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Definition of Auteur Theory and Genre Theory
Definition of Auteur Theory:
In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's
personal creative vision, as if they were the
primary "auteur" (the French word for
"author"). In spite of and sometimes even
because of the production of the film as
part of an industrial process, the auteur's
creative voice is distinct enough to shine
through studio interference and the
collective process.
In law, the film is treated as a work of art,
and the auteur, as the creator of the film, is
the original copyright holder. Under
European Union law, the film director is
considered the author or one of the authors
of a film, largely as a result of the influence
of auteur theory.
Auteur theory has influenced film criticism since 1954, when film director and
critic François Truffaut advocated it. This method of film analysis was
originally associated with the French New Wave and the film critics who wrote
for the French film review periodical Cahiers du Cinéma. Auteur theory was
developed a few years later in the United States through the writings of The
Village Voice critic Andrew Sarris.
What does it mean and do
The auteur theory was used by the directors of the
nouvelle vague (New Wave) movement of French
cinema in the 1960s (many of whom were also
critics at the Cahiers du Cinéma) as justification for
their intensely personal and idiosyncratic films. One
of the ironies of the Auteur theory is that, at the very
moment Truffaut was writing, the break-up of the
Hollywood studio system during the 1950s was
ushering in a period of uncertainty and
conservatism in American cinema, with the result
that fewer of the sort of films Truffaut admired were
actually being made.
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The "auteur" approach was adopted in English-language film criticism in the
1960s. In the UK, Movie adopted Auteurism, while in the U.S., Andrew Sarris
introduced it in the essay, "Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962". This essay is
where the term, "Auteur theory", originated. To be classified as an "auteur",
according to Sarris, a director must accomplish technical competence in his
technique, personal style in terms of how the movie looks and feels, and
interior meaning.
Genre Theory Definition:
Genre theory is used in the study of films in order to facilitate
the categorization of films. Genre are dependent on various
factors such as story line, whom the director is, what are the
audience expectations et cetera. In using genre theory we create
a short cut in how we are to describe films. Genre theory
through it's use is a method of shortening academic works.
In order to understand Genre we may look
at several examples. When we speak of
the western we know that within this
collection of films we may expect to find
gun fights, horses and Indians, the solitary
cowboy and to some degree the actors and
directors of such films. Another example
would be when looking at the horror film
where we know everyone will die except
one.
The audience whom go to those films expect to see zombie,
were wolves, werewolves and more. They also expect certain
content and a certain style of filmmaking.
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Audience
When marketing and studying cinema it is important to know
whom the intended audience are. For example when studying
the classics such as Gilda we must take into account at what
time the film was made and for which audience. We know that it
was created after the Second World War and that the role of the
woman was changing and this was an important element to the
audience of the time because it was re-defining the fabric of the
society.
The time period
An important part of Genre theory knows at which period a film
was made. This is particularly important when considering what
technology was being used. With today's high speed films
(shorter exposure times) films may be shot with very different
lighting from those of twenty years ago. The rhythm and pacing
of the film may have been altered with editing. Core values,
which would seem unimportant to us when watching certain
films, may be of prime importance to the people whom are
contemporary to the films.
Marketing
Genre theory is a very good way of marketing a film both for
the producers, secondly for the audience. It has become a logo
of sorts marking which films certain people may want to see. In
particular we may notice this with the teen movie genre. It is a
genre, which is divided into many sub genres such as spoof etc.
Problems with Genre theory
If all films were exactly the same then genre theory would be
easy to study and defining which type of film it is would be
easy. Unfortunately though it is far more complicated than this.
As we look and analyze various films we find that although they
have similarities in other aspects they are very different. It
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creates the need for genre theory to continually re-define itself
according to the technology, the audience, the political message
among many other variables.