John Ford
Director
As I watched Stagecoach (1939) I can notice the approach genre because in this film and majority of John Ford’s other films they all explore the western genre aspect. As the film opens up the title fades to a stagecoach in a desert, then you see the cavalry patrol follow the stage across a shallow river and then see the band of Indians. And finally, credits fade to the stagecoach alone in the desert (Saxton 27). The opening titles are a great example because in all westerns you get the same setting and characters. As in it takes place in a desert with cowboys, Indians and horses.
Another approach I noticed is auteur because in this film it also symbolizes the typical western atmosphere. For the setting, it is in a quiet desert where most of his films like 3 Godfathers (1948) and How the West Was Won (1962) all these films are somewhat identical. Also, in each film, you get the typical cowboy who is presented as an American figure as masculine behavior. The women are fit in the role as sexual objects and try to somewhat change the cowboy into a married man (Lewis, 43). The character depiction in this film because in most westerns like the 3 Godfathers and How the West Was Won you get this same formalistic concept in each of these films. The character that John Wayne plays the Ringo Kid, which is the true description of an actual cowboy in the film and is in the attempt of being arrested. Also, the women in this film are portrayed as objects and subjects throughout the film because one of the actresses is a prostitute and a pregnant woman. In contrast to other westerns that portray women, the women are nothing but weak and as a subject to the male gaze. Another more typical look at character depiction is how the Indians are portrayed as the villains or enemies in the film. Just like most, this also makes a nod toward most films depicting that characters of color or non-white Americans are typically known as the villains or enemies.
Regarding the film’s narrative design, we are first introduced to a group of strangers that board a stagecoach to New Mexico. We follow these characters all throughout the film and notice how different they are. Also, what is unique is that we pursue each of their individual traits as the film progresses and witness all their goals in the film. They represent different social classes, like a pregnant wife going to see her husband (Louise Platt), a prostitute (Claire Trevor), an alcoholic doctor (Thomas Mitchell) and a whiskey salesman (Donald Meek). As they all had their own conflicts and actions, they all did accomplish everything except for two characters. A way Ford directed the film to make the characters more in an objective shot than other directors of the time like Alfred Hitchcock, who mainly shot in subjective point of view (Gallagher’s Dreaming of Jeannie [2010]). What Hitchcock shot in his films like Sabotage (1936) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) his female characters were more up close. In contrast to John Ford where his characters full body is shown instead of just the face.
The viewpoint of this film is communicated visually by a frame within the larger frame. There are shots looking through doors, through windows, gates, porches and canopies bringing both inside and outside into a juxtaposition (Budd, 62). What this defines is that during this film that John Ford shoots a lot throughout this film through openings of various things that are through openings from the outside. He probably did this to give us the interpretation of safety within the insides of the stagecoach or the houses that they stay at. Where the outside world is viewed as a dangerous and sinister place to avoid, compared to the inside where it is safe. Another thing that this film marks the journey from Tonto to Lordsburg with images of gates and fences which separate the safety of the towns and way stations from the open desert where the stagecoach is vulnerable to Indian attacks (Budd, 63). For purposely shot these gates and fences that are purposely shot very low compared to doorways to show that once the stagecoach has left, the characters are in the middle of the open desert and are prone to the possibility of an Indian attack. The gates and fences try to act like they are a form of protection as doorways and the town but it is almost a comparison saying it is no good (Gallagher’s Dreaming of Jeannie [2010]).
Throughout his earlier career John Ford has made many westerns up to this film and shown great examples of the western genre. Through the setting in where it is filmed at and the surrounding environments. Also, the character depiction obviously gives it away that this film is a typical western film with the depiction and traits of each of the characters. He has also great depictions of imagery to show us almost the danger that the characters are in for during the film. As mentioned before Ford has shown a great example of auteur and genre through setting and character depiction. These approaches show great examples of his work of Stagecoach.
Works Cited
Budd, Michael. “A Home in the Wilderness: Visual Imagery in John Ford’s Westerns.” Cinema Journal, vol. 16, no. 1, 1976, pp. 62-75. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1225450.
Lewis, Jon. Essential Cinema: An Introduction to Film Analysis. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2014.
Saxton, Christine. “What Can You See in a Movie.” Discourse, vol. 3, 1981, pp. 26–44. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41371587.
Stagecoach. Dir. John Ford. Walter Wagner Productions, 1939. Film