Rush #5

When Lawrence shoots Gasim, the frame has only Lawrence's face in a close-up. This indicated a pivotal moment as it did throughout the film. The film is focused on the physical and internal battles of one man, Lawrence, and it is made increasingly clear that this individual focus is incredibly important. As Lawrence becomes increasingly relied upon by more men and seen as a leader, it is important for him to follow through with what he says and set an example of decisiveness and courage. He decides without knowing the identity of the man that he will carry out the law, and decides to follow through with that decision even after realizing the man's identity. If he had wavered in this decision in any way, he would be putting himself and his men in danger.

Rush #4

Just prior to pausing Lawrence of Arabia in class last week, a scene was beginning to unfold where Lawrence was dancing around in his new clothes, and experiencing a new version of himself.  This idea was beginning to develop in the scenes previous when he returned to the arabs after rescuing one of their men. It is the morning after that night where we realize that Lawrence is clearly at a stage where he is starting to question his identity and his role in the world and he is dressed in full Arab garb. He is questioning his loyalty and where it lies. The most interesting bit of this scene is surprisingly not the moments we see him watching his own shadow with his new garments, but the moment someone approaches and immediately identifies him as a soldier. In that moment not only are we reminded of his roots, but he is also reminded and simultaneously disoriented. As if he had forgotten for a moment where he came from.

Rush #3 (better late than never?)

Your task this week is to use a repeated object or detail from John Ford's The Searchers in order to think about the film's particular staging of "domestic return" (the question of civic and/or familial belonging that we've begun tracing from Homer's Odyssey to the films of Eisenstein and Ford). 

The repeated detail that I noticed was the frequent framing of various characters within doorways.  A scene that I found this to be interesting was when Ethan's brothers wife, Martha was folding the blankets in the house and was being watched by Ethan. This was one of the scenes that made it fairly obvious that he was in love with her or that something had happened with them in the past. This secret love affair that is never vocalized is one of the many elements of the film that cause us to dislike Ethan but also sympathize with the humanity of his character. The implication that Debbie may actually be his daughter, really drives home the Homeric theme in this movie, causing the viewer to cheer for his quest to find her.