Why Is Spike Lee Considered An Auteur
Why Authorship is important in film studies
There have been a lot of arguments about directors being regarded as authors in the film industry. In this essay, I will talk about the auteur theory and the directors who I think can be considered this status.
The French term ‘auteur’ means author and it came about by French film critics in the 1920s. However much controversy regarding the use of auteur was brought about by a new film critic group called Cahier Du Cinema. It was founded by a French critic called Francois Truffaut. film club and met André Bazin, a French critic, who becomes his protector. Bazin helped the delinquent Truffaut and also when he was put in jail because he deserted the army. In 1953, he published his first movie critiques …show more content…
Pam Cook defines the word Auteur as the ‘stylistic signature of the Director’. (Cinema Book, Pam Cook, p60). Many of Spike Lee’s films are usually set in New York Brooklyn, where he grew up. For example, The Clockers. It focuses on the workings of a local drug gang and ongoing dealings with local drug dealers, dealing with the police and the community. Many of Spike Lee’s films relate to race relations, poverty, crime and the role of the media. He uses Mise en Scene to illustrate his personal beliefs and background. For example, ‘Do the right Thing’ was made in New York 1989 and this was considered to be his landmark film. It demonstrated the racial relations between two ethnic groups and the violence which was inflicted on one another in the community. There are various films where he uses a ‘floating effect’. These include films such as Mo Better Blue’s, Malcolm X and inside man. It gives the audience the impression that the character is floating in the air instead of …show more content…
It's interesting to note that from 1950 through 1959, he made only one Western, the classic The Searchers (1956), one of the greatest examples of the genre. Starting with The Horse Soldiers (1959) which he made for the Mirisch Co. at the end of the decade, six of his last eight completed movies were Westerns, including his last masterpiece, "The Man Who Shot Liberty
There have been a lot of arguments about directors being regarded as authors in the film industry. In this essay, I will talk about the auteur theory and the directors who I think can be considered this status.
The French term ‘auteur’ means author and it came about by French film critics in the 1920s. However much controversy regarding the use of auteur was brought about by a new film critic group called Cahier Du Cinema. It was founded by a French critic called Francois Truffaut. film club and met André Bazin, a French critic, who becomes his protector. Bazin helped the delinquent Truffaut and also when he was put in jail because he deserted the army. In 1953, he published his first movie critiques …show more content…
Pam Cook defines the word Auteur as the ‘stylistic signature of the Director’. (Cinema Book, Pam Cook, p60). Many of Spike Lee’s films are usually set in New York Brooklyn, where he grew up. For example, The Clockers. It focuses on the workings of a local drug gang and ongoing dealings with local drug dealers, dealing with the police and the community. Many of Spike Lee’s films relate to race relations, poverty, crime and the role of the media. He uses Mise en Scene to illustrate his personal beliefs and background. For example, ‘Do the right Thing’ was made in New York 1989 and this was considered to be his landmark film. It demonstrated the racial relations between two ethnic groups and the violence which was inflicted on one another in the community. There are various films where he uses a ‘floating effect’. These include films such as Mo Better Blue’s, Malcolm X and inside man. It gives the audience the impression that the character is floating in the air instead of …show more content…
It's interesting to note that from 1950 through 1959, he made only one Western, the classic The Searchers (1956), one of the greatest examples of the genre. Starting with The Horse Soldiers (1959) which he made for the Mirisch Co. at the end of the decade, six of his last eight completed movies were Westerns, including his last masterpiece, "The Man Who Shot Liberty