MOVING IMAGE CULTURE FINAL ESSAY
MOVING IMAGE CULTURE
DISCUSS AUTEUR THEORY? EXAMINE THE NARRATIVES AND MISE-EN-SCENE OF TWO OF THEMOVING IMAGE WORKS OF CHRISTOPER NOLAN AND DISCUSS WHY HE'S CONSIDERED TO BE AN AUTEUR. ALSO, DISCUSS HOW STEREOTYPES ARE REPRESENTED IN BOTH OF THE SELECTED MOVING IMAGE WORKS ?
Modern Cinema is a world of science, stories, folklore and fantasies which are brought
to reality through the ingenious lens of a director. The role of a director in this visual
storytelling is that of a captain charting course for his ship through the rough seas &
unpredictable weather. This majestic piece of art is the by-product of meticulous details;
an array of elaborate casting, screening, precise direction and exceptional artistic vision.
The director encapsulates their artistic vision through the visual representation of their
story (MasterClass, 2021), by using various techniques and equipment's such as
lighting, frame, lens, focus, camera motion & angles etc., to establish their own
distinctive artistic identity, which is a blend of their personal ideas and styles (Film
theory, 2014).
This artistic identity comprises of distinguishable recurring themes & visual cues that
embody their persona which is a reflection of their distinctive artistic vision that is
observed by the audience in all of their master pieces (Indie Film Hustle, 2021). Often
times, these types of directors that rely on their vision rather than on the performance of
their actors to bring their scripted characters to life are also called auteur. The term
auteur was derived from the Auteur theory that was published in 'Cahiers du Cinéma' in
1954 by François Truffaut (Caughie, 1981). The auteur theory asserts that the director
should immerse himself into his projects such that he becomes the main author of his
work, instead of relying on just the script, which should just be viewed as a skeletal
frame for guidance (Tregde, 2013).
The idea that "The director is God in film" (Mead, 2007) is the perfect embodiment of
Auteur theory; as suggested by Andrew Sarris, in his book The American Cinema 1929-
1968 (1968), that the director is the chief creator and architect of the film and therefore
they use their visionary personality, in order to paint the white canvas of their script with
their imaginative creativity (Sarris, 1968). This argument is further strengthened by
Francois Truffaut as he suggested that "There are no good or bad films, only good and
bad directors" (FilmMaker IQ, 2015), implying that the success of the film ultimately
lied in the hands of the director.
However. not all directors are auteurs. A director can only be considered as an auteur if
they are technically competent in their technique, meaning they possess the directorial
aptitude and talent to bring clarity and coherence to their film, while displaying
distinguishable recurring characteristic of style across all of their films, which reflects
their thinking & feelings and is considered their signature (Sarris, 1962). This work of
art also expresses the on-set tension between the directors personality and the script,
giving this work of art an interior meaning (Hillier, 1985).
The world of cinema is filled with visionary filmmakers that can be classified as auteurs,
which include Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, Satyajit Ray, Akira Kurosawa etc.,
that left their mark on the industry through their masterpieces, such as Psycho (1960),
The 400 blows (1959), Pathar Panchali (1955), and Rashomon (1950), etc.. These
directors developed techniques to create their unique visual style of filmmaking, such as
Alfred Hitchcock, who revolutionized the filmmaking landscape through thriller films
that used suspense to draw out audiences and inspired a whole new generation of film
makers such as Martin Scorsese, Tim burton, Quentin Tarantino & Stephen Spielberg
etc. to create their own unique visual style of filmmaking to give voice to their creative
brilliance (Film theory, 2014). Alfred Hitchcock introduced the idea of using silent scenes with Point of view editing, framing shots with 50mm lens on 35 mm cameras to imitate normal human vision &
macguffin (Alfred Hitchcock, 2000), which was often used by him in his films, as a
person or as an object, which would motivate the characters to pursue it but would be
irrelevant to the overall plot (Stephenss, 2022). This idea is still used by directors in
almost every modern film, a fine example of which can be seen in the film, No country
for old men (2007), directed by Con Brothers in which the bag of money is used as
macguffin, which is pursued by the two protagonists (Stephenss, 2022).
There are few Post-modern filmmakers that can be considered as an auteur, such as
Christopher Nolan, who is widely famous for directing mind bending films with a
certain degree of ambiguity in them to challenge the preconceived beliefs of his
audience and leave them perplexed in their wake. Furthermore, the shock value of his
films doesn't go unnoticed, due to his unique tendency to climax films with open
endings, in order for his audiences to decide on the ending that suits them. The finest
example of Christopher Nolan's films include The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark
Knight Rises (2012), Memento (2000), Interstellar (2014) and Inception (2010) etc.. In
all of these films Nolan tried to highlight his recurring themes that are based on
epistemological & existential ideas ranging from materialism, morality, causality,
reality, identity, distortion of memory and the concept of time etc. (Molloy, 2010).
The distinctive visual style of film making adopted by him is often depicted in bluish
overtones, due to his Red & Green Color blindness (Millerson, 2013) and is inspired by
the work of Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968) & Bryan singers (The
Usual Suspects, 1995), along with strong influence of film-noir genre (Bruno, 2007).
Christopher Nolan's visual style tends to manipulate the experience of viewers, by
exploring philosophical concepts which are incorporated by the use of hand-held
camera work, elliptical editing, documentary-style lighting, barrel roll camera technique,
and embedded non-linear & labyrinthine narratives that involves crosscutting between
different time frames to create visual clarity in his masterpieces (Furby, 2015).
One key signature trait of all his films such as The Dark Knight Rises (2012) &
Inception (2010) is the way he carries the story with scrupulous detail and deeply
thoughout psychologocal approach (Molloy, 2010) such that his films are filled with
mathematically inspired concepts and images that give it depth and texture, while
making the film intellectual, yet intriguing at the same time (Eberl & Dunn, 2017). He
does this by using various techniques, such as non-linear structure in narration or by
opening scenes in non-chronological order to give the same effect (Corrigan & White,
2015).In the ending of the film The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Christopher Nolan uses non-
linear structure to his narration to take the audience from the present scene in which
batman is talking to Commissioner Gordon, to a scene in the past through flashback,
where Commissioner Gordon is comforting a young boy, who is Bruce Wayne after his
parents death. This non-linear structure to narration gave the audience the opportunity to
understand a different perspective of the film as it connected the leading characters and
revealed the true identity of batman to Commissioner Gordon, while highlighting the
theme of time and memory and its influence on the identity of these characters (Molloy,
2010). On the other hand, Christopher Nolan uses his opening scene in Inception (2010) in non-
chronological order. The opening scene of Inception (2010), happens to be the final
scene of the film. The narrative begins with Mr. Cobb waking up in a delirious state on
the beach, trying to recall his memories of his children after being washed ashore by the
sea and is arrested by guards, who escort him into a room to meet a man, who happens
to be Mr. Saito in his old age (Inception, 2010). Then to engage the audience with the
narrative, Christopher Nolan showcases his theme of concept of time in a multi levelled
narrative as the scene is transitioned into an earlier scene from an different time period
that takes place in that same room between young Mr. Saito and Mr. Cobb discussing
the notion of implanting and extracting ideas from a person's mind (Inception, 2010).
This scene highlights the theme of distorted memory and its influence on a person's
identity & reality that is perceived differently by each individual (Furby, 2015).
Furthermore, the use of bright outdoor lighting in both the opening and ending
sequences of the film influenced the audience to bridge a connection between the Past
and the future of the film, as they were intertwined with one another (UK Essays, 2020).
In addition to that, Christopher Nolan skillfully uses contrast of light and darkness in his
films, such as black & white scenes, bleak urban settings along with the use of dark
chiaroscuro lighting in Mise-en-scène to create a deeper meaning for his audience
(Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). In the film Inception (2010), Nolan used low-key lighting and dark shading to develop a high degree of contrast between the brightest and darkest parts of the scenes to create a dramatic effect for his audience to have a surreal experience. On the other hand, in the
entire Batman trilogy, Nolan used chiaroscuro lighting to create a dark, tense and
menacing theme for the trilogy, as the city of Gotham was always displayed as a dark
gloomy city filled with crime, corruption and oppression (UK Essays, 2020).
Furthermore, to ensure that his artistic vision is not compromised, he tends shoot the
film himself, rather than deploy a second-unit, while taking total creative control of his
films writing, production, sound and direction etc. (Furby, 2015). This can also be
assessed by the fact that Nolan co-produced the soundtracks for all of his film with Hans
Zimmer after the batman trilogy that comprises of experimental soundscapes & bold
scores that have gone on to become his signature in films (Millerson, 2013). He tends to
conduct his shoots in natural settings in real-life filming locations with modern
architecture (Eberl & Dunn, 2017). He prefers using practical effects in his film rather
than CGI to make the film more authentic, while supporting the use of higher-quality,
large format films for filming (Furby, 2015). His creative genius compels him to
demand the best from his actors & crews, due to which he prefers to work with the same
entourage, such as actor Michael Caine, who has been present in all of his recent films
(Morlino, 2022). There are many stereotypes in his films such as the protagonist, who usually is an
obsessive, emotionally disturbed, lonely and morally ambiguous individual, suffering
from the loss of a loved one, such as Bruce Wayne (The Dark Knight Rises, 2012) & Mr.
Cobb (Inception, 2010), while the female character is often portrayed as an dark
character, such as Catwoman (The Dark Knight Rises, 2012) & Mal (Inception, 2010)
(Millerson, 2013). There have been many criticisms against the stereotypes depicted in
his films such as whitewashing of characters, such as Ra's al Ghul, bane & Catwoman,
who are represented in the comics as individuals from Arabic or Latin background but
the actors casted for these roles were Liam Neeson, Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway
(Nair, 2020). Furthermore, his cast in films is predominantly white, while person of color character is
usually depicted in occasional scenes as a secondary character, such as Yusuf in
Inception (2010) - playing the role of a doctor with an stereotypical indian background
and Lucius Fox's in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - playing the role of an african
american employee working in Wayne Enterprises, which reflects the underrepresenation of race & gender stereotypes within his films (Nair, 2020). Hence, the strong criticism leveled against him by film critics and society has prompted him to adopt more racially diversed cast that is free of any negative stereotypes.
In light of the above, one could conclude that Cinemaphilies, devoted to the works of
renowned auteur's conform to the theory as it is perceived by them to be organic given
that they connote common formalistic, stylistic and thematic elements in films to the
Director, crediting him as the primary creator source of the film. Thus the theory
provides sound foundational conceptual framework which is depicted in the narratives
and mis-en-scene brought forth by auteurs like Christopher Nolan.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey. 1968. [Film] Directed by Stanley Kubrick. s.l.: s.n.
2. Alfred Hitchcock, 2000. Alfred Hitchcock. [Online]
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Paul in association with the British Film Institute.
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Impossible. Jstor, p. 224.
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12. Inception. 2010. [Film] Directed by Christopher Nolan. UK: Warner bros. pictures, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy.
13. Indie Film Hustle, 2021. What Is Auteur Theory? - Definition And Examples.
[Online] Available at: https://indiefilmhustle.com/auteurtheroy/#:~:text=The%20Auteur®20theory%20argues®20that%20a%20film%20is,a%20consistent%20artistic®20identity%20throughout%20that%20director°E2%80%99s%20filmography [Accessed 04 April 2022].
14. Interstellar. 2014. [Film] Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA: Paramount
pictures, Warner bros. pictures, Legendary Pictures,Syncopy, Lynda obst Production.
15. MasterClass, 2021. Film 101: What Is Cinematography and What Does a Cinematographer Do? [Online] Available at: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/film-101-what-is- cinematography-and-whatdoes-a-cinematographer-do#what-is-cinematography [Accessed 03 April 2022].
16. Mead, S., 2007. Dangerous Days: Making of Blade Runner (Interview] 2007.
17. Memento. 2000. [Film] Directed by Christopher nolan. Venice; Italy: Summit entertainment, team todd.
18. Millerson, G., 2013. Lighting for Television and Film. Burlington: Focal Press.
19. Molloy, C., 2010. Memento. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press.
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21. Nair, A., 2020. Race Against Time: Christopher Nolan and Representation. [Online] Available at:- https://www.redbrick.me/race-against-time-christopher-nolan-and- representation/ [Accessed 04 April 2022].
22. No country for old men. 2007. [Film] Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. USA: Scott Rudin Productions; Mike Zoss Productions.
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24. Psycho. 1960. [Film] Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA/New york: Shamley Productions.
25. Rashomon. 1950. [Film] Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Japan: Daiei Film.
26. Sarris, A., 1962. Notes on the Auteur theory in 1962. s.l.:Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences.
27. Sarris, A., 1968. The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968.
1st ed. New York: Dutton.
28. Stephenss, K., 2022. Hitchcock's Influence on Modern Cinema. [Online]
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[Accessed 09 April 2022].
29. The 400 blows. 1959. [Film] Directed by François Truffaut. France: Les Films du
Carrosse.
30. The Dark Knight Rises. 2012. [Film] Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA:
Warner bros. Pictures, Legendary pictures, DC comics, Syncopy.
31. The Dark Knight. 2008. [Film] Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA: Warner
bros. pictures.
32. The Usual Suspects. 1995. [Film] Directed by Bryan Singer. s.l.: s.n.
33. Tregde, D., 2013. A Case Study on Film Authorship: Exploring the Theoretical
and Practical Sides in Film Production. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate
Research in Communications, 4(2).
34. UK Essays, 2020. Application of Auteur Theory to Christopher Nolan. [Online]
auteur-theory-to-christopher-
nolan.php#:~:text=One®20of%20the%20unique%20aspects,is%20not%20in°2
Ochronological%20order.
[Accessed 07 April 2022].
BEHIND THE SCENE
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