“specific articulation of the auteurist attitude” (David 38). The theory can be applied to a director to define his body of work and to understand the form of art he can create. Andrew Sarris states “The auteur theory emphasizes the body of a director’s work rather than isolated masterpieces, it is expected of great directors that they make great films every so often” (563). A director can only be defined as an auteur if he excels in the three main aspects described by Sarris. He states…
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Analysis of Auteur Theory At first glance, “auteur” theory is a simple concept. The translation of this French term is “author” and essentially this is what we refer to in auteur theory. However, this concept in fact reaches far deeper than this. A description which comes from U.S film critic Andrew Sarris reads: “The strong director imposes his own personality on a film; the weak director allows the personalities of others to run rampant.” This means that the film maker leaves his…
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The Auteur-antasies of Truffaut and Sarris French Cinema went through a dark and grim period during World War II. The country managed to lose some of its brightest filmmakers and critics, like Jean Renoir and Rene Clair, to America, and for those who did stay in Europe, they continued to write in a rather politically-perturbed and muffled state. This foggy period rests on the collaborative efforts between the French film industry and the Nazi regime. Despite this, the occupational…
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Auteur Theory is based on three premises, the first being technique, the second being personal style, and the third being interior meaning. Furthermore, there is no specific order in which these three aspects must be presented or weighted with regard to a film. An Auteur must give films a distinctive quality thus exerting a personal creative vision and interjecting it into the his or her films. Kubrick made his first film in 1953 and has continued to make films till his death shortly after…
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an Auteur: Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey The 1960’s was a time of cinematic evolution. During this time period cinema history changed due to the incorporation of the auteur theory, a consciousness that a single director can be credited with the creative and distinguishing features of a film. Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey both attain many of the thematic and formal attributes that distinguish Kubrick apart from other directors of the 1960’s. As an auteur, his films incorporate…
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“was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. It was around 1920 when Hitchcock joined the film industry. He started off drawing the sets. Hitchcock was a master of pure cinema who almost never failed to reconcile aesthetics with the demands of the box-office. He directed an adaptation of 'Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1940). After Saboteur (1942), as his fame as a director grew, film companies began to refer to his films as Alfred Hitchcock for example Alfred Hitcock's Psycho (1960), Alfred Hitchcock's Family…
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What is the `auteur theory’? Illustrate your answer with reference to at least three films by Alfred Hitchcock. ‘There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it’ Alfred Hitchcock The auteur theory began to develop in the 1950s it started with the writers of Cahiers du Cinema including Francois Truffaut who began to discuss that the directors personal vision within films, they should instead go beyond and express their individuality in response to the industrialised conveyer…
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1. How do any one of the films screened in weeks 6-12 of the course represent and/or foreground authorship? Dating back to the 1920’s, the term ‘auteur’ was debated over, claiming to describe an “author of script and film-maker as one and the same” versus the view of scripts being appointed from authors or scriptwriters (1996, p12). Over the [course of 50 or so odd] years,. Known for his distinctive brand of comedy, the work of Blake Edwards, demonstrates the authorial stamp that is often referred…
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The Big Sleep (Howard Hawk 1946) In this essay I am going to attempt to say why the Auteur Theory has more utility in explaining the meaning of Howard Hawks film than genre theory. I’ve watched this movie three times now, and still can’t fully understand the plot. There are great scenes here that are a lot of fun to watch on their own, but when you look at them all put together, The Big Sleep starts to look more like an unsolvable problem to be solved than it does a piece of entertainment. After…
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Spike Lee has always been one of the many directors who in always wanted to keep his or her audience socially aware. Spike Lee is an American filmmaker, producer, writer, and actor. He is most known for his films such as: Malcolm X, She’s Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing and School Daze which made Lee famous, making him one of the most, if not the most, important Black filmmakers of today. Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved…
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