George Lucas an Auteur?

Who believes that George Lucas is a true Auteur of the cinema?, and why?

 

I think thats a hard one to answer has he hasn't directed that many films. There are certainly themes that occur in almost all his movies such as the clash of humanity and technology or the yearning to grow up and escape your surroundings.

I certainly think I'd be able to tell if a movie was directed by him without knowing beforehand so I'd say yes, he is an auteur.

 

I would disagree myself, someone who is truely great IMO would have a good balance between plot, acting and special effects.

 

But being an auteur doesn't necessarily mean you're a great filmmaker does it?

 

I agree with Jazz, in that it's hard to tell because he hasn't directed many films. But when you look at his body of work as a whole (director, writer, producer etc) then I'd say yes.
I also think THX is a great film, and Amercian Grafiti is also great. Those two films are very strong pieces of work and I feel that merits an auteur-like status.

 

Here?s my 2 cents,
As a filmmaker, maybe not. But for what he's done for film as a whole I would say yes. In the field of sfx he formed the company that has led the way for the last
30 years (give or take a couple) he led the way with the edit droid which was a precursor to the Avid (hell, the dude owns digidesign) and then there are THX, which is why all good cinemas are good, and why good home cinemas are better then normal cinemas. I could go on and on,

But of course there is also the fact that he has created a mythology that has captivated three generations with six great films that will be forever remembered by the people who watched them.


thanks.

 

Some people seem to be confused about what an auteur is. Here's the dictionary definition:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=auteur

Some examples can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteur

Whether Lucas is successful is neither here nor there. Really the discussion hinges on whether you think he has a strong personal style and with the limited evidence we have, I think he does.

 

Forgive me, I have had less than an hours sleep in 48 hours

Still don't think so based on the links, his work is more other people's work. Then again so is John Williams'

 

A filmmaker, usually a director, who exercises creative control over his or her works and has a strong personal style.

Technically then it's a big fat YES because he's an independant filmmaker and only has to answer to himself

Most things are influenced by pre-existing things. I've just been playing Astro Boy and you can see where The Matrix comes from, so to speak. In the end you have to be influenced by things or else it's really difficult to come up with any decent ideas.

 

Yes he is an auteur

I know cos I did an autuer study on him for my A-Level Film Studies

 

I'm just doing a project on him now. That's why I posed the question

 

Well, he has many trademarks of an autuer

He self references his own films within his other films
He references things that influenced him in his films