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Auteur Theory

Auteur Theory. Daniel Taylor. Origins. Began in France in the 1950’s. Concept originated from the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma . Francois Truffaut, Andre Bazin , and Alexandre Astruc introduced it to praise directors like Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, and Jean Renoir.

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Auteur Theory

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  1. Auteur Theory Daniel Taylor

  2. Origins • Began in France in the 1950’s. • Concept originated from the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. • Francois Truffaut, Andre Bazin, and AlexandreAstruc introduced it to praise directors like Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, and Jean Renoir. • Truffaut was a film critic and well-known director. • The idea was that an auteur would wield the camera and the other filmmaking tools like an author wields a pens: with complete creative control. • These critics championed directors that worked outside the confines of studio interference and were complete artists.

  3. Foundation • The basis of auteur theory is that one person is the principal creative visionary behind the work that is produced. • The theory was initially applied to film, but recently is also applied to television. • In television the auteur is not necessarily a director. • Could be producer or writer or show runner.

  4. Auteur Style • An auteur’s work will show similarities throughout their career. • Different projects will have a similar style, perhaps: use of lighting, cinematography, editing techniques, and stylistic choices like slow motion or musical motifs. • They may use similar actors or other collaborators. • They may work in similar genres, in film: John Ford made westerns, Hitchcock made thrillers, and Preston Sturges made comedies. • The pieces may also have a similar tone that reflects the personality of the auteur.

  5. Example: David Fincher Seven (1996) Zodiac (2007)

  6. Fincher cont… The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) The Social Network (2010)

  7. Finding Meaning • The work of an auteur relates how they see the world. • Thematically and aesthetically. • Pessimism or optimism. • Religious, political, or cultural ideologies. • Relates something about the artists history: childhood/ upbringing, influences, and interests. • The study of auteur theory is essentially the study of a person. • How their work connects to them personally and the world that they live in. • One can trace these nuances throughout an auteur’s career.

  8. Significance • Makes room for something: different, innovative, subversive, revolutionary, or satirical. • Auteurs don’t necessarily just give the people what they want but challenge an audience with something perplexing. • In media, true creativity comes out of doing something against the norm and against expectations. • Since auteurs are given liberty to create free of criteria or stipulations there creative output is far more original.

  9. Example: Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David • Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. • Biting Subversion. • Contrasts normal half-hour sitcoms. • Off-color with crueler characters and humor. • Seinfeld: revolutionary.

  10. Example: J.J. Abrams • Mostly action/adventure genre. • Alias, Lost, Fringe. • Films: Cloverfield, Star Trek • Writer, Director, Producer, and Composer. • Lost was revolutionary as far as production scope and complexity of story is concerned.

  11. Example: Terence Winter • The Soprano’s, Deadwood, and Boardwalk Empire. • Similar mature themes. • The business and personal lives of criminals. • How the two interact. • Soprano’s changed television and sky rocketed HBO. • Head writer, producer of Boardwalk Empire.

  12. Example: Aaron Sorkin • Head writer: Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and The West Wing. • “Walk and Talk.” • Large ensemble casts. • Hierarchy of power and power struggles. • Personal issues such as drug use show up in his work.

  13. Example: Rob McElhenney • It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. • Creator, Developer, Writer, and Star. • His wife plays Dee. • Best friends play Charlie and Dennis. • Use of improvisation and location shooting. • Slightly crude and risque.

  14. Abstract Concept • What is a true auteur? • Does an auteur have to write, direct, produce, star, and compose like: Chaplin, Keaton, or Renoir. • When the creators of the idea came up with it they weren’t even sure. • There are differing thoughts on who is/was a pure auteur. • Do they even exist anymore or has studio control gotten too powerful for anyone to create completely independent of it? • In television, is the battle for ratings too intense for auteurs to make art purely for art’s sake, like they once could? • What do you think?

  15. Works Cited • Stam, Robert. Film Theory: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell, New York. 2000. Pg. 6 and 7. • Wexman, Virginia Right. Film and Authorship. Rutgers University Press, New Jersey. 2003. Pg. 21 • Kinn, Gail, and Jim Piazza. Four Stars Movies: the 101 Greatest Films of All Time. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2004. Print. • O'Donnell, Victoria. Television Criticism. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2007. Print. • Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History: an Introduction. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010. Print.

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