auteur theory

created by Jet-Poop

(idea) by Jet-Poop (1.8 hr) (print) ? (I like it!) 3 C!s Wed Oct 18 2000 at 5:46:24

A film theory in which the director of a film is considered to be its primary creative force. Derived from the French word for "author", auteurism got its start in the French cinema journal "Cahiers du Cinema", which promoted various directors as true authors of film--much as we'd talk about "Charles Dickens' 'David Copperfield'" or "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony", Cahiers favored talking about "Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rear Window'" or "Orson Welles' 'Citizen Kane'".

Film critic Andrew Sarris refined the theory by ranking a number of directors and setting down some principles he believed would define all auteurs. First, he said that an auteur must be technically competent. Second, he said that an auteur's personality will manifest itself in his films through recurring stylistic traits. Finally, Sarris said that aspects of an auteur's personality may seep into his films--these are often not noticed until a number of the director's films are studied. For example, Hitchcock's fondness for suspense and mistaken identities is obvious with even a cursory examination of his movies; his fascination and repressed hostility toward blondes isn't that obvious until you've seen them repeatedly threatened, attacked, and killed in his movies...

Some directors are more clearly auteurs than others: it's very easy to see the trademarks inherent in movies by Quentin Tarantino, John Ford, Woody Allen, John Waters, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, or James Cameron, for instance. Others who one might be tempted to think of as auteurs don't seem to fit the criteria: Ron Howard has enjoyed great commercial and critical success as a director, but there is no trademark "look" of a Ron Howard film, and while there is a definite "look" to a movie by Ed Wood, Jr., the bit about technical competence rules him out. And critical acclaim is not a requirement for being considered an auteur--Roger Corman and Russ Meyer will probably never receive Oscars, but they definitely fit all the requirements to be considered auteurs.

Of course, the auteur theory is not universally accepted--even some of its proponents don't fully agree with it. One of the biggest problems with the theory is that it credits more importance to the director's contribution than any others, including the writer, the producer, the stars, or even the studio--face it, a movie produced by Steven Spielberg looks a lot like a movie directed by Steven Spielberg; there's no way a Troma movie is ever gonna look like anything other than a Troma movie; and what's important about "Duck Soup"--director Leo McCarey or the Marx Brothers? The auteur theory also doesn't stand up well with collaborative efforts: did "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" owe its success to director Robert Zemeckis or to animation director Richard Williams?

printable version
chaos

Cahiers du Cinema	Orson Welles	Tim Burton	Fran�ois Truffaut
Troma	Quentin Tarantino	Ron Howard	The (impending) death of good science fiction and fantasy television
Robert Zemeckis	The Lusty Men	Alfred Hitchcock	Nouvelle Vague
John Ford	sex	auteur	Sound in film
Dogme 95	Andrew Sarris	Roger Corman	Director
Russ Meyer	Steven Spielberg	Citizen Kane	Easy Rider

Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.

Login
Password

remember me
password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Things you could have written:
The Strong Programme
Mohawk
Cigarettes are quasi-community property
REMFS
Campaign finance reform
Our eyes reflect the light of dead suns
Star Trek Episodes
I come to you, defenses down
Waking Life
Coca-Cola
Why alcohol is legal and pot is not
coming out
An afternoon in Jamaica

Heitah
Why I love Everything2	(person)
trixingee
Dungeon Mastering for the first time	(idea)
Netrat0
It's Called Subtext, Honey	(person)
eyeofthebeholder
The Dragon	(idea)
Heitah
consist, comprise, constitute, or compose	(idea)
Meezzio
Gotlandssnus	(thing)
argv
Astral Plane	(idea)
Madara
One Winged Angel	(fiction)
Tom Rook
Talk is cheap	(poetry)
shaogo
Adelle Davis	(person)
Aerobe
race car g sfjsgsd	(poetry)
Binah
Dream Log: July 5, 2008	(dream)
StrawberryFrog
Forgotten things in space	(idea)
antigravpussy
velvet revolution fairy tale	(idea)
Heitah
Nerve agent VX	(thing)

This page courtesy of The Everything Development Company