So what is the auteur theory? An auteur is where a single author is the primary creative force behind a text. In addition, the body of work by that author expresses the authors distinctive vision of the world.
In speaking about an auteur we went on to view some works on a current name in the industry, Joss Whedon, which I will speak about toward the end of this entry. For now, speaking on the auteur, I would like to relate some of these ideas to the work of Alfred Hitchcock.
For Alfred Hitchcock, and most of his career, it truly was his way or the highway. Looking at some of the stories that come out of some of his most famous films, it is easy to see how he is considered to be an auteur.
In the movie Psycho, possibly the most famous of all Hitch's films, there is a certain shower scene that whether or not you have seen the entire movie, there is a good chance you know the scene. At the very least, you know what happens in it. Well, in this scene, it was filmed over 70 times. It had to be done with different angles, different actors playing norman bates's mother, the blood has to fall a certain way, the way the victim screams, everything has to be perfect. He was not keen on scripts, and thought they were one of the least important parts of the film, what the actors did and how they did it, how they showed it, and so on was much more important to Hitchcock than anything else. He had an amazing ability to get so much out of his actors, which is why so many wanted to work with him.
In the process of making films, there are certain Hitchcockian elements that can be found in almost all of his films. A blonde bomb shell lead actress is one of the most glaring elements he has in most of his films. There are the concepts of the innocent man being accused of something he did not do, the bumbling police who are always late or a little too confused, scopophilia, which we spoke about earlier in the year, and the list goes on and on. The films that Hitchcock made were his. His hand was all over the production and he made sure it came out the way he wanted. He was a very gifted director and had the right to do what he wanted in his films.
Moving on to Joss Whedon. A little background on the guy first. He is a 3rd generation TV writer, whose work can be seen in such shows as "Angel", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Firefly", "Dollhouse", and "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog". In these works there are several recurring elements, such as: existentialist themes like stressing freedom of choice and responsibility for one's actions, a feminist perspective, and a core ensemble of actors.
In class we watched an episode of "Angel" and the series of Dr. Horrible episodes. We can see how these elements are found in his work.
In "Angel" he uses an ensemble cast which he brings over from the show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," since "Angel" is a spin-off of Buffy. He tends to use a formalist style in a realist setting. Meaning he uses real location and surrounding, but glorifies the story using supernatural elemenet, and so on. On the expressionist aspect of his work, the "Angel" episode was very dark, there are a lot of uses of angles in the architecture, and so forth. In another way, the script and story line is serious and somewhat dark, but he still uses comedy to break it up.
For "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," Whedon uses many of the same styles as he did in "Angel." he starts with a cast, headlined by Neil Patrick Harris. Also, like "Angel," the series is formalist set in a realist environment. The dark overtones were not as apparent throughout this show, despite the story line. The actual coloring of the show was bright and almost happy. Although, they were present toward the end as the "evil" overcame the "good." This was a comedy series that was full of one-liners and subtle humors as well as blatant comedy.
Unnoticeable in either of these examples were the use of extreme shots or angles. As he uses the characters to demonstrate feelings and emotion in the filming.
In the readings assigned with this week, there was one that stuck out in the way that can be described as joss Whedon's "personal stamp" on auteur theory. It all stems from the "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" web series. In the article from forbes.com states, "Whedon envisions producing series that could be shown as individual episodes and then repackaged as movies. The site would make money the same way Dr. Horribe did -- via downloads and DVDS." This is how I think Whedon is moving in a new direction toward putting his stamp on the auteur theory. While he used similar styles and such in previous work, he is now attempting to take a "stars-alligning" perfectly phenomenon with Dr, Horrible and using the model to start a new market and direction for creating a series to make money. If he is successful doing so, there will be an entire section of auteur theory devoted to his vision and how he has changed the industry. I think it is a great idea he has.
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