Auteur Criticism, Reception Theory, and Audience-Centered Criticism

February 15, 2005

Prof. Nick Burnett

So what’s this auteur stuff?

Strongly influenced by film studies, the director/writer as author:David Lynch—Twin Peaks, Wild PalmsSteven Bochco—Hill Street Blues, LA Law,

NYPD BlueAaron Spelling—Dynasty, 90210, Melrose

PlaceNorman Lear—Maude, All in the FamilyDavid E. Kelley—The Practice, Boston Public,

Ally McBeal, Picket Fences, Chicago Hope

Definitions?

Draws from a view that art is a manifestation of the emotions, experience and worldview of the individual artist

What do they look at? A close visual and textual examination of two aspects of the work 1) the mis en scene (all the means available to a director to express her attitude toward the character—pacing, camera movement, cuts, angle and distance of the camera, content of the shot, etc.), and 2) the pattern of thematic motifs across an author’s entire work

Some comments about Happy Days and Gary Marshall

Questions that auteur critics might ask…

How does this work differ/share similarities with previous works?

Is there evidence of growth, evolution, or regression?

Is this an homage?

Auteur criticism caveats

The intentionalist fallacy TV isn’t really an individual artistic creation,

TV is the quintessential team production…who’s the auteur?The writer?The director?The executive producer?The network?

Some early works using reception theory

Janice Radway and women reading romance novels

Ethnography as criticism Vande Berg and Halualani’s blended

approach…All American Girl Early work by Modleski on soap

operas

Reception theory/Audience-centered Criticism

Privilege the audience’s point of view An answer to the intentionalist fallacy, aka the

scholastic fallacy Audiences are active and thinking rather than

passive and unthinking A rhetorical approach to television criticism? Influence of literary studies, particularly

reception theory

Applying audience centered approaches to criticism

Looking for unobtrusive measure of audience meaningRatingsLetters to the producer/networkChats on web sites

Obtrusive measuresFocus groups, interviews and surveysBeware of influence: “Do you think the

lesbian subtext hurts the Xena series?”

The echoes of audience centered criticism

Uses and gratification theory The acceptance of ethnographic

methods The use of focus groups The willingness not to make

judgments regarding taste, ie. those idiots who watch Survivor

Beware the tyranny of the audience!

Denial

Ignorance

False consciousness