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Auteur Theory Film Analysis

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Introduction

In this essay, I will assess Stanley Kubrick's competence in shaping and influencing

directorship in his films. The paper will mostly consider the director's ability to implement his

own cinematic style through numerous inventive techniques, including his ability to use different

techniques such as sound, camera, and editing techniques. According to the inventor of the

Auteur Theory, Andrew Sarris, one of the major qualities of an Auteur is that the director "needs

to exhibit certain recurring characteristics of style which serve his signature over a group of his

films." As such, this paper will look at Kubrick's attributes as a director in the following films,

Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut, and The Shining to demonstrate how he uses different

aspects of directorship that exhibits style and personal vision.

Behind every studio lies a director with a vision for a particular film. The director is able

to give a film a distinctive quality or meaning the film might possess. Many films, whether live

action or animated, short of feature length films are extensively guided by a director from script

to its finalization, and are all considered parts of the work of a director. Auteur Theory, on the

other hand, has been influencing the criticism of films since 1954 when it was supported by film

director and critic Francois Truffaut. This type of film analysis mainly involves reading and

analyzing films through the symbol of an auteur (author), who is the director of the film. In short,

instead of a film being viewed as a cooperative or industrial product, Auteur Theory identifies a
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film with its director, who is regarded as the ultimate creative force behind the film (Buckland,

2016). Also, this theory facilitates the platform to analyses the cinematographic skills the

director has in terms of applying different devices to make the film more entertaining and

educative. For example, the issue of incorporating music in films has been practiced for long in

the cinema industry, but the most interesting element about this feature is how the director is in a

position to shift the rhythms in accordance to the scenes or the message in the film. Kubrick was

also an exceptional director based on the camera moves that he incorporated in films. The steady

cam was among his favorite styles that he used in his cinematography and this was quite unique

from any other style that the artists or directors of his time ever used. Only the remarkable films

such as star wars: the return of the Jedi, have used similar techniques in their film. His steady

cam was a criteria to create a sort of suspense as well as tension and in some scenes, it resulted to

unexpected surprises. Kubricks use of camera techniques also resulted to the creation of some

scenes that seemed quite natural to the viewer.

Therefore, to be recognized as an Auteur, a film director must achieve technical

competence in the way they produce films, especially in regards to how the films look, feel as

well as their interior meaning. Stanley Kubrick, who is considered as one of the best film

directors in the world in regards to the Auteur Theory, has elevated not just as a leader among

film directors but also as an artist who is able to create a personal style and personality in his
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films. This essay will analyze some of Kubrick's works according to the Auteur theory, that will

reveal some of his best techniques in creating feature rich films.

Considered as one of the greatest American filmmakers, Kubrick's films have been

known for their amazing and unique cinematography, attention to detail, realism and beautiful

soundtracks. In most of the films, Kubrick does not use time compression or montage but shows

the whole process as the scene unfolds, instead of the fast paced norms of most Hollywood

filmmakers. However, Kubrick still manages to capture the attention of his viewers nonetheless.

As an auteur, the techniques employed by Kubrick can often be difficult to emulate since most of

the techniques he developed as his career progressed. However, one thing that remains clear is

that he developed these skills as he lived and worked on his own terms, often disagreeing with

anyone who tried to get in his way, particularly in regards to his creative choices and personal

views. As a result, most of his techniques are unique from industry standards and try to offer the

audience a much fulfilling experience guided by his vision and personal views. For instance, due

to his early fascination with photography, Kubrick heavily focused on visual arts and perspective

in his films, and is today highly recognized for his one-point perspective shots, in which the art

direction of a scene, action, and camera movement lead the audience attention to a very specific

point.
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For example, in the film The Shining, he uses an unusual shot in the film, by placing the

camera directly below Jack Nicholson, giving the viewers a different and unique perspective of

the scene. By filming him from an almost entirely vertical angle, Kubrick uses the technique to

shift the attention of the audience to the frightening mood of the scene. According to him, a film

should be more like music than like fiction, which means it should be a progression of moods

and feelings. Besides, Kubrick also believed that if can be written, or perceived, then it could be

filmed. As such, the cinematography in his films is always original, striking and artistically

pleasing, often making use of strong primary colors or sharp contrasts between black and white.

The Shining is about a recovering alcoholic writer Jack Torrance, who finds a job as a

caretaker of a remote, snowbound Overlook Hotel in Colorado. However, Jack losses his sanity

as he tries to kill his wife and their telepathic son Danny, actions that seem to be driven by

phantoms that haunt the hotels ballroom. However, what makes the film such an enjoyable film,

that has driven many people to have their own interpretations is its unsettling tones and densely

detailed visuals that make the audience unusually attentive. As an auteur, Kubrick directed the

shining with an ambition and seriousness that transcends the common course of many horror

films. Even though it is not an entirely a horror film, the shining manages to score as one of the

most frightening horror films.

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Known for his attention to detail, Kubrick spent a considerable amount of effort and time

in directing the film Eyes Wide Shut in order to ensure that it turned out exactly the way he

wanted it to be. This is evidenced by the amount of detail that was taken while modeling the

couples apartment, to building up the entire city of Manhattan as portrayed in the film. With this

level of attention and detail paid to every aspect of the film, Kubrick managed to produce the

film exactly the way he envisioned it to tell a love story.

By looking at Kubricks films, we are able to find themes that recur and which may offer

insight into some of the most driving factors behind his films. For instance, the film Eyes Wide

Shut covers some very familiar topics in our daily lives, despite doing so in a very different and a

more nuanced way. As an auteur, Kubrick managed to produce a film that was able to cover the

first and the final scenes that provides the audience with an incredible insight into how the

central theme of the film unfolds. For example, the opening scene of Eyes Wide Shut shows how

Alice is preparing to get ready for a night out. The image in this scene is striking as the camera

places the audience in a position of a voyeur, enabling them to see her through the next room

from behind.

As she begins to shed of her clothes, the viewers are struck by a certain sense of

anticipation that Kubrick gives upfront, the guilt and pleasure that the audience anticipates

quickly fulfills their desire as their character is removes her clothes before even a single word is
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uttered in the film. At this moment, Alice exits the scene, so much for the audience, since in as

much as she enthused the audience, she is only in the scene to be looked at, that is an object of

desire, the controlled subject of what according to Datta, (2015) is known as the male gaze.

Kubrick uses her to build the theme of the effect of beautiful women on male fantasy that runs

throughout the film. Jumping to the final scene, we are able to a shot of Alice in a similar

situation, as she wears makeup and dresses preparing to go out, only that this time she is no

longer a subject of voyeurism.

However, one important change in this scene from the initial one is how Kubrick uses the

same scene to show how Alice is now not only an object of male desire, but is also in control of

her relationships and her sex life. She has transformed from being an object of male fantasy,

under the control of voyeurism and male fantasy, unpowered and defined only by her look, to

being a sexually dominant and empowered party in a r4elationship. As an auteur, Kubrick

manages to effectively chart the unconscious shift in power between a loving couple.

On the other hand, Kubricks 1971 film, A clockwork Orange, which although was based

on a novel, he managed to make the movie his own by changing the material to better suit his

style and intention for the film. As an auteur, Kubrick took an artistic approach to creating the

film, which involved taking charge of the creative vision of what he wanted to portray and fulfill

in the film. According to Sarris, an auteur should be able to have their own distinguishable style
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as well as a sense of interior meaning in the films they direct (Datta, 2015). These attributes were

quite distinct and apparent in A Clockwork Orange as well as his other films. For instance, he

uses cold colors to create an atmosphere that is bleak and radiates an isolating feeling to the

audience. Nonetheless, in his film making, Kubrick was keen to integrate some of the key themes

and literary devices evident in the poem into the film. His aim here was to keep the film

connected to the novel.

In directing A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick adopted an artistic approach as a means of

pointing out contrasts and occurrences. This was evident throughout the film. For instance, the

sculptures, paintings, and mannequins are not only incorporated into the film for aesthetic

purposes but also serve a greater purpose, which is to provide some artistic representation. This

is one of the reasons why Kubrick is regarded as an auteur. Throughout the film, he is able to

make the grotesque look beautiful and the beautiful look ludicrous, given how he treated good

and evil occurrences in the film. For example, in the Korova Milk Bar scene, where Alex and his

clique gather to have some milk, mannequins of beautiful naked women with brightly colored

wigs surround the room. The use of such props in the film serve an important purpose of

showing the symmetry between innocence and impunity. The milk in this scene serves as a

symbol of innocence while the naked women in different sexual positions symbolize

transgression. Kubric therefore proves that artistic devices such as symbolism are also applicable

in films as they are in poetry.

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Besides, Kubrick also uses art and music as a technique for normalizing violence in

different scenes in the film. A good example is a scene where Alex is trying to rape Mr.

Alexanders wife. He starts to sing Singing in the Rain as he goes on to mock or imitate Gene

Kelleys dance moves in the musical. By doing so, the scene becomes somewhat comical. The

same technique is also evident when he tries to kill the cat lady. As an auteur, Kubrick also

employs the use of art in the film as a way of showing that it can be used as a tool to better

understand the world in a more authentic and realistic way. For instance, when Alex says that It

is funny how the colors of the real world only seem real when you viddy them on the screen,

(Kubrick, 1971) he eventually realizes that his violent actions towards those he interacts with are

not a game. Besides, in relation to duality, Kubrick also shows that art can be used as a tool for

one to detach themselves from the world, that uses art as an escape. In his cinematographic work,

Kubrick understands the need for incorporating music in films, which in not just for making the

movie more entertaining, but also ensuring that the audience understands the meaning of some

scenes. The shifts in rhythms clearly put emphasis on the most critical areas where Kubrick

wants the audience to focus and contemplate on the next scene.

Conclusion

By looking at the different aspects of his skills as a director of the movie, one central

question that arises amidst all of it, that is the duality of meaning in what most scenes try to
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portray. In some way, Kubrick is able to expose significant levels of polarity in A Clockwork

Orange some of which have been discussed above. As such, it is not possible to discuss all the

different perspectives of duality that generate different meanings in the film from one point of

view. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why Kubrick is considered an auteur, given how A

Clockwork Orange has its own distinct style and a sense of inner meaning. Kubrick does an

extraordinary work by adopting a story from a novel, then coming up with appropriate

cinematographic propagation that not only proves to be successful, but also acknowledges the

need to include some literary elements. The use of music in the film is exceptional in such a way

that it emphasizes on certain themes or scenes that the audience should note.

References

Buckland, W. (2016). The Film Critic Between Theory and Practice;(Or: What Every Film Critic

Needs to Know). Film Criticism, 40(1), AB1.

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Datta, S. (2015). INVOKING LOVE, DEATH AND AN ELSEWHERE. Rituparno Ghosh:

Cinema, Gender and Art, 29.

Kubrick, S., McDowell, M., & Burgess, A. (1971). A clockwork orange (2-disc special ed.,

Widescreen.). Burbank, Calif.: Warner Home Video.

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