Auteur theory is an important mode of film criticism that indicates the extent of the director’s involvement in the final output of the film. As it has been previously mentioned, Spike Lee’s films express certain notions about race that emerge from his personal viewpoint as well as from his political and aesthetic beliefs. The focal point of this chapter is the auteur theory and its relativity to Spike Lee. In order to prove the connection between the theory and his works, it is necessary to refer to Lee’s biography, since both his background and distinguishable personality have contributed to his technical skills as well as to his unique style as a film director. The particular chapter will also include the synopsis as well as the technical analysis of each film correspondingly. The term auteur was introduced for the first time in the famous 1954 article “Une Certaine tendance du cinéma français” (“A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema”) , which was written by François Truffaut and was published in the French magazine Cahiers du cinema (Notebooks on cinema). Truffaut along with the editor of the Cahiers magazine, André Bazin, as well as other film critics such as Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer, and Jacques …show more content…
By that he meant that the success of an artistic project depends on the stylistic qualities of the author, and not on the work itself. Based on the specific argument, Truffaut stated in a provocative way that “there are no good and bad movies, only good and bad directors”. Thus, Truffaut praised the remarkable visual style that is reflected in the director’s body of work (the film) through a consistency of themes. He also believed that even if a film is produced collectively, the director’s artistry outshines any further interference from the film