26.1 The theory of films

Introduction

In this report I will be talking about two theories that address different approaches taken to making a film and to make the audience think about different things.

Auteur theory is when a director uses the same themes, characters or even actors recurring in their films.Auteur theory comes from a French publication in 1954 of Cahiers du Cinema. Cahiers du Cinema loosely translated to notebooks on cinema.

Auteur theory has been around since 1954 when a French director Francois Truffaut write an article about the state of French movies at that time. Truffaut claimed that there are no good or bad films but it actually depends on the Director. Which is tested on his imagination and tools of filmmaking. Auteur theory states that the director is more than the just conductor of the script but is more like an author, whose ideas and visions are seen in the film.

For Auteur theory I am using the examples of Tim Burton’s films.  Tim burton is in fact an Auteur director, but not every director is. Whilst watching a film of his you can tell that it is a Tim burton film as it is dark, twisted and has gothic themes.  In his films Tim Burton uses the same themes and sometimes the same actors we can see this in a few films for example in Alice in wonderland and Edward scissorhands Burton uses the same actor Johnny Depp; this is because Johnny Depp has a lot of fans and is an audience favourite and also he is also a good fit for the characters, Burton has this in mind when he is creating and choosing roles for characters. Another example for Auteur theory is the themes in his movies.

Mr Burton is known for his dark and gothic looking work as we can see in the nightmare before Christmas and corpse bride. The film that i will be analysing is ‘Corpse bride’, this film is full of Tim Burton's usual gothic and dark themes. It shows the characters as pale and almost dead looking, to portray that death is the theme of the film.

Johnny Depp is the  main character in the film and features in 7 other of Tim Burton’s films which supports Auteur theory. Tim Burton's Films all have characters who resemble each other, but they are not connected in narrative.

Feminist films are created when ideologies and social  and political movements share common goals to achieve equality socially between the sexes this is seen when myths about females are opposed and it tackles the these myths as well as myths about men. The idea of feminism in media was brought about by british theorist who studied the way women in the media were viewed by men as sexual objects. She wrote an essay in 1973 about the visual pleasure and narrative in cinema, the essay was later published in 1975 in the british film theory journal.

With feminist theory i decided to talk about a film where it shows a female protagonist on her own trying to achieve a certain goal. The film I will be talking about is the Disney Pixar animated  film, Brave, where a young princess disregards the age old tradition of all princesses having to marry to take the throne as queen; she then tries to prove herself and in the process creates obstacles that she had to resolve on her own. It the film is based in Scotland in the 10th century, things definitely were more strict when it comes to the roles of males and females especially with the idea of power. The man character is voiced by actress Kelly Macdonald who is also known for being in films like trainspotting, Nanny McPhee and goodbye Christopher Robin. The film shows the main character Merida wanting to be like her father from a young age but always being remind that she is a “lady” didn’t make it easy for her to be who she wanted to be. The film revolves around the idea of magic being real and In the film it is. I believe that this symbolises the idea of something like feminism which seemed like fiction in those times and as seen in the movie magic is real and strong and this is idea that the movie based on. In the Disney Pixar animated film the story is told by the main characters future self as the narrator through out, this allowed for any confusion during all of the commotion to keep the audience informed. In the film Merida’s parents talk about how their daughter just wants her independence, we see this when Merida’s father the king asks the queen how she would respond to Merida saying “i don't want to get married! I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the wind as i ride through the the glen, firing arrows into the sunset”. This quote shows Merida father opening up to the idea of Merida having the free will to decide what she wants to do with her life. Her mother on the other hand believed that Merida’s destiny was to follow in her footsteps and do what she needs to do to keep the nation safe ; which was to get married to a prince who had a strong army to defend them. This can be seen when the queen exclaims “Merida, you are a princess… i expect you to act like one.” this show that the mother who the audience would expect to be supportive and caring of whatever her daughter wants to do is the one who believes she should be stuck in her stereotypical ways. On the other hand Merida believed that she was in control of her own destiny and she had choices even though she was told that she couldn't make them for herself. We see this when she shouts “I am Merida descendant of Clan Dunbroch. And I’LL be shooting FOR MY OWN HAND!” This quote refers to when her suitors were having a archery match to see who would marry her. Merida seeing that this is how her life partner would be chosen she decided that that is not how she wants to live her life and chose to live her life making her own decisions.