lesson 12: film authorship
DESCRIPTION
Lesson 12: Film Authorship. Professor Aaron Baker. Previous Lecture. What is Genre? Genre History Social Functions of Genre Films Genre and Out of Sight (1998). Today’s Lecture. Central Ideas, the History of Film Authorship Filmmaker Mira Nair The Namesake (2006). - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Lesson 12:Lesson 12:Film Authorship Film Authorship
Professor Aaron Baker
2
Previous LecturePrevious Lecture
• What is Genre?
• Genre History
• Social Functions of
Genre Films
• Genre and Out of Sight
(1998)
3
Today’s LectureToday’s Lecture
• Central Ideas, the History of Film Authorship
• Filmmaker Mira Nair
• The Namesake (2006)
Part I: Central Ideas and The Part I: Central Ideas and The History of Film AuthorshipHistory of Film Authorship
4John FordJohn Ford
AuteurismAuteurism
• Auteur = Author• Post WW II French
Cultural Formation:
-Magazines, Festivals,
The Cinemateque,
Cine Clubs• Existentialism
-Holocaust/Absurd World
-Individual Recreates It5
HENRI LANGLOIS, CO-HENRI LANGLOIS, CO-FOUNDER OF CINEMATHEQUE FOUNDER OF CINEMATHEQUE FRANÇAISEFRANÇAISE in Paris in 1936, the in Paris in 1936, the world’s first film archive.world’s first film archive.
Andre Bazin Andre Bazin
• Individual Must Create Own Meaning in Absurd World
• “The centrality of the activity of the subject”
• Film Director as Auteur (Creative Subject)
6
Film Can Be ArtFilm Can Be Art
• Alexander Astruc• French Director,
Critic• Camera Stylo (Pen)• Filmmaker Like
Writer• Films Like Novels,
Poems, Plays
7
Paris Film CriticsParis Film Critics
• Francois Truffaut, Jean Luc Godard
• Reject French Cinema of Quality
• Too Literary, Elitist• Prefer Hollywood
Energy, Lack of Pretention
8
TruffautTruffaut
• Essay, “A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema” 1954
• French Cinema relies too much on literature, adaptation
• Film Authors, “often write their dialogue and some of them themselves invent the stories they direct.”
9
Auteurist Critics Auteurist Critics Championed CinemaChampioned Cinema
• Rejected Snobbish, Elitist French Intellectuals Devaluing Movies as Just
-Entertainment
-For the Masses
-Hollywood Mind Control
10
Style and ThemesStyle and Themes
• Reveals Auteur’s “Personality” (View of World)
• Stylistic and Thematic Patterns
• Subtext in Hollywood Films
11
HitchcockHitchcock
• Hollywood Filmmaker with Auteur Subtext
• French Critics Rohmer and Chabrol:
-Hitchcock’s “transfer of guilt”
12
Stam:Stam:
Auteurism Combines:
• Idea Romantic Artist (Individual, Outsider)
• Modernist Focus on Form, Style
• Post Modern Celebration of Popular Culture
13
Norman Bates in Norman Bates in Psycho, Psycho, 19601960
• Nice Young Man and Killer
• Hitchcock Asks Us To Identify with Him, His Voyeurism
• Transfer of Guilt. . . to Us.
14
French Auteurist French Auteurist Critics and FilmmakersCritics and Filmmakers
• Ambivalence Toward
Hollywood:
-Like Hollywood Energy, Lack Pretention
-Dislike Its Obsession with Profits Over Art, Society
15
Jean Luc Godard and Brigette Jean Luc Godard and Brigette Bardot On the set of Bardot On the set of Le Mepris Le Mepris (1963)(1963)
Clip #1: Clip #1: Le Mepris Le Mepris (1963)(1963)• Jean-Luc Godard• Film About Filmmaking• International Production:
American Producer (Jack
Palance)
German Director (Fritz Lang)
French Writer, Actress (Michel Piccoli, Brigette Bardot)
American Critic Andrew American Critic Andrew SarrisSarris
• Brought French Auteurism to U.S.
• Notes on The Auteur Theory in 1962
• U.S. Films Best in World
• Great Hollywood Directors Transcend Studio System
• Pantheon
17
Auteurism and SocietyAuteurism and Society
“The individual transcends society, but society is also . . . within him. So there can be no criticism of genius or talent which does not take into consideration the social determinism.”
--Bazin
18
Talent and ContextTalent and Context
Most complete analysis recognizes, • a director’s individual talent, and • the cultural and social environments in which
s/he works. • “The concept of an author as a genius
outside history, who possesses profound, universal insights, . . .is now . . . outdated” (Lehman and Luhr, Thinking About Movies, p. 77).
19
20
• Lee has made films with a distinctive formal style, yet
• they have been influenced by ideas of race in the movie industry and within American society.
E.g. Spike Lee, Style and E.g. Spike Lee, Style and RaceRace
Clip #2 from Do the Right Clip #2 from Do the Right Thing Thing (1989) (1989)
• Story about Racial Conflict in Brooklyn
• Direct Address, Wide Angle Lens = Distorted Thinking About Other Racial Groups
21
• Stagecoach 1939 • Native Americans as
“Savages”• 1950s, 60s Civil
Rights/New Ideas of Race in American Society
• Cheyenne Autumn 1964
• Shows Abuse of Native Americans by Whites
22
John Ford and Native John Ford and Native AmericansAmericans
Auteurism: Main AssumptionsAuteurism: Main Assumptions
23
• Film can be art• Involves the contributions
of many people, but a skilled director shapes, selects, organizes them
• Analysis of film authorship starts with thematic concernsand
formal style of themoviemaker.
24
He has excelledwith specialeffects portrayal ofthe fantastic . . .
Form in Spielberg’s FilmsForm in Spielberg’s Films
Spielberg’s Thematic Spielberg’s Thematic ConcernsConcerns
“with family dramasof divorce, single-parent homes, and the precarious formation of romantic couples.” (Lehman and Luhr, p. 80).
25
Catch Me If You Can Catch Me If You Can (2002)(2002)
26
Summary: Style, Theme and Summary: Style, Theme and ContextContext
Authorship analysis studies filmmakers’ careers “ with definable thematic and
formal concerns within historically specific cultural and social conditions.” (Lehman
and Luhr, p. 97).
Part II: The Films of Mira Part II: The Films of Mira NairNair
27
28
Thematic ConcernsThematic Concerns
• Globalized World• Indian
Culture/Diaspora• Equality for Women
Career as FilmmakerCareer as Filmmaker
• Born in India in 1957• Educated at Harvard• Eight features,
including--
-Salaam Bombay! 88
Nominated for Oscar
-Monsoon Wedding 01
-Vanity Fair 04
-Amelia 09
The Namesake The Namesake (2006)(2006)
• Based on novel by Jhumpa Lahiri (2003)
• Pulitizer Prize Winner
• Indian Diasporic Identity
Indian DisaporaIndian Disapora
• Traditional Indian Culture
• Arranged Marriage• Immigration and
Opportunity• Calcutta to New
York• Ph. D. in
Engineering
Two GenerationsTwo Generations• Bengali Parents:
Ashoke, Ashima• Indian-American
Children: Gogol and Sonia
• 2nd Generation Rebellion• American or Indian
Identity?• Focus on Both
Generations
Film Form and Global Film Form and Global Identities Identities
• Clip #3
• India/U.S.
• Contrasting:
-Colors
-Landscape
-Language
-Music
Successful ChildrenSuccessful Children• Parent’s Immigration
Offers Children Education and Career
• Ashoke to Ashima: “the options are limitless”
• Gogol – Yale, Architect
• Wealthy American Girlfriend, Maxine
Father, Ashoke’s DeathFather, Ashoke’s Death
• Gogol Realizes Value of Multiple Identities
• Language and Pluralism
• Again Colors and Cultural Difference
• Clip #4
Moushumi and MusicMoushumi and Music
• Bengali, American, French
• Selfish?• Clip #5: Verdi, “La
Donna e mobile”• Music and Gogol’s
Choice• Pearl Jam, “Once”
Music Also Defines Music Also Defines Ashima’s Choice Ashima’s Choice
• Immigration and Sacrifice• Ashima’s Love for
Classical Music • Represents Her Choice to
Return to India• Bahri: “Music is of great
significance in the film . . . [the] sound of rival cultures . . . generations in collision.” 13
Nair’s WomenNair’s WomenAbout disasporic Indian women in Nair’s films:
“[They are] no longer content to fulfill dutifully their roles as custodians of tradition, these women might be said to betray a fragile social structure with their diversity of experiences and choices available to them.”
--Deepika Bahri
Mississippi Masala, 1991
• Mina (Sarita Choudhury) Lives in Mississippi Where Indian Family Owns a Hotel
• Has Relationship with Demtrius (Denzel Washington)
• Family Wants Her to Marry an Indian
SummarySummary
• Film Authorship• French Ideas of Auteurism
-Film as Art
-Director Unifies Film/Communicates Personality (World View)
-Uses Style and Theme
-Film Can Be Commercial and Meaningful
SummarySummary
• Mira Nair as Global Auteur• Her Themes:
-Diasporic Indian Culture
-Gender Roles• Represented Through Mise-en-Scene (Color),
Sound (Music), and Characters Choosing Hybrid Identities, Strong Women Resisting Traditional Roles
• The Namesake (2006)
Jonathan Rosenbaum:Jonathan Rosenbaum:
“Foreign movies have important things to teach us . . . . They’re proof positive that Americans aren’t the only human beings and that the decisions we make about how to live our lives aren’t the only options available.” Movie Wars, page 108
42
What We Learn from Nair’s What We Learn from Nair’s FilmsFilms
• Hybridity of Identity in Global World ( Example of Indian Diaspora)
• Value of Tradition (Family, Music, Food)• Value of Modernity
-Wealth from Work (Immigrant Experience)
-Right of Women to Have Same Choices as Men
44
End of Lecture 12End of Lecture 12
Next Lecture Next Lecture
The Art Film