Frontiers on the Big Screen

Americans have long been fascinated with ideas of “the West.” Stories of unfamiliar animals and landscapes and of unknown people that could be found beyond the frontier have received popular attention going back before the days of Daniel Boone's exploration of the Cumberland Gap in 1775. People in the East listened enthusiastically to the stories and reports coming in from the frontier, and many liked what they heard enough to pack up and migrate West themselves, despite the dangers that a move like this entailed. This trend continued after Lewis and Clark returned from the newly purchase Louisiana Territory in 1806. Accounts of their travels were published in newspapers around the country and many Americans became infatuated with the idea of the West. As the century progressed, more and more Americans decided that they had had enough of the cramped, expensive, and (relatively) urban East and chose to seek new opportunities in the West.   

Even those who remained in the East did not lose interest in the stories of the West. Following the Civil War and the rapid expansion of the railroads, the cattle industry boomed in the West. Young men headed west seeking fortunes in return for hard work. At the same time, the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 led many people to try their hand at farming in the Western Territories. Newly emancipated Black Americans began seeking out these opportunities and creating new communities in the West following the conclusion of the war as well.   

When the stories of the explorers and settlers were taken all together, the West became characterized as a place where heroic, hard-working men and women faced danger and the unknown daily. New skills were needed to survive and thrive out on the frontier, and sometimes even the heartiest of settlers were unable to make it last. For Americans on the east coast, romanticized stories of the West allowed them to imagine a life on the frontier.   

Beginning in the 1870's, some entrepreneurial westerners began putting together Wild West shows where frontier reenactors would showcase their skills. Target shooting, roping, horseback riding, and many other activities that were useful on a Western ranch provided exciting and exotic entertainment for audiences back East. In addition, a diverse cast of characters including Native Americans, Vaqueros, and Black cowboys introduced many white Americans to cultures they had only ever read or heard about. These shows travelled around the country and abroad, and they remained wildly popular until the 1910's. One of the many reasons for their decline was the development of the film industry.   

The film industry recognized Americans' fascination with the West right from the start. Thomas Edison began using his Kinetograph, an early predecessor of the film camera, to film actors from Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show in the 1890's. In 1903, the first feature Western movie was released. The Great Train Robbery was directed by Edwin S. Porter and wowed audiences with its cohesive plot and groundbreaking filming techniques, including showing actors on a seemingly moving train.   

As filming technology advanced, audience appetite for Western movies continued to grow. By the 1910's films were being shot out in the West, and the movie industry we know today began to take shape. John Ford, one of the most influential and impactful personalities in the Western genre, made his directorial debut in 1924 with The Iron Horse. This marked the beginning of a career that spanned more than fifty years and was responsible for some of the most famous Western movies ever made, including The Searchers.  

D2.Geo.6.9-12. Evaluate the impact of human settlement activities on the environmental and cultural characteristics of specific places and regions.

D2.Geo.7.9-12. Analyze the reciprocal nature of how historical events and the spatial diffusion of ideas, technologies, and cultural practices have influenced migration patterns and the distribution of human population. 

D2.Geo.10.9-12. Evaluate how changes in the environmental and cultural characteristics of a place or region influence spatial patterns of trade and land use.

D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras. 

D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras. 

D2.His.6.9-12. Analyze the ways in which the perspectives of those writing history shaped the history that they produced.  

D2.His.7.9-12. Explain how the perspectives of people in the present shape interpretations of the past.

D2.His.10.9-12. Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations.

D2.His.17.9-12. Critique the central arguments in secondary works of history on related topics in multiple media in terms of their historical accuracy. 

Activity 1. Fact vs. Fiction in the American West  

The story of the American West has long been wrapped up in mythology and fiction, and this is easily seen in The Searchers.  Invite students to compare what they have learned about life on the frontier from the movie with this letter from H.H. Hewes, a prospector who moved to the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory in the 1870's.  Here Hewes is writing to his sister to tell her about what daily life is like in a frontier town. Note that there is a transcription option available directly below the scanned letter if students have difficulty reading the handwritten text. 

• What does he say that surprises you about life on the frontier?  

• How does this depiction change your ideas about the American West? 

• What new questions does this raise about life on the frontier?   

Activity 2. Closer Reading  

Divide students into 4 groups and assign each group one of the following themes found in Hewes’ letter:  

• Interactions with Native Americans 

• Holidays and celebrations  

• People moving across the frontier 

• Family connections and marriage 

Have students compare these themes in real life to the way they are depicted in The Searchers. Each group should identify 1-3 scenes from the movie that touch on these ideas and present how the movie is similar to or different from what Hewes depicts. Students can find many clips on YouTube for reference. Use the following questions to provide students direction:  

• How is Hewes' experience similar or different from Ethan's and Martin's? 

• Think about the scenes in the movie that this letter reminds you of from the movie, as well as the scenes that seem to play up the myths of the west like the newspapers Hewes writes about. How do you think Hewes would feel if he viewed The Searchers?  

• Why do you think the filmmakers wanted to change certain aspects in their depiction of frontier life?   

For this activity, students will benefit from having working knowledge of the social context of the 1950's, specifically related to race, gender, and economy.  

Discuss the following questions in small groups of 3-4 students. After students have the opportunity to process their thinking in small groups, you may choose to engage the whole class in a more formal discussion.  

• How valuable are movies like this one as historic sources?  

• Do you think this movie tells us anything meaningful about the West following the Civil War? 

• Does it tell us more about America in the 1950's than it does in the 1870's?  

• Consider why this movie might seem like an accurate portrayal of the frontier – is it because this is really the way the frontier was, or is it because our preconceptions about the West are shaped by movies like this one?  

Activity 3. Frontier as Entertainment  

Western filmmakers like John Ford were not the first people to recognize the value of Western stories as entertainment. Stories of Western settlement were met with enthusiastic excitement by people still living in the east following the Civil War, and a new entertainment industry was born in the Wild West Shows. Examine this poster from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Ask students to analyze what they see, using the following questions as a guide if needed.   

• What elements stand out here? What is striking about them? 

• Why might someone from Boston be interested in a show like this?  

• What modern forms of entertainment does this poster make you think of?   

As technology progressed, creators continued to use the exotic nature of the West to draw in crowds. Indigenous people were some of the first subjects caught on film by Thomas Edison using his kinetograph. Watch these clips and think about why Edison would choose them as subjects.

• Annie Oakley
• Buffalo Dance
• Bucking Bronco
• Sioux Ghost Dance
• Sham Battle at the Pan-American Exposition

These actors were members of Buffalo Bill's cast but are now being captured in a new medium. How might that change the way people understand what these actors are doing? Ask students to consider how people's attitudes about the role of America Indians in entertainment has changed since the Wild Wests era or since the production of films like The Searchers. 

After completing the lesson activities, have students think individually about a character they would like to explore more. Have students reflect on how they might better represent that character and give them more agency in the plot. For example, a student might decide to focus on Laurie, Ethan's fiancé, to think about how her character could have been written to take a more active role in the plot. Rewrite one or two scenes for this character and think about how these changes might affect the larger story. Some students might enjoy working with others to film some of their scenes. 

Recently, social media platforms have become popular places for Indigenous people from around the world to share their cultures, call for social justice, and connect people from different backgrounds to their experiences. At your discretion, select a few videos on one of the prominent social media platforms to analyze as a class. This activity can help students to reflect further on how this content is different from Indigenous representation in The Searchers and in Edison's early films. Use the following questions to help guide students' discussions: 

• What are the main differences between the depiction of Native American actors in The Searchers and the creators in modern social media videos? Why does this difference matter?   

• How were Indigenous people depicting their own identities at the time of the wild West shows or when mainstream Western movies were being produced? Why did these depictions not become part of mainstream American culture?