The Virtues and Limitations of Auteur Theory - Essay Example

The director has the right to “own” the film, just as the artist owns an artwork and a novelist owns a novel (Auteur theory, n.d.). The director is called the auteur, the French term for author (Auteur Theory and Authorship, 2007). From this concept, we can say that the movie must contain the trademark of the auteur. In the movie, the auteur is the director. He is in control of the process of production of the movie.

  It has been said that the auteur theory started in February 1955 in the article made by Francois Truffaut. This article is made to defend Jacques Becker film “Ali Baba et les quadrantes voyeurs". It is here that the concept of auteur theory can be derived. He said that the work of an auteur is better than the work of any other directory the word auteur, he meant that the director uses the camera as an instrument that can be compared to the pen of a novelist. It is not the story that is important but the way the director used the camera. The person that brought auteurism to United States is Andrew Sarris. He is also the person who first used the word theory when auteur, probably considering it as a requirement for a film (Jahsonic.com, n.d.). One of the directors that Sarris considered to be an auteur is John Ford (Turnour, 2004). The auteur theory became the main form of film analy1950ss in 1951950ss (The Genesis and Application of Auteur Theory, n.d.).

This paper will try to find the virtues of auteur theory and at the same time find its limitation. To do this, it is useful to know all the people behind film production and their specific role, the different movies, and other concepts of editing movies.

  The French were responsible for recognizing an artistic pattern that a director leaves in his films. This is what they called the trademark of the director. Trademark is generally a thing, a rase, or equipment that uniquely identifies an individual. It is the trademark that separates all other directors. This is what gives the directors the right to be called the author of the film. The French claimed that the director must be called autumn. An example of a trademark of a director is the appearance the screen of the director Alfred Hitchcock. The audience had known this trademark and whenever someone watches his work, he will always find the scene where Hitchcock will appear.