Steven Spielberg : Postmodern Auteur And Constructor

At a very young age of eight, David Fincher’s passion for cinema grew when he was inspired by the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Born in 1962 Denver, Colorado, David Fincher moved to Ashland, Oregon in his teens, where he graduated from Ashland High School. During high school, he directed plays, designed sets, and managed lighting after school. One summer, he and a friend attended the Berkley Film Institute’s summer program, where he hoped to learn film as a true art form but instead was taught the technical production. Either way he was happy to engage is this and as his early film industry career started, he was a production assistant at his local television news station. Years went by as he directed propaganda films followed by becoming a well-known music director until his first movie feature debut Aliens 3 in 1992. However, the American director David Fincher didn’t become a modern 21st century visionary until his creation of the film Se7en (1995). The huge success from this film started Fincher’s popularity in the film industry. From there he continued to make ironic movies we know today such as: Fight Club (1999), Zodiac (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), Gone Girl, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that,

Steven Spielberg used classic linear storytelling in his movies, the narrative in most of his movies were Plot driven and very effective. He is a storyteller always mindful of holding his audience. Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of today. He is master in taking stories and incidents from the past and and rejuvinating them with his own potential.

Peter Benchley wrote "Jaws" the novel before it was made into a film directed by Steven Spielberg. "Jaws" is a thriller/horror with the main aim being to build up suspense and tension. When making the film Jaws Steven Spielberg had to face the challenging task of translating Benchley’s popular novel into a hit movie whilst still maintaining the suspense created through the many textual devices used by Benchley, such as language techniques and sentence structure. Spielberg managed use different camera angles and shots alongside lighting effects to create atmosphere and tension to pretty much the same effect. In the background he uses music and sound effects to add to the dramatic visual images he creates.

In the film industry, there are directors who merely take someone else’s vision and express it in their own way on film, then there are those who take their own visions and use any means necessary to express their visions on film. The latter of these two types of directors are called auteurs. Not only do auteurs write the scripts from elements that they know and love in life, but they direct, produce, and sometimes act in their films as well. Three prime examples of these auteurs are: Kevin Smith, Spike Lee and Alfred Hitchcock.

In 1962, an American film critic, Andrew Sarris, wrote the “notes on the auteur theory.” He stated that the “first premise of the auteur theory is the technical competence of a director as a criterion of

Released in 1975, Jaws was probably one of the best adventure, action, and suspense films of that era. Directed by Steven Spielberg with the following staring main cast members Roy Scheider as "Martin Bordy" (chief police officer), Richard Dreyfuss as "Matt Hooper" (marine biologist), Robert Shaw as "Quint" (local fisherman), Murray Hamilton as "Larry Vaughan" (town mayor). "Jaws" the movie, is not like any other any other fish story. The film is about a gigantic 26 foot shark that has an appetite for people; how horrifying is that? The unusual story takes place on the seasides' of Amity Island. When Chief Brody uncovers the partial body of a teenage girl with shark like bites, Chief Brody contacts a shark specialist to verify if the bite

The term Auteur seems to bless a privileged group of filmmakers with an almost messiah-like legacy. Men such as Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford and Fritz Lange are believed to inhabit the ranks of the cinematic elite, and not surprisingly most critics are more than willing to bestow upon them the title of Auteur. By regarding filmmaking as yet another form of art, Auteur theory stipulates that a film is the direct result of its director's genius. With the emerging prominence of auteur based criticism in the 1950?s, the role of the director became increasingly integral to a film's success. However most would argue that this form of criticism didn't reach its apex until 1960s, when Andrew Sarris released his

An auteur is a filmmaker whose movies are characterized by their creative influence. Garry Marshall is an American filmmaker, he has directed more than 15 films in his career. Garry Marshall’s films The Princess Diaries, Valentines Day and Overboard share a common theme of love and a genre of romance and comedy, he likes to use the same actors in his films and have the common plot of a double twist. Garry Marshall likes to keep to the same character persona and film techniques but these generalized similarities are not obvious to the audience, therefore Garry Marshall is not a recognizable Auteur.

The career of Steven Spielberg has been vast. Spanning five decades, he has crossed genres with more success than most of his contemporaries. In the grand scheme of cinema I believe that those who are drawn to his masterful work can be categorized into two groups. This partition between the two revolves around his seminal classic Schindler's List and separates his career into two parts. While his films, early and recent alike, follow common themes; there is also a subtle divide. These themes ranging from the lost boy to obsessions to family issues have been orchestrated throughout the majority of his films. For the purpose of this essay let's call them Pre-93 and Post-93: the former being prior to 1993 and Schindler's List, the latter being everything 1993 and on. The aforementioned themes, along with significant moments within the director’s personal life, paint a picture of a man evolving within his work.

The film industry has always been somewhat of a dichotomy. Grounded firmly in both the worlds of art and business the balance of artistic expression and commercialization has been an issue throughout the history of filmmaking. The distinction of these two differing goals and the fact that neither has truly won out over the other in the span of the industry's existence, demonstrates a lot of information about the nature of capitalism.

Auteur Theory is based on three premises, the first being technique, the second being personal style, and the third being interior meaning. Furthermore, there is no specific order in which these three aspects must be presented or weighted with regard to a film. An Auteur must give films a distinctive quality thus exerting a personal creative vision and interjecting it into the his or her films.

It is hard to imagine a person who has not heard of Steven Spielberg. He is one of the most renown, if not the most renown, American filmmakers of the century. His films have captivated and helped develop imaginations of contemporary society and remain among the most successful films ever made.

Though Jaws is one of his most successful films, it was nearly shut down due to delays and budget over-runs. However, Spielberg went ahead with

The art of film made it’s way into the penetration stage around the turn of the century and remained there until