even though monument valley is beautiful it cannot be tamed but we see that it can be used to convey what landscape is through the medium of photography. Many photographers took cues from picturesque European paintings to compose beautiful photos of the landscape, people cannot successfully live I the landscape unless they follow the ways of the natives, but natives were seen as a apart of the landscape like animals in the natural habitat, Richard Hutson makes a point about this.

The big piece about Ford’s filming and message is about the obvious patriotism being expressed in the movie. The movie was filmed in the 50’s during the cold war era one could say films like this were used to keep up the morale and spirits of the American people. The western landscape is so unique, especially Monument Valley so in a sense it has become an American symbol, it is a unique American Landscape. Ford also told stories of whites over powering a native group, which at the time was more acceptable. I see this as a way of establishing an identity which tries to break away from what we have been used to which is European standards and aesthetics. A comparison I would like to draw with Ford is with architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Though Ford and Wright were in different decades, fields of work, and in different geographic locations their idea for expressing American without European influences came through. Wright believed the flat horizontal plains of the Midwest were a unique characteristic of the U.S. so he applied it to the homes he designed in Chicago such as, his home and studio, The Robie house, the Winslow house and many others. All of these structures were flat and horizontal much like the plains of the Midwest which were, in Wright’s eyes, symbolic of what American architecture is. There is a sense of nationalism being expressed. The big take away with The Searchers for me is the American identity in Landscape, up until now this was the most American movie we have seen and it shows how old America worked. We see that American landscape can stand on its own without European influence but the concern with American landscape is there is more than one race/religion/culture within the Landscape and as time moves forward people must be respectful of these ever changing factors.