Dear List Members:

 

I hate to admit to a lack of knowledge in front of a group whose views I

respect as much as I do yours. But I have always had difficulty in

understanding the "auteur" theory, and in applying it to anyone other

than Hitchcock and Truffaut.

 

My (limited) understanding is that the auteur theory holds that films can

best be understood through a knowledge of their authors' views and

techniques, assuming the author is an "auteur". In this view, one might

look at a narrative story (say Rebecca), and examine the auteur's methods

of realizing it, methods which often present a richer or different

subtextual story which represents the auteur's stamp.

 

Is this correct? If it is, does the theory apply to all films, or only

those of an "auteur?" If the latter, how does one know who is an "auteur"?

 

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

 

Thanks.

 

Peter S. Latham

 

----

Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite 

http://www.sa.ua.edu/screensite