#auteurism

[dontbestingybaby]

“The patriarchal premises of auteurism and the peculiar development in which the concept of the auteur has been theorised in film studies have restrained many feminist film critics from discussing women in relation to auteurism. According to Mayne, ‘whether authorship constitutes a patriarchal and/or phallocentric notion in its own right raises the specter of the ‘Franco-American dis-connection’’ [95]. Within this framework of discussion, American theorists consider authorship a form of feminist appropriation of cinematic culture, while French/Anglo theorists ‘would find ‘authorship’ and ‘appropriation’ equally complicitous in their mimicry of patriarchal self, expression, and representation’” [95]

from “The Importance of Being a Film Author: Germaine Dulac and Female Authorship” by Rosanna Maule

Additional citation: [95] - The Woman at the Keyhole by Judith Mayne

[titleknown]

So, I read an article I hated. Nothing new, if you know me, but the way I hated it crystalized me realizing some things that I may as well t

An article I posted on Pillowfort (Linked to avoid getting zapped by Tumblr's dumb search filters) about an article saying it was about AI art that was really about Vocaloids and "secondary creatives," why it annoyed me, the nature of art and auteurism, and why it matters.

Shoutout to @sam-keeper and @mostlysignssomeportents, in that I overtly shouted them out in this essay!

[theparisreview]

In anticipation of Casablanca’s seventy-fifth anniversary this year, I’ve made a sustained attempt to reappraise the significance of the film and its illustrious afterlife—in particular how the film, which involved so many European-refugee actors and studio professionals, resonates in the current political climate, with the increasing turn to the right, toward protectionism and isolationism, and a global refugee crisis of a similar scale.

The Reluctant Enthusiast: Orson Welles on Casablanca.

[kinoaugust-blog]

January 9, White Hunter Black Heart (Clint Eastwood, 1990) Knowing that Jonathan Rosenbaum and other great critics wrote so highly of this film, I was really eager to see it for a long time, but somehow I only managed it now, as a part of this project. I truly enjoyed the thrills of Mystic River and the stylish darkness of Million Dollar Baby, but this film is on another level. Eastwood plays a strong-willed, independent filmmaker John Wilson - actually John Huston - who travels to Africa to shoot his new film, but rather concentrates on hunting elephants than anything else. The approaching film’s cast also includes real life inspired characters, most importantly Pete Verrill - based on Peter Viertel the screenwriter of both this film and Huston’s The African Queen. Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and even Lauren Bacall as his spouse have their equivalents. John Wilson’s somewhat philosophical thoughts on machismo, film-making and life show an obvious similarity between Eastwood and John Huston. As Rosenbaum points it out, the greatness of Eastwood’s performance is how he balances between his own star persona and what he thinks of Huston the result of which is just as self-analytical as a commentary on the legendary director. Apart from these auteurist aspects, it is a film of great landscape cinematography, fine supporting cast and an insightful look at classic Hollywood film-making, interfered by untalented producers and blessed by eccentric geniuses. 

[titleknown]

I will say, as a leftist, I really hate how the most common leftist perspective on how to deal with the problem of Art Under Capitalism isn't "Work to make collective art viable outside of corporate hell," but rather "Bring back auteurism as the dominant mode of creation, because the public will ruin the art it gets its hands on in a way that empowers capitalism."

This salt brought to you by me reading this dogshit article that; to perhaps glibly sum it up; presents Vocaloid as the death of art because it disempowers singular auteurs in a way that conflates corporate producers with the community of artistic creators.

[titleknown]

...Not to contribute too much to the other side of obnoxious discourse but like...

Do we all remember how much we thought Thor 2 and Iron Man 2 sucked, because they were very clearly designed-by-committee filler and more for building up to an event movie than being worthwhile as films, and were seemingly totally scrubbed of any auteur spark at all?

Cause, like, it feels weird that; to my knowlege, the MCU has seemingly degenerated into an entire cinematic universe of Thor 2s and Iron Man 2s* and nobody ever talks about it in that sense...

*Unless you’re Taika Watiti or James Gunn, or that one person who made Black Panther.

[titleknown]

I found a translated interview with the guy who actually created Mega Man, Akira “A.K” Kitamura, which is really neat and I think y’all should read.

Apparently, after creating some amazing cult classics like Little Sampson and Cocoron after he left Capcom during the production of Mega Man 2, he pretty much disappeared from gaming altogether.

I’d love for him to maybe try his hand at Kickstartering a game, god knows it’d probably be better than Mighty No 9...