Class #4 cont.: Auteur theory

So, who, or what, is the auteur?

The 3 main criteria for an auteur is as follows:

1. Technical competence
2. Distinguishing personality of the director: signature style
3. Internal vision: rather ambiguous, but refers to the tension between the personality of the director and the material

These three criteria can also represent different levels of a film director’s ability- technician, stylist, and auteur.

A director can move up and down this scale over the course of her/his career; in the end, it all comes down to the directing process and the result of this process. How much of the director’s internal vision stays intact from its conception within the director’s mind through the camera and mise-en-scene, and finally to the screen? Of course, this then begs the question of whether the film is actually ever finished: the film evolves when it comes into contact with different audiences that interact with the material and give it new meaning.

Factors that should be considered in identifying a director as an auteur through his/her body of work-
1. Similarities in style (cinematography techniques including but not limited to color palette, camera movement, camera angles and so on)
2. Recurring themes, motifs, metaphors
3. Character types
4. Development & evolution throughout career

What’s easy to overlook is that auteur theory is indeed just a theory: it is not the absolute standard in judging or interpreting films. There is a lot of criticism regarding the theory- for example, what exactly is the ‘interior meaning’ or the ‘tension’ that the theory relies on? Even the originators of auteurism had trouble defining this factor. Others include-
1. Denying the influence of the studio during the heyday of studio films
2. “The Death of the Author” -Roland Barthes (Wikipedia):
Barthes argues that the product should be processed independently of the author: “To give a text an Author” and assign a single, corresponding interpretation to it is to impose a limit on that text.” We can never definitively know what the author intended, and relying on the personal characteristics of the author to argue for an interpretation restricts the full merit of the product.
3. The collaborative nature of filmmaking– what about the writers? Producers? Actors?  Hundreds of people work on a film, yet the auteur theory implies that all decisions and work is solely the director’s.
4. Then are all directors auteurs? Should all directors be auteurs?
5. Reduces the films of non-auteurs

Well known auteurs include Martin Scorsese, Stephen Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and much more. Again, because the definition is rather ambiguous, any ‘collective’ list of auteurs is at least a little biased.

And this concludes the initial theory part of the Drama, Film and Society class. Now, the semester-long assignment is to 1. use the basic cinematography vocabulary and mise-en-scene analysis to 2. analyze the individual works of Wes Anderson and finally 3. identify whether Wes Anderson is an auteur or not. After Wes Anderson, our class will be watching the films of Charlie Kaufman and undergoing a similar process.

Wes Anderson (Wikipedia)’s Films:
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Rushmore (1998)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
The Budapest Hotel (TBA)

Charlie Kaufman (Wikipedia)’s Films:
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Human Nature (2001)
Adaptation (2002)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Kung Fu Panda (2011) – script revisor/ not part of class viewing list
Anomalisa (TBA)
Frank or Francis (TBA)

 

Class #4: (Brief) History of the Auteur Theory

I’ve been trying to write an opening paragraph befitting of the majesty that is the auteur theory, but none of them seem quite right. Maybe it’s the writer’s block from all those college essays acting up, but for whatever reason I can’t seem to find the right words to string together. Which is frustrating, because the auteur theory is really the culmination of all the subjects that we discussed in prior classes, and I wanted this post to be really good, really meaningful as the last ‘Cinematography and Theory’ post. Because after this post, it’s mainly going to be actual film discussions and reviews. And I’m really looking forward to writing them- I just really feel like I should finish this first.

Deep breath. I can do this. I will finish this before I go to bed today.

Okay, so the auteur theory basically emphasizes the director’s role as the ‘author’ of the film. Auteur is a fancy French word for author- as it is with many things, the French have a way of making the same thing sound de qualité supérieure and plus intelligent. See what I mean?

Auteur theory originated in France, with the French New Wave. Andre Bazin provided a forum for the idea to develop in Cahiers du Cinema, a film magazine he co-founded. Supporters of the auteur theory argue that the final product is a realization of the director’s personal vision- Alexandre Astruc introduced the idea of ‘le camera stylo,’ or the camera-pen. Directors wield the camera as writers do pens to ‘guard against the hindrances of traditional storytelling.’ Later, Truffaut developed the theory when he argued that the best directors have an authorial handprint that runs through their whole body of work-distinctive stylistic choices and thematic concerns.

Though its origins lay in France, Auteur theory made a more lasting impression on American cinema. In fact, the name ‘auteur theory’ was coined by the British film critic Andrew Sarris in 1962- Sarris later published the acclaimed The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929–1968.

At the same time, the New Hollywood Movement was taking place on the other side of the pond; the studio system (ironically, the system that produced films that inspired Truffaut’s support for the auteur theory) was failing, and more power was starting to be levied towards emerging writer-directors. The Hayes Code that had been censoring on-screen material was banished, and directors found more power to create the violent, boundary-pushing films that 70’s directors are associated with.

This lecture from a University of Nebraska-Lincoln film studies class manages to clearly sum up the history of auteurism with great examples in just 2 minutes and 44 seconds-

Also, in addition to class, these articles were particularly helpful in understanding the emergence of auteurism-
1. Wikipedia article on Auteur Theory (of course)
2. Slate article on the history of auteurism and ‘The Singer or the Song?: Author as Production Worker’
3. Film Reference
4. Andrew Sarris’ Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962