SO YOU WANNA BE A FILM NERD EPISODE 4: auteur theory

“I liked almost anybody that made you realize who the devil was making the picture." - Howard Hawks

"Goethe? Shakespeare? Everything they put their name to is supposed to be good, and people rack their brains to find beauty in the silliest little thing they bungled. All great talents, like Goethe, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Michelangelo, created not only beautiful works, but things that were less than mediocre, quite simply awful." - Leo Tolstoy

“The evolution of Western art towards greater personalization should definitely be considered as a step forward, as a refinement of culture, but only as long as this individualization remains only a final perfection and does not claim to define culture. Were one to attribute to creative man, in the face of all psychological probability, an unflagging richness of inspiration, one would have to admit that this inspiration always comes up against a whole complex of particular circumstances which make the result, in the cinema, a thousand times more chancy than in painting or in literature."

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“The politique des auteurs consists, in short, of choosing the personal factor in artistic creation as a standard of reference, and then assuming that it continues and even progresses from one film to the next. It is recognized that there do exist certain important films of quality that escape this test, but these will systematically be considered inferior to those in which the personal stamp of the auteur, however run-of-the-mill the scenario, can be perceived even minutely." - Andre Bazin

"Maurice Nadeau wrote in an article in the newspaper Combat: 'If Descartes lived today, he would write novels.' With all due respect to Nadeau, a Descartes of today would already have shut himself up in his bedroom with a 16mm camera and some film, and would be writing his philosophy on film: for his Discours de la Methods would today be of such a kind that only the cinema could express it satisfactorily.” - Astruc

This episode is definitely both more political and more academic than any of the previous ones (and it has me struggling with more French words- apologies for my pronunciation, haha). I tried to do as much service as I could to both sides of the argument. Honestly, in making this I came out way less supportive of the theory than I was going in. I feel like in my previous readings and classes I took that auteur theory is just sort of taken for granted and isn't really challenged, which is a problem.

With regard to the political stuff towards the end of the video, I debated for ages on whether to keep it in. I figured it was better to risk controversy than to not give my full, honest opinion. This is a very personal webseries and I have more fun giving a sincere and open view rather than straining to be objective. I can't really be objective being both a woman an an editor, someone not nearly as valued as a male director would be by Sarris if you go by Kael's assessment. I also know (before anyone points it out, haha) that the majority of directors (or at least Euro and Hollywood ones) are white and male, but that's a problem the industry has as well (the percentage of female film school graduates versus the percentage of women employed in the industry, now, in 2015, is alarming). And I know Cahiers and whoever praised other PoC directors like Satyajit Ray, but I was trying to express fundamentally that A) gatekeepers deciding who auteurs are are going to make decisions on their own preferences and experiences, which are going to be limited and B) you should look outside of what auteur critics have written and try to experience as much of the world's cinema as you can.

Also in retrospect I could have covered more about the British magazine Movie, but I know almost nothing about it and this episode is already super dense and long.

Anyway!! Links of interest-

From the pieces i mentioned, here are the ones I found for free online-

Quotes on the Auteur Theory:

Sarris obituary

What happened when Wes Anderson screened Rushmore for Kael

The ridiculous/incredible video I stole part of for the end of the episode

[cortisolsoup]

i’m making my way through this series this morning- and just wanted to pop up and say that I really appreciate how you format your video descriptions! The quotes were a really nice surprise to find, and your bibliography looks top-notch as well (though i haven’t tried to click through yet lol)

I’m really enjoying the series so far! feeling smart, feeling…..Artful 😎

[karlkarlos]

Pauline Kael was such a witch. She is dearly missed this days.

[georginaswinford]

This video has been so helpful for my assignment looking at critiques of auteur theory - thank you! 😊 🙏

[tvsonicserbia]

Another important aspect most people forget is that before auteur theory, (in Hollywood) the author of the films was usually considered to be the producer, the director's role was primarily to sit with actors on the set and "direct" them, whereas the producers job was to oversee all the aspects, from the script to sound and other things, he's the one who choose the director too after all, you can see this most clearly even in modern animated films, because the only thing a regular director would NEED to do is direct the voice actors, which is a smaller part of the film than live actors and you also have a director of animation etc.
After the popularity of auteur theory and like New Hollywood it seems like things flipped, but in reality most directors considered auteurs are also their own producers(one of at least), which is precisely how they manage to leave their own touch.

[StevesieB]

These videos are fantastic! I hope you can make more!

[CatMoca]

I think that mentioning the Eurocentricity, the sexism and the racism (oh and their intersections) is absolutely necessary so you don’t have to feel bad about mentioning it (this is based on your description) To be honest, I never felt that film could be for me because I always got recommended these movies that exclude me — a black, East African, Muslim woman. I have just recently started gaining an interest through Ramos’ and Zhou’s channel Every Frame a Painting because they talked about Asian cinema (which isn’t white and Eurocentric). It is absolutely key to mention the gate keeping because it keeps great works and potentially passionate audiences out of the loop. Only people already included in the system can afford not to be political about this. So yes! Very needed

[pottedaloe]

Oh God, Werner Herzog is such a legend, that "it's not a significant bullet" quote is like my favorite true story of a person still alive today. He got shot in the abdomen and just shrugged it off!!!

[visionaryventures]

I suspect a film has several auteurs: the photography director, screenwriter and other directors under the film director. It’s a collaboration of styles. The director (or producer?) chooses which auteurs he will work with.

[panicpillow]

I really like this video structure, you give some general theory, your own perspective, some general criticisms and all of this with what seems to be genuine enthusiasm. Personally directors are somewhat like authors of books to me, they function as an indication of what I might like. Three enjoyable movies of the same director will make me interested in his/her future and past work. However, like with authors, I tend to take the same stance Foucault explained in his 'What is an author', that is that authors are unable to present their actual thoughts in their work, but instead make certain interpretations more likely and other less likely. However, the author isn't sitting next to me, telling me how I should read his/her book and why s/he chose certain words, nor does the director, the editor or the screenplay writer sit next to me in the cinema to explain where I should be looking and how I should interpret it.

[oludascribe]

Hey Shannon, another nice video. Keep em coming .

[LewisFarinellaFilmmaker]

Another great video essay Strucci! Looking forward to your next one :)

[killamagillagorilla]

Great video! I think you covered the material very well and concisely.

[agentstalker]

Yo, your voice is incredible and these videos are brilliant :)

[arturhilgenberg]

That's an interesting and informativ video essay. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Germany!

[CoelhoFDP]

Great vid, love your pace, congrats!

[haylin]

Do more videos, please. I love them a lot!!

[laurachia]

Knew this was going to be a good video as soon as I heard The Third Man music!

[MyloWorks]

Whats' the name of the background sound at 2:00 ?

[jas_bataille]

Pauline Kael is now my spirit animal. Also, this idea that certain work is "accidentally" great and other "accidentally" bad is just so nonsensical to me. It's not a fucking accident! Some people only reach great inspiration once in a lifetime, and some geniuses fall victim to their ego and produce mediocre work. If they can't comprehend this, then screw them. Nothing great is brought to life by accident, I think we can all agree with this; and I would go as far as to say that nothing mediocre either is brought to life by "accident". It's not accidental. Might be unconscious but not accidental. You can tell when it's gonna be bad or good. Anyone who ever been on a movie set know that there is NOTHING "accidental" about it... yet those fancy ass critiques never been on a movie set, but what do I know, right?!

[liamwalters]

I tend to agree on your interpretation: the concept of the auteur is valuable, but some of the baggage that it carries with it (ie. auteur theory) has issues.