The auteur theory and Lucas

"The auteur theory of film actually is very true if you know directors, because they are very much like their movies. In the case of someone who writes AND directs, it IS my life. This isn't some hypothetical thesis I'm writing, this isn't something I can crank out in a week, this is a story that I have to get extremely emotionally involved in. I have to be in love with this thing for years and years and, probably, the rest of my life."--From the Episode I DVD

In the late 1940s, French film critic Andre Bezin created the auteur theory of film, which states that film is an art form, and as such, bears the stylistic signature of it's creator--usually the director--just as a novel, a sculpture, or a painting shows the style of it's author, or the sculptor or painter in question. The director, then, is the "author" of a film, who "writes" with his camera in the same sense that a writer "writes" with his pen. A film is therefore the artistic expression of one person. A series of films by the same director can therefore be studied as a coherent body of work. I would like to start two debates with this thread: first, is this a valid way to look at film? And secondly, does Lucas qualify as a cinematic author?

At the time this theory was put forward, the idea that film is an art form was a controversial one, but one which most people agree with now. However, I think it is faulty
to make the comparison between film and writing, sculpting and painting. The latter 3 are solitary arts, whereas film is collaborative, and thus there is the opportunity for several people's ideas to be expressed, not just one. The proper comparison should be made to a stageplay. Both involve actors, directors, a crew, and a scriptwriter. Quite often, the writer and director are two different people, and the story originates with the writer. Not only does he create the story, but he may draw upon personal experience, thus some of his style may be linked to several of the films he writes, even if they are not directed by the same person. 50 different actors will play Hamlet 50 different ways, even if all other elements of the production were the same, so it's fair to say that the cast has significant creative input into the final product. The performance, however guided by the director, is not his creation. The movies of centuries past were plays. Shakespeare was an actor who wrote, and I don't believe it is known if he directed any of his plays, but I doubt it. I certainly don't think he directed ALL of them. Yet today, he, the scriptwriter, is remembered as the author, not the director--though ironically, some of the text that is in published versions of his plays today is based on actors' recollections of lines, which were sometimes improvised. So even where the scriptwriter is considered the "author," the actors' contribution makes a difference. My basic feeling is that the auteur theory trivializes the contributions made by the rest of the cast and crew. It is not solely the creative expression of the director, but rather a cooperative effort of several creative people. So I don't believe it can be said that a film has an "author."

Now, let's look at Lucas's films as a director (and a few others he didn't direct), and see if or how the auteur theory applies.

Lucas has made four films as a director, going on five: THX-1138, American Graffiti, Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. All of them have in common certain themes: mans relationship to technology, the journey from child to adult, and the need for someone to leave behind his home, which is familiar, in order to grow up. It is interesting to note that four of these films address these themes in a science fiction setting, but American Graffiti addresses them in a modernistic setting, showing that the "man-machine relations" theme is not exclusive to sci-fi. All these themes are linked in Lucas's life: he was nearly killed in a car wreck, and only after his miraculous survival did he decide to take a direction in his life. He left behind

 

Unlocked and 'upped' to prevent re-autolocking, as part of the LFP Index project

 

What do you mean, Lucas' full name is Henry Jones, Jr.? Is that a typo? Nice post, though. I'm no film student, but I would agree that unlike so many art forms, film is very collaborative (at least the vast majority of films), so the auteur theory is a bit difficult to swallow. Even with someone like Kubrick, who pretty much had complete reign and choice over his latter films, I find it hard to believe that every nuance and aspect of his films are of his sole determination.