Sample Response to Homework Assignment 1:  The Autuer Theory

Question

The writer is responding to questions about the auteur theory and the types of arguments it allows and forecloses. 

Response

One critical assessment some film critics apply when writing their reviews is the auteur theory, which was developed by a group of critics who wrote for Cahiers du Cinema, a leading film magazine in the industry.  Auteur theory, defined by Corrigan, comes into play as “it identifies and examines a movie by associating it with a director or occasionally with another dominant figure, the movie star.”(p.84) Some critics believe that there is a unified style that each film maker identifies with, certain common themes or stylistic traits that carries throughout their professional career rather than isolated masterpieces.  The filmmakers are identified as the “personality” of their work.  The fact that they are the vision behind the film production, they are deemed as the author of the film.  As the auteur theory mature and extended its studies into American cinema, it recognizes great directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and his unique way of adding “personality” to his work-of-arts.

The Lady Vanishes and North by Northwest are two films fabricated by Hitchcock.  Although they are accomplished at different periods of his career, certain similar themes or use of certain provision can be seen these films.    In both movies, the main heroic character is in search for a missing entity.  In the beginning of the films, there were no apparent reasons for their disappearance; however, these missing characters’ relationship to the main characters leads the heroes to conquest their pursuit.  Certain moving transportation, like the train used in both movies, transports the characters through various events in the film.  In The Lady Vanishes, the train that carries Iris and Gilbert in their search for the missing Ms. Froy brings them to a dangerous meeting place where guns were flaring between the train cart and the secret agents out in the woods.  The train also carries the characters to a place of safety and of romance.  The same theme can be found in North by Northwest.  Roger Thornhill was in search of a character named George Kaplan and in the film, Roger hops onto a train that brings him to a dangerous meeting where he attempts to crack the mystery. And the train also turns out to be the vehicle that bring Roger to his happiness and discovering romance with another character in the film. The use of effect before cause is a repeated technique practiced by Hitchcock.  He has the tendency to build up a mystery, an event that happens at the beginning of the film, without giving a single clue to the audience or the characters as to why the event took place.  The causality of the event will eventually unfold as the film progresses.  And just when the story line seem to get wearisome, another suspense / plot will come up to keep the audience in their seats.

There are definitely drawbacks to the auteur theory because arguments can be made against the authorship of the director.  A lot of background work goes into the making of a final production.  The cinematography: music, lighting, costume, background…etc., and the editing that goes on after the filming has been complete is not all accomplished by the single director.  Plenty of staff and their own creative ideas flow into the film.  Although the director is the ultimate dictator, he needs to rely on the professionalism that his production staff brings to the set.  It is simply impossible for a single director to be an expert at every single aspect of the filmmaking.  There is not a defined set of rules to follow in the theory that can prescribe what makes a film a good film or a bad one.  The audience builds different critiques through their viewing experience due to the difference in their time and place.  The auteur theory is not to be taken as the ultimate standard and control to the critiques of a film.  Individual films should be viewed without discrimination.  The auteur theory is only a way of decoding a film, the technique practiced behind it, not one to place the importance of value when judging the film.