Can there be such a thing as a musical auteur?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

A quote from Pauline Kael about auteur theory:

"The auteur theory originally meant something quite different from what people understand it to mean now. What it originally said was that a director conferred value on a film -- that if a director was an auteur, all of his films were great. I think the public never understood that, and neither did most of the press. It was an untenable theory, and it fell from sight ... It's sometimes discouraging to see all of a director's movies, because there's so much repetition. The auteurists took this to be a sign of a director's artistry ... But for all the director's movies to be alike in some essential way can also be a sign that he's a hack."

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:01 (twenty-three years ago)

Mmmm. I read this on Salon today and was wondering about it also. My understanding of the auteur theory (I suppose the popular opinion) is that it means that the director of a movie is the true "author" of a film - not the screenwriter, or anyone else. But I guess Kael is saying that the theory originally meant that the "auteur" label for a director was a sort of mark of quality and that there are some distinguishing elements that run through all the director's films.

I think Kael's take on it is easier to translate into a musical context. Substitute "film director" with "producer," and take, for example, Phil Spector. You get into trouble if you try to apply the other, popular definition of "auteur theory" to rock/pop producers. It might work slightly better for classical conductors, but not much.

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Luke Haines is a musical Auteur. Ha ha! Geddit?

TMFTML
http://intonation.blogspot.com

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:34 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm with you on how I had seen the auteur theory. I like her definition more, actually. I like how flimsy it is, and the unbelievable amount of faith placed in the artist (kind of reminiscent of the classical music essay on Salon in that way).

Can a musical auteur only be a producer? Can an artist or songwriter be one as well?

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Pauline Kael was a hack. After all, takes one to know one.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 22:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Let's up the critical argument even more: She's rubber and yr glue!!!

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 22:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Sticks and stones may break my bones but Yancey will never hurt me.

Seriously, I'm amazed why anyone ever took Pauline Kael wrote seriously. And yes, I did mean to use the word seriously twice in the preceeding sentence.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 22:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't make monkeys, I just train 'em!

Anyway: Why wouldn't I take Kael seriously? Her writing was fantastic (the word lively comes to mind), and her opinions I always found interesting. Her taste was a nice blend of populism and art-house love. I always keep For Keeps handy next to the shitter (and I know the joke you will make with that).

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 22:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Seriously, I'm amazed why anyone ever took Pauline Kael wrote seriously.

Have you ever read Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (I think that was it), where Warren Beatty brought her to Hollywood in the 1970's so she could fall on her face, and people in Hollywood would stop caring what she wrote?

― Vic Funk, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 22:46 (twenty-three years ago)

until hstencil says something more substantial than "but she sucks," just ignore it. I plan to take my own advice after this post.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 22:57 (twenty-three years ago)

so, the critic didn't work out on the other side of the industry. what's the surprise/problem with that? the one has nothing to do with the other.

― bucky wunderlick (bucky), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 22:59 (twenty-three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.