WHY STEVEN SPIELBERG DESERVES TO BE CALLED AN AUTEUR Steven Spielberg is an American movie director and producer. He is the director of multiple hugely succesful hollywood blockbuster movies like “Jurassic Park” and Jaws. He also directed science fiction movies like Close Encounters of the “Third Kind” and “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” . These are only some of his over 40 movies of which some are mentioned by film critics among the best movies ever made, for example “Schindler’s List” is rated number 9/10 on “The Best Movies of All Time” list by the American Film Institute. In this essay, I am going to argue if Steven Spielberg deserves to be regarded an auteur. Not all directors are auteurs in my opinion. An auteur is a director who has …show more content…
In 1954, Francois Truffaut a french film critic published an article entitled “A Certain Tendency of French Cinema”. His article was about his concern of the current state of French cinema. Truffaut stated that French cinema was suffering from a “tradition of quality”. In 1957 another French film critic, André Bazin, wrote an article called “La Politique des Auteurs.” According to Staples, it was in this article that auteur theory was first discussed. Bazin said that auteurism involves “choosing the personal factor in artistic creation as a standard of reference” (Caughie). What he was trying to say was that he believed that a director’s personal perception should be seen in more than a few of their films. He also stated that the basis of the auteur theory was that the director must be the author of the film. As referred before, a film should display a director’s own vision. In order to be seen as an auteur, a vision needs to be seen in more than a few films. As Caughie clarifies, an auteur director’s films are “likely to be the expression of their individual personality. This personality can be traced in a thematic or stylistic consistency over all or most the director’s films”. What Caughie states here is that auteur directors have personal styles and themes that can be identified through analyzing the form of their films. A director’s films need to be persistent in this sense and their …show more content…
There is no rule that something popular can not have artistic value but due to the mass production world that we live in. There is the impression of if something is widely known or widely owned, it loses its value. Spielberg in some sense suffers from his own popularity, he is most likely the most known director worldwide and one of the few who the average movie audience can identify by name and face but still he has no word that describes his work like other directors have like Hitchcockian or Kubrickian. Spielberg is too popular for his own good he is so influential that his critics do not grasp why he does not make high art movies that are only watched and understood by a small group of people. Some of his critics state that he does not use enough of the cinematic power and influence he holds in his hands. I argue that some movie crtitics who have negative thoughts about his work have an issue with his popularity in the sense that everybody has a comment. Spielberg’s movies are so widely prominent that the critics who usually just appeal to artistic movie watchers, suddenly lose their rareness. Even the average moviegoer has most likely some view about a Spielberg movie because his movies are so extensively
Auteur theory is an important mode of film criticism that indicates the extent of the director’s involvement in the final output of the film. As it has been previously mentioned, Spike Lee’s films express certain notions about race that emerge from his personal viewpoint as well as from his political and aesthetic beliefs. The focal point of this chapter is the auteur theory and its relativity to Spike Lee. In order to prove the connection between the theory and his works, it is necessary to refer to Lee’s biography, since both his background and distinguishable personality have contributed to his technical skills as well as to his unique style as a film director. The particular chapter will also include the synopsis as well as the technical analysis of each film correspondingly.
One of the greatest director ever to live is an independent filmmaker. Spike Lee work in film have revolutionized the industry of filmmaking and independent filmmaker. Spike Lee films were not just revolutionary, they were healing in a way. Spike lee movies spark a generation of black and brown filmmaker. He is just one of the few black filmmakers, who was able to open up a new opportunity for black and brown people in the filmmaking industry.
George Lucas has created many great movies in his lifetime. From Star Wars to Indiana Jones all of them are filled with action and adventure. But George Lucas didn 't always want to be a director but things changed. He got past many obstacles and some were life changing events. George Lucas has inspired many young directors and lived a good life.
The peer-reviewed article Balanced truth: Steven Spielberg 's 'Schindler 's List ' among history, memory, and popular culture was written by Christoph Classen and published on History and Theory, Theme by Wesleyan University on 2009. The article is separated into sub-categories to inquire if this film presents the truth of Holocaust; explore the balancing between film 's entertainment and aesthetics with the historical cultural facts; investigate the Spielberg 's efforts on recreating the milieus as accurate as they were. The article includes many statistic evidences to prove that the film reached a commercial success and received a wide range of the audiences from the world as a biographical movie; however, it also suggests that there are
Steven Spielberg Did you know that Steven Spielberg had a lot of movies and failures, but guess what he never gave up. He was a drop out because he was too smart. And he wanted to make his own movies. Did you know that Steven Spielberg was the most famous movie producer in the United States at his time. Of the reason why he was the most famous movie producer is because he was so smart and that’s why he made his movies and how he made E.T. Is that he had a dream and he turned it into a movie.
“The most amazing thing for me is that every single person who sees a movie, not necessarily one of my movies, brings a whole set of unique experiences. Now, through careful manipulation and good storytelling, you can get everybody to clap at the same time, to hopefully laugh at the same time, and to be afraid at the same time” (“Steven Spielberg Quotes”). As the inspiration for how many films are produced, Steven Spielberg is a director, producer, and writer. Having won 3 Academy Awards, several of his movies have set box office records, including Jaws and E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. Steven Spielberg revolutionized the film industry through unique camera work and new subject matters in movies.
Evaluating Agnès Varda as an Auteur Filmmaker The French New Wave, a sensational shift that marked the history of cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s, has engendered an array of film theories as well as criticism. Despite its ambiguity as a coherent movement, the New Wave films “share connections, a common essence which is nothing less than their notion of mise-en-scène, or a filmic écriture, based on share principles… One recognizes a nouvelle vague film by its style.”
Over the past century, film has served as a powerful means of communication to a global audience and has become a vital part of the contemporary culture in a world that is increasingly saturated by visual content. Due to the immediacy and the all-encompassing nature of film, the process of watching a film, is widely perceived to be a passive activity by the general masses. However, quoting Smith in his article about the study of film, “nothing could be further from the truth.” The study and understanding of film as an art form enhances the way we watch and appreciate films. It requires the audience's active participation and interaction with the film in order to fully comprehend the directors' intention behind every creative decision.
When a person hears the name Steven Spielberg, they immediately think of the blockbuster movies, Jaws, Extra terrestrial Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones etc. However, Spielberg has directed other important films, many of which were selected to be saved by the national film registry like Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, for their extreme accuracy in the portrayal of important moments and people in history. However, there is still a debate whether Spielberg should be considered the best director of all time. The answer to this question is obvious , he definitely is the best as he has directed blockbusters as well historical films where his use of the camera, his choice of actors, music and his attention to detail make him the best director
Baz Luhrmann is widely acknowledged for his Red Curtain Trilogy which are films aimed at heightening an artificial nature and for engaging the audience. Through an examination of the films Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, the evolution and adaptation of his techniques become evident. Luhrmann’s belief in a ‘theatrical cinema’ can be observed to varying degrees through the three films and his choice to employ cinematic techniques such as self-reflexivity, pastiche and hyperbolic hyperbole. The cinematic technique of self-reflexivity allows a film to draw attention to itself as ‘not about naturalism’ and asks the audience to suspend their disbelief and believe in the fictional construct of the film.
This isn’t the most realistic, as there is usually more than one individual working on a film, but the director is considered to be the guiding force. An auteur is one that has a distinct style and is one that can create films that are both commercially and aesthetically pleasing. A good example of an auteur film is The Godfather. Sarris states that an auteur is one that has a that can create both commercially and aesthetically pleasing films, and Coppola transformed a story fit for a low-budget gangster film, into something far more.
People to this day still find horror and beauty in this film, finding this film an extraordinary masterpiece executed by director, Steven Spielberg. Some people do disagree with the images shown in the film, however, as a whole, the entire community who thoroughly enjoys films agree the accuracy of this film that did not hold back any viewing content truly added greatly to the film. Perhaps the most touching reaction came from the place where it all started. The premiere of Schindler’s List in Germany with a room filled with 800 people – Germans and Jews, diplomats and artists, film makers and people who had known Oskar Schindler when he lived there (Whitney, 1994).
Wes Anderson is a very well-known and established director in his field. Over the years, Anderson has developed a unique style of film and a basic formula for how each film will look in the end. The film The Grand Budapest Hotel showcases a lot of Anderson quirks from the vibrant colors to the tiny miniatures that he used to show the landscape. The Grand Budapest Hotel is uniquely Wes Andersons and really showcases his style.
Baz Luhrmanns contribution to the art of film, brings about a flamboyant and revitalizing side to the industry. Through the use of cinematic language, his story telling techniques and belief in the theatrical cinema come to life. Baz Luhrmann has a very distinctive directing approach with particular techniques that define his style. He presents his films as if he were telling a story, which he invites you into. His stories are simple and he tends to give away the ending at the beginning of the film, which intrigues you to find out more about what had taken place.
The Auteur Theory-Intro Part Considering the collaborative process of filmmaking, especially nowadays in most film production, the concept of there being a singular creative supervisor is debatable. Nonetheless one cannot deny the existence of directional motifs and instances of thematic and stylistic elements within the work of filmmakers like Tim Burton and Alfred Hitchcock. These directors indicate that within traditions and genres lies the overall definition of an auteur: a director whose inventive traits are listed throughout his/her work like a signature. Auteurism rose to the surface in the 1950s French New Wave criticism as an appraisal of Hollywood directors who were ready to avoid the rules of the studio system and create films that were distinctively their own.