The western genre film, besides having the two opposing forces of good and evil, often contains a third party character, a character I refer to as the enigma westerner. The enigma westerner is a character who is often torn in two by the devices of evil and the benefits of goodness. He typically sways this way and that throughout the film, never fully deciding which side of the coin his allegiance lies, until, finally, at the film's climax, the enigma westerner sides with the forces of good, thus ensuring their mutual triumph over evil. My argument surrounding the enigma westerner is this; the character that falls under this categorization makes the film more human and more accessible to the average person, to society in general. The average person, realistically, does not see themselves in a light of absolute purity and goodness nor as the embodiment of absolute evil. The reality is that the average person finds themselves in the large grey area in between the distinctions of absolute evil and absolute goodness. The enigma westerner, much like the majority of society, falls in this same grey area. Using the films My Darling Clementine (1946) and The Searchers (1956) and their enigma westerners, Doc Holliday and Ethan Edwards, respectively, I hope to demonstrate how the enigma westerner is reflective of general society, more so than the forces of absolute good or evil. I also contend that the enigma westerner serves as a bridge to the gap between the idealistic hero of the film and the regular, everyday people who would see this film. .
The enigma westerner in My Darling Clementine is embodied in the character of Doc Holliday. The film, though its dialogue, tells its viewers that Doc Holliday has a reputation in Tombstone as a gambler and gunslinger. In fact, the film refers to Tombstone as his town, through Chihuahua's words. Throughout the film, Doc Holliday's moral character is portrayed as questionable, be it by committing the ghastly, for the time, act of having an interracial relationship.
