Hophead: characteristics and culture

Assignment : Tarantino

Auteur theory suggests that directors place a personal stamp, imparting a unique signature style and voice to each film they make. There are several filmmakers that support auteur theory, such as Hitchcock and Spielberg. Tarantino is another filmmaker whose style is unique, and whose films are almost instantly recognizable because of their unique approach to filmmaking. In some cases, a film is characterized by its director in a way that all a person would have to say is that they are seeing a Tarantino film and it would not matter what it was about. Knowing the director is enough to brand the film, which is why auteur theory is linked to the way films are marketed (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). Tarantino is an auteur because of the way his films contain humorous violence, and the ways the scripts tend to be about revenge. The combination of violence and humor in a genuinely funny, but not slapstick, way, is singular to Tarantino, as is the way Tarantino selects punchy music that becomes integral to the mood of the movie.

However, not all directors are auteurs. Just because not all directors are auteurs does not disprove auteur theory. In fact, auteur theory is strengthened by the fact that there are some directors that have a tendency to shape films to their liking in distinct ways, conveying a unique cinematic vision, and sometimes even conveying certain themes across multiple films. Also, just because films are collaborative endeavors involving hundreds, sometimes thousands, of individuals, auteur theory refers mainly to those directors that play a huge role not just in directing itself but also with regards to writing the script, producing, scoring, and other aspects of filmmaking during which the individual makes a personal stamp. As Goodykoontz & Jacobs (2014) point out, an auteur can also maintain control over the directorial vision by choosing the script or production company, or the actors—even when they do not write or even direct the actual film.