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Auteur theory analysis
Two objections against auteur theory
Auteur theory paper
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In film studies, auteur theory amounts to a claim that the director of a film, despite the myriad talents that go into creating it, is in some sense the film’s primary author (Leblanc 19). For cinemaphiles devoted to the work of Hitchcock, Kurosawa, or the Cohen brothers, this claim feels both natural and obvious, given what they perceive as the common formalistic, stylistic and thematic elements in the films attributed to any given director. For film theorists, auteur theory similarly provides a convenient conceptual framework with which to parse and analyze these elements between films (as opposed to within the same film). For the average movie-goer the attribution of a film to a director may provide a helpful variable in the complex calculus of what film to spend their next $15 on. Yet to what extent does auteur theory accurately describe either the actual process of filmmaking or the final result? Does the director’s contribution to a film pervade and determine it so completely that she should be considered its author? William Goldman, veteran Hollywood screenwriter, answers this last question with a resounding “no.” Goldman believes that, at least for Hollywood-produced films, the prevalence of auteur theory in both commercial and academic discussions of films, marginalizes the work and talent of the countless other contributors to a film, and even degrades the director. Goldman views the attributional bias of auteur theory as a pernicious convenience that arose naturally and understandably from the realities of film production and distribution, but a convenience that inaccurately describes both films and the process of film production.
Goldman, notoriously candid about the mechanics behind filmmaking, directing and screenwri...
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Barthes, Roland. "The Death of the Author." Image Music-Text. Ed. and trans. Stephen Heath. New York: Hill & Wang, 1977. Print.
Bazin, André. "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema." What is Cinema? Vol. 1. Ed. and trans. Hugh Gray. Berkeley: U of California P, 2005. Print.
Gerstner, David, and Janet Staiger, eds. Authorship and Film. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Goldman, William. Adventures in the Screen Trade. Hachette Digital, Inc., 2012. Print.
Goldman, William. Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade. Random House LLC, 2013. Print.
LeBlanc, Julie M.-A. “Film Theory and Criticism.” Ethnologies (2007): n. pag. www.highbeam.com. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Lieberman, Evan, and Kerry Hegarty. “Authors of the Image: Cinematographers Gabriel Figueroa and Gregg Toland.” Journal of Film and Video (2010): n. pag. www.highbeam.com. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
In the film industry, there are directors who merely take someone else’s vision and express it in their own way on film, then there are those who take their own visions and use any means necessary to express their visions on film. The latter of these two types of directors are called auteurs. Not only do auteurs write the scripts from elements that they know and love in life, but they direct, produce, and sometimes act in their films as well. Three prime examples of these auteurs are: Kevin Smith, Spike Lee and Alfred Hitchcock.
The auteur theory is a view on filmmaking that consists of three equally important premises: technical competence, interior meaning, and personal signature of the director. Auteur is a French word for author. The auteur theory was developed by Andrew Sarris, a well-known American film critic. Technical competence of the Auteur deals with how the director films the movie in their own style. Personal signature includes recurring themes that are present within the director’s line of work with characteristics of style, which serve as a signature. The third and ultimate premise of the Auteur theory is the interior meaning which is basically the main theme behind the film.
Petrie, Dennis and Boggs, Joseph. The Art of Watching Films. New York: McGraw Hill, 2012.
Bordwell David and Thompson, Kristen. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
John Gibbs and Douglas Pye (2005) Style and meaning : studies in the detailed analysis of film. Engalnd: Manchester University Press, pp 42-52.
Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.
Small, Pauline. (2005) New Cinemas: journal of Contemporary Film Volume 3, Queen Mary, University of London
Think about your favorite movie. When watching that movie, was there anything about the style of the movie that makes it your favorite? Have you ever thought about why that movie is just so darn good? The answer is because of the the Auteur. An Auteur is the artists behind the movie. They have and individual style and control over all elements of production, which make their movies exclusively unique. If you could put a finger on who the director of a movie is without even seeing the whole film, then the person that made the movie is most likely an auteur director. They have a unique stamp on each of their movies. This essay will be covering Martin Scorsese, you will soon find out that he is one of the best auteur directors in the film industry. This paper will include, but is not limited to two of his movies, Good Fellas, and The Wolf of Wall Street. We will also cover the details on what makes Martin Scorsese's movies unique, such as the common themes, recurring motifs, and filming practices found in their work. Then on
Williams, Linda. "Film Bodies: Genre, Gender and Excess." Braudy and Cohen (1991 / 2004): 727-41. Print.
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universally understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films; Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films; Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society using sound and editing.
Barsam, Richard. Looking at Movies An Introduction to Film, Second Edition (Set with DVD). New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. Print.
Cinema studies: the key concepts (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. 2007. Lacey, N. (2005). The 'Standard'. Film Language.
Barsam, R. M., Monahan, D., & Gocsik, K. M. (2012). Looking at movies: an introduction to film (4th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co..
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.