In his article on 'Positioning
auteur theory in Chinese cinemas studies' (2007), Song Hwee Lim argued that it was necessary to explore 'the relevance of
auteur theory to the study of Chinese cinemas' as well as the its relation to 'the auteurist approach institutionalized within Anglophone academia' (Lim, 2007: 224).
Most arguments against
auteur theory are based on the simple idea that it posits the director as the author of a movie, says Morrison, a claim assailed by critics as denying the collaborative nature of cinema and maintaining a romanticized vision of individual genius around the director's role.
Some discussion of
auteur theory would have helped here, giving Decker a chance to explain why he takes this hotly debated method of readership at face value.
Motivated by the fact that these films should be studied in terms of indigenous codes and inner dynamics using
auteur theory, this paper is a critical reading of authorship in Nigerian cinema using Tunde Kelanis Saworoide (1999) and Maami (2011), and Kunle Afolayan's The Figurine (2009) and Phone Swap (2012) as case studies.
Since the 1960s and the emergence of
Auteur Theory in film studies, the recognition of film directors has found a new direction.
Far better, they say, is what American academic Walter Mead has called the "
auteur theory of foreign policy"--a foreign policy guided by a brilliant strategist, insulated from the unruly masses.
In France this was due to the preferential prejudices of those critics (who favored Rossellini over Fellini), and in the United States because of Fellini's undermining of the
auteur theory as formulated by Andrew Sarris.
Influential film critic for "Cahiers du Cinema", mastermind of the "
auteur theory" and heir to the humanistic cinematic tradition of Jean Renoir, Truffaut's gift to the world were tender love stories, exciting crime films and brilliant literary adaptations.
After an introduction that offers a succinct summary of all the main sections comprised in this book, Burnett starts with "Auteurs" whose central purpose is to explore Shakespeare and world cinema from the perspective of
auteur theory. Chapter one sheds light upon Alexander Abela's adaptations of Shakespeare, such as Makibefo (1999), a Malagasy-language production based on Macbeth and Souli (2002), a Malagasy-and French-language production based on Othello.
Exploring this assertion further requires more attention to authorial agency while of course not reverting to the Romanticisms of Andrew Sarris's
auteur theory. Janet Staiger productively draws upon Judith Butler's notion of "performative statements" in order to find a place for authorial agency after the wake of post-structuralism.