LGS Blog
Philosophical Screens: ‘Lonesome Cowboy’: Pierre Lauret on The Searchers
In the latest in our series exploring film through a philosophical lens, Pierre Lauret considers the troubling absence of ‘home’ in John Ford’s Western masterpiece.
May 20, 2013 6:20 PM
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USA 1956
Directed by John Ford
With John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood
Running time 119 mins
In the latest in our series exploring film through a philosophical lens, Pierre Lauret (Professor of Philosophy at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris) presents a screening of The Searchers, and then considers the troubling absence of ‘home’ in John Ford’s Western masterpiece through an insightful talk. Lauret identifies a void at the heart of this tale of a Civil War veteran doggedly hunting the Comanches who have kidnapped his niece: where will he return with her upon victory? The Comanches have burnt her home out, and have killed the rest of the family. The hero who protects the family and the community, has no family and no community, just like his charge. He must, in the end, return to the desert, as Ulysses returns to the land of the dead.
The screening will be followed by a talk and in-depth discussion. Presented with the London Graduate School and the College International de Philosophie.
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