After a brief discussion on auteur theory, we watched another Miike film: Sukiyaki Western Django.  Certainly not a fan favorite, but very much an intriguing idea. Here are the links to some readings on auteur theory. Andrew Sarris – Notes on the Auteur Theory Peter Wollen – The Auteur Theory François Truffaut – Une Certaine Tendance of Cinema Francaise Auteur Theory auteur – usually always a director one who brings to a film signs of their own individuality (perhaps in way narrative is constructed, way certain themes are explored, or visual style) not all directors are auteurs

able to function as main creative force & controlling presence metteur en scène – director who ‘merely’ brings competence to specialist role of directing within production over which they have no overall artistic control

raise up to auteur – rise above “restraints” of formulaic genre film-making auteur theory made 2 fundamental contributions

encourage serious study of popular Hollywood cinema demanded a close analysis of mise-en-scène as principle site where auteur identity could be extracted

auteur study is a construct of criticism problems

problems of “authoring” a film because it involves many creative people directors whose work did not reveal marks of essential underlying personal force were relegated to metteur en scène – and work relegated to them evaluation of film in terms of whether or not it possessed auteurist identity (bad film by auteur was better than great film by non-auteur) auteur theory diminished strengths & achievements of industrial production process rather than broadening film study, led to debates on who was & who wasn’t an auteur

“sign” of a director can carry success auteur sign signifies set of stylistic & thematic features to be found in film itself, thus more specific early auteur theory was connected with personal characteristics & biographical details of auteur (auteur-as-person) late 1960’s it shifted toward auteur-as-structure

still has names (Hitchcock films) but only to understand group of films move from Hitchcock the biological author to Hitchcock a critical construct that unites a series of texts biographical still important to confirm observations & “presence”

because of many individual contributions, i.e. music, writing; the idea of auteur becomes the combining force & the catalysts for the individual parts leaves room for auteur as individual (final determining creative force) & as combining force in “new” Hollywood, defining auteur is difficult if even possible – auteur names are thrown around as labeling for cataloging & marketing (a film by James Cameron) other kinds of auteurs

studios – a particular house style | Warner Bros. in 1930’s producer – certain visions in each work | Jerry Bruckheimer star – takes over film, a “star” signature | Kevin Costner, Johnny Depp spectator – meaning is only created in act of reading – an encoded message (text)

remains only as potential meaning until it’s decoded by a reader (or spectator) different readers come to a text with own specific social, cultural, & psychological formations as individuals text is “authored” by the reader rather than by text’s originator

auteur based critical approach

auteur director regarded as “persona” his role must be excavated through critical analysis emphasis on biographical is common need to have available generic structure of auteur to evaluate film to even if spectator ignorant of auteur structure, simple power of naming remains significant

power of name recognition name as trademark or guarantee name-tag commodity (Spielberg)

auteur study attempts to establish set of thematic & stylistic features (a signified) for the auteur name (the signifier)

more so done by auteur who quite consciously puts in place components of an identity which his name can then be said to signify

today, director of strives self-consciously to construct recognizable auteur identity to confirm commercial & critical existence of name they bear

real challenge is examining work of directors whose work is so varied we are tempted to artificially limit range & scope of work for purpose of critical neatness

such as developing a check list to apply to all films of specific director

auteur structure doesn’t offer itself as schema for audience to work with although additional layers of meaning & response can emerge when a body of films which have shared auteur origins Final Exam Review Your final exam will consist of answering 5 of 8 essay questions each worth 20 points for a total of 100 points.  Good luck and I will see you Wednesday for the exam!