This document defines auteur theory and genre analysis and provides examples of how each can be used to analyze films. Auteur theory considers the director as the primary author with an identifiable style across films, while genre analysis looks for patterns and conventions within a film type. The document lists many films categorized by genre and suggests auteurs who exemplify breaking conventions within those genres.

1. Definitions, origins, examples and how to use both Auteur
Theory and Genre Analysis to define meaning in a film text

2.  Literally, Auteur is French for ‘Author’ and in film studies can
refer to the following:
 The director, producer or studio as principal ‘creator’ of a film
 The filmmaker creates meaning/ideological message
 A filmmaker who demonstrates technical excellence
 A filmmaker who makes films of artistic merit rather than
commercial value
 A filmmaker who makes films with an individual style and
themes
 These individual styles and themes will often appear across a
number of different films/genres, by the same director

3.  Any filmmaker who has UNCONVENTIONAL ideas or
CHALLENGES accepted genre conventions and breaks
away from them

4.  Reservoir Dogs (Crime/Heist)
 Pulp Fiction (Crime)
 Desperado (Western Producer/Actor)
 From Dusk ‘Till Dawn
(Horror)
 Jackie Brown (Crime)
 Kill Bill (Action/Martial Arts)
 DeathProof
(Action/Grindhouse)
 Inglorious Basterds (War)

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AHETu
K70Sc

6.  Spartacus (Historical






Drama)
Dr Strangelove (Satirical
Comedy)
A Clockwork Orange (SciFi/Crime/Horror??)
2001: A Space Odyssey (SciFi)
The Shining (Horror)
Full Metal Jacket (War)
Eyes Wide Shut
(Psychological Thriller)_

7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40Xc9YeWE4&feature=related

8.  Some Auteurs stick within one
genre but employ distinctive new
style and themes, for example
Wes Craven re-invented the teen
horror genre with a distinctive
and original representation of
dreams and reality, in films like:
 A Nightmare on Elm Street
 A New Nightmare
 The Serpent & The Rainbow
And created the concept of ‘horror
satire’ with
 Scream

9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTWf9
QGdJCQ

10.  Patton (War)
 The Godfather (Crime)
 Apocalypse Now (War)
 The Outsiders (Teen Drama)
 Peggy Sue Got Married (Comedy)
 Dracula (Gothic Horror)
 Tetro (Family Drama)

11.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKaYOW9zMoY&
feature=related

12.  The vertically integrated (i.e. in complete
control)Hollywood Studio system (1930s-1950s) key directors:
Howard Hawkes, Orson Welles, John Ford, Alfred
Hitchcock,
 The age of auteur freedom (Hollywood allowed creative
freedom late 1960s-1970s) Coppola, Scorsese, Cimono
 High concept and independent Hollywood (Hollywood
went bust from giving directors too much money in the
70’s!! Consider the cost of the previous clip!! )
 (1980’s on) Tarantino, Scott, Cameron, The Coen Brothers,
The Waschowski Brothers

13.  Francois Truffaut…..coined the term ‘Auteur’ in 1954 as a
reaction against French cinema repeatedly recognizing the
scriptwriter as ‘author’ of a film, not the director
 Andrew Saris….In 1962 popularised the idea of the Hollywood
studio system as being responsible for producing key directors,
such as Hitchcock, John Ford, therefore the film producer and
even the studio itself could be considered part of the auteur
process, not just the director
 Roland Barthes…In 1968 challenged all of the above and said
there was no such thing as ‘the author of a film!! It was the
‘reader’, i.e. the cinema audience or ALL OF US which defines
meaning from a film text, all a director, producer or studio does
recycle conventions/narratives and characters…..

14.  The GENRE ANALYST looks for patterns in a
scientific, objective manner (codes/conventions etc…)
 The AUTEURIST looks for creative artistic quality in a
subjective manner (breaking of conventions, artistic
quality etc)

15.  Choose ONE GENRE from the following slides. Choose a
genre that you are familiar with and are comfortable to
study
 Watch at least two examples of films (in full) which are
conventional to the genre. Use your genre analysis sheets to
make notes and my lists as a starting point
 Watch at least one example of a film (in full) of the same
genre which breaks away from the genre conventions. Use
your genre analysis sheet. Remember to consider whilst
watching: what makes the director of the film an auteur?

16.  Breakfast at Tiffany’s
 When Harry Met Sally
 4 Weddings &
A Funeral
 Bridget Jones
 Sex and The City
 Bride Wars
 Love and Other Drugs
By Auteur…..
Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
Manhattan (Woody Allen)
Punch Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)

17.  The Breakfast Club
 About Last Night
 Mean Girls
 Election
By Auteur
Brick
Elephant
Donnie Darko
The Virgin Suicides
Juno

18.  All Quiet on the
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Western Front
Aces High
The Battle of Britain
The Longest Day
The Green Berets
By Auteur:
The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimono)
Apocalypse Now Francis Ford Coppola)
Platoon (Oliver Stone)
Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick)
Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg)
Saving Private Ryan (Steven Speilberg)
Battle for Haditha (Nick Broomfield)
Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
The Hurt Locker (Katherine Bigelow

19.  Goldfinger
 Dirty Harry
 Enter the Dragon
 Die Hard
 First Blood
 Tomb Raider
 Quantum of Solace
By Auteur:
Nikita (Luc Besson)
Leon (Luc Besson)
Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino)

20. • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
• High Noon
• Hang ‘em High!
• Stagecoach
• Rio Grande
• The Magnificent Seven
By Auteur…
The Good the Bad and the
Ugly (Sergio Leone)
A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio
Leone)
The Wild Bunch (Sam
Peckinpah)
Westworld (Western/Sci-Fi)
Heaven’s Gate (Michael
Cimono)
The Unforgiven (Clint
Eastwood)

21.  Flash Gordon
 Buck Rogers
 Creature From

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The Black Lagoon
The Incredible
Shrinking Man
War of The
Worlds
Independence
Day
Skyline
Battle Los Angeles
By Auteur
Metropolis (Fritz Lang)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise)
Forbidden Planet (Fred Wilcox)
Invasion of The Body Snatchers (Don Siegel)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
Westworld ( Michael Critchon)
Dark Star (John Carpenter)
Star Wars (George Lucas)
Alien (Ridley Scott)
Bladerunner (Ridley Scott)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp)
Moon (Duncan Jones)
Inception (Christopher Nolan)

22.  Sub genres; The
Heist movie, the
gangster movie
By Auteur:
 Scarface
 Angels with
Dirty Faces
 The Thomas
Crown Affair
 Oceans 11
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
Mean Streets (Martin Scorcese)
Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet)
Scarface (Brian De Palma)
Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)

23. Nosferatu
Frankenstein
Dracula
Halloween
Friday the 13th
Fright Night
Carrie
Prom Night
I Know What You
Did Last Summer
 Wrong Turn
 Final Destination
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By Auteur
Night of The Living Dead (George A Romero)
The Exorcist (William Freidkin)
Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
Alien (Ridley Scott)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven)
Scream (Wes Craven)
The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Mycrick)
The Ring (Hideo Nakata)
28 Days Later (Danny Boyle)
Rec (Jaume Balagueró)