Deck 14: Film Authorship

Question 1

Auteur theory emerged from French film critics' study of ________.

A) American literature
B) Japanese cinema
C) American cinema
D) Japanese literature

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Auteur theory proposes that the ________ is the primary creative source for a film.

A) star
B) screenwriter
C) producer
D) director

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Who among the following was NOT a vocal advocate auteur theory?

A) Andrew Sarris
B) Pauline Kael
C) François Truffaut
D) André Bazin

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Osumane Sembene turned to filmmaking in part because ________.

A) he realized many of his fellow Senegalese were illiterate
B) he wanted to become a part of the thriving Senegalese film industry
C) he wanted to bring the great works of Senegalese literature to the screen
D) all of these

Question 5

The early auteur critics did NOT ________.

A) extol the work of French writer-directors
B) argue for the artistry of Hollywood directors
C) disparage Hollywood films as assembly-line mass entertainment
D) argue that directors should be viewed as authors of their own films

Question 6

In the marketing campaign for the film United 93,Paul Greengrass was characterized as a (an)________ writer/director.

A) compassionate and socially aware
B) exploitative "badboy"
C) sterile and objective
D) politically liberal

Question 7

What director best exemplifies Tim Corrigan's argument of how Hollywood's blockbuster approach to filmmaking has exploited the concept of the auteur?

A) Alfred Hitchcock
B) George Lucas
C) Orson Welles
D) Martin Scorsese

Question 8

Studying Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker demonstrates how a critic could use the auteur theory to pursue a scholarly understanding of a director's body of work by exploring the influence of ____.

A) historical circumstances
B) another director
C) literature
D) the screenwriter

Question 9

Universal released a "director's cut" of Orson Welles's ________ in 1998,basing the changes to the original release on notes outlined by the director in a detailed memo written to the studio written before the film's original release.

A) Psycho
B) Touch of Evil
C) American Graffiti
D) Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Question 10

What American film critic is chiefly responsible for popularizing auteur theory in the United States?

A) Pauline Kael
B) John Simon
C) Wes Anderson
D) Andrew Sarris

Question 11

The case of Ousmane Sembene demonstrates how the auteur critic can ______________________.

A) look at how atypical films fit into the director's ouvre
B) consider how biographical details influence a director's work
C) argue that the auteur can exist only in a non-industrialized film culture
D) study the tension between a filmmaker's national origin and the style he develops to cultivate an international audience

Question 12

________ would be considered an auteur.

A) John Wayne
B) John Ford
C) Andre Sarris
D) Pauline Kael

Question 13

Alfred Hitchcock's career epitomized the director as auteur because ________.

A) his studio gave him complete control over his own features following the success of Rear Window
B) he was an artistic genius who flouted the profit-oriented studio system
C) he became famous for making adaptations of critically acclaimed literature
D) he used his celebrity status to market his films

Question 14

Auteur theory emerged from the culture of ________.

A) post-WWII France
B) wartime Italy
C) pre-WWII Germany
D) post-WWII Great Britain

Question 15

Early auteur critics championed ________.

A) directors working within the Hollywood studio system
B) directors making internationally recognized European "art films"
C) screenplay adaptations of literary classics
D) stars acting in adaptations of literary classics

Question 16

Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum states that Universal Studios agreed to the idea of restoring Welle's Touch of Evil to ________.

A) emphasize the collaboration with his cinematographer
B) show Welle's artistic vision
C) "get more value out of an old chestnut" for financial gain
D) none of the above

Question 17

Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa made a name for himself internationally with the release of ___________________.

A) Chunking Express
B) Moolaadé
C) Rashomon
D) gendai-geki

Question 18

Cahiers du Cinema is/was ________.

A) an influential film journal
B) an important production company
C) a famous movie theater in Paris
D) the official association of French film critics

Question 19

Which of the following would NOT be used as a criterion to evaluate the work of an auteur according to the American version of the theory?

A) the auteur's demonstrated ability to change her thematic and stylistic approach from one film to the next
B) technical competence
C) the auteur's recognizable and consistent "personality" from film to film
D) an "interior meaning" evident from film to film

Question 20

The promotional materials for United 93 neglected to mention the fact that the film's director,Paul Greengrass had ________.

A) directed a spy thriller that trades on excitement generated by violence
B) directed an earlier version of the film as a student filmmaker
C) directed an romantic comedy that contained a sub-plot about terrorism
D) directed campaign ads for politicians who supported the US entry into war in 2003

Question 21

Pauline Kael argued that Orson Welles demonstrates the fallibility of the auteur theory,because screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz is just as responsible for Citizen Kane's brilliance as Welles .

Question 22

Despite being an animated film,Fantastic Mr.Fox has much in common with Wes Anderson's earlier live action comedies like The Royal Tenenbaums.

Question 23

Where did Akira Kurosawa develop his unique approach,which emphasized the film frame as a two-dimensional canvas?

Question 24

François Truffaut favored Hollywood films over the French cinema's tradition of quality adaptations of literary masterpieces.

Question 25

Kathryn Bigelow is noted as a contemporary auteur for her idiosyncratic romantic comedies.

Question 26

What two directors have had a profound influence on Kathryn Bigelow's work,including her film The Hurt Locker?

Question 27

Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr.Fox demonstrates how auteur critics value a director's ability to explore new stylistic devices and subject matter from film to film.

Question 28

The shift to a corporate entertainment environment in the 1980s and 1990s eradicated the hope that Hollywood could cultivate a culture of the film auteur.

Question 29

Orson Welles's career illustrates how a director embraced by the public as an auteur could use this popularity to wield control within the Hollywood studio system.

Question 30

While the notion of the auteur is popular among film critics,industry insiders generally do not acknowledge its importance because it creates no additional commercial appeal for a film.

Question 31

Wes Anderson's obsession with carefully dressing his characters in distinctive clothing is part of his artistic signature.

Question 32

Kathryn Bigelow's war film The Hurt Locker reveals the influence of both Sam Peckinpah,famous for his bloody Westerns,and Douglas Sirk,famous for his melodramatic 'weepies."

Question 33

Peter Wollen argues that the meaning of any text may exceed the intentions of the person or people who created it.

Question 34

Describe (in 1-2 sentences)ONE of the commonly used arguments against the auteur theory.

Question 35

When they were marketing United 93 (one of the first films to tackle the terrorist attacks on September 11,2001),why did studio heads try to hide the fact that director Paul Greengrass had directed two entries in the extraordinarily popular Bourne trilogy?

Question 36

Fantastic Mr.Fox marked a dramatic departure for director Wes Anderson.How?

Question 37

In 1-2 sentences,briefly describe how an "average" director differs from an auteur director,according to François Truffaut's 1954 essay,"A Certain Tendency in French Cinema."

Question 38

François Truffaut feared that French cinema of the 1950s was in danger of becoming dull and trite,like American cinema.

Question 39

The auteur theory emerged from the cultural milieu of postwar Italy.

Question 40

Describe how Auteur Theory came about. Be sure to note the geographical region in which it developed,the time period and some key figures.

Question 41

Identify and describe two ways a film scholar could use the auteur theory to study the work of a director. Use an example from a film screened in class to support your ideas.