The western film is an iconic part of the the history of film, and John Wayne is one of the most iconic of it's stars. It seems fitting that a look at what defines the "western" as a genre can be glimpsed in the 1956 film The Searchers starring John Wayne and directed by the legendary John Ford. The Searcher's might be categorized as one of Bazin's 'superwesterns', a category of western films that came out of 1950's with new concepts that challenged the old stereotypes while maintaining the setting and basic framework. The Searchers' sprawling tale of a kidnapping that turns into an epic chase across the West lays the standard visual setting that audiences expect from a Western. But Searchers does differ in that it's emotional message is different. While many of the "classical" westerns feature an unambiguous battle between good versus evil, usually featuring a damsel in distress or some other plot driver, The Searchers is more complex about it's issues. The main character Ethan Edwards is an ambiguous antihero character, who's morality is loosely defined. Early on, Ethan's hatred for the Native American's is evident, fueled by the native-perpetrated kidnapping that serves as the major plot point of the story. Ethan's character undergoes a radical change over the course of the movie, wrestling with his hatred and the consequences that it brings. Eventually the story concludes with a "happy" ending, but Ethan is shut out of the world he sought to come back to, and is alienated. A western where the hero doesn't get the girl is certainly a different sort of western, and the genre "superwestern" is reinforced in this aspect. The Searcher's serves as a good jumping off point to determine an audience's expectations for the classical "western" and the post classical "superwestern" as it portrays the essential elements of a western while deviating enough to challenge the baseline in the style of "similarity and difference".
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