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Summary: This dissertation demonstrates John Ford’s use of images from a wide range of sources in many of his films. In particular, it examines Ford’s use of images based on the conventions of American genre painting and the paintings of western artists Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, particularly in his so-called “cavalry” films. No previous work has recognized this connection between film and popular culture, which is documented here using art historical methods of iconography and the study of influence.
This way of looking at Fort Apache takes in a number of scenes already linked to western imagery, including the march ((Reference)), the cavalry charge ((Reference)), and Russell-like knoll compositions ((Reference)), but none of "what it was like at a Cavalry post." Ford presents the daily life of Fort Apache in a series of introductions. Philadelphia is introduced to the West and to the life of an army wife (Figure 1); Michael introduces himself to Colonel Thursday (Figure 2), and is in turn introduced to Phil (Figure 3); Thursday introduces himself to the post and his fellow officers (Figure 4); Michael is introduced to the privileges and duties of an officer; a group of recruits, in a comic scene, is introduced to the rigors of army drill and to their horses. The visual significance of these introductions to daily life at Fort Apache is that many of them take place in hearth-like settings. Four are especially prominent, Ma Breen's, Thursday's quarters, the O'Rourke's, and the Collingwood's.
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This work is licensed by William Howze under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 3.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.
Last edited by Jared Adler on Sep 2, 2011 10:50 am -0500.
