I despise auteur theory and kind of worship culture it creates, which gives us such delights as “the Polanski letter” and Joss Whedon’s career/writing style. Before you say I just enjoy “popcorn movies” or “seeing the same things again,” I’m not keen on “movies by committee” either (i.e., I’ve never seen an MCU movie and intend to keep it that way).
My thoughts on the auteur theory can best be summed up by this video - Tommy Wiseau: The Last Auteur - Brows Held High. It’s a good summation of a bunch of Kael’s points, using Wiseau’s The Room as a thought experiment on auteurism.
I’ll have to give it a look. Thanks for sharing the video. I’ve only seen one MCU film and I have no desire to watch any others. So it’s good we can find common ground on Marvel films. I mean there’s always exceptions to every rule of where the auteur theory doesn’t always fit like 10 Things I Hate About You. It’s a wonderful little film that took the writers and hired director being in sync to create but it works as they each understood the role assigned. It also seems Disney let them do what they wanted on the film. However more often than not it’s when a singular or coupled vision is the beating heart of a production you get the most profound and moving stories. Art is a subjective concept and it would be a shame if we all liked the same things but visual literacy and the like is very important to functioning as a tolerant society.
Here’s a handful of videos for you on the subject: