Author Functions, Auteur Fictions Understanding Authorship in Conglomerate Hollywood Commerce, Culture, and Narrative
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Author Functions, Auteur Fictions Understanding Authorship in Conglomerate Hollywood Commerce, Culture, and Narrative VOLUME I: ARGUMENTS Thomas James Wardak A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities School of English Literature March 2017 i Abstract In 1990, Timothy Corrigan identified a rising trend in Hollywood film marketing wherein the director, or auteur, had become commercially galvanised as a brand icon. This thesis updates Corrigan’s treatise on the ‘commerce of auteurism’ to a specific 2017 perspective in order to dismantle the discursive mechanisms by which commodified author-brands create meaning and value in Conglomerate Hollywood’s promotional superstructure. By adopting a tripartite theoretical/industrial/textual analytical framework distinct from the humanistic and subjectivist excesses of traditional auteurism, by which conceptions of film authorship have typically been circumscribed, this thesis seeks to answer the oft- neglected question how does authorship work as it relates to the contemporary blockbuster narrative. Naturally, this necessitates a corresponding understanding of how texts work, which leads to the construction of a spectator-centric cognitive narratorial heuristic that conceptualises ‘the author’ as a hermeneutic code which may be activated when presented with sufficient ‘authorial’ signals. Of course, authorial signals do not only emanate from films but also promotional paratexts such as posters, trailers, production diaries, and home-video special features like the commentary and behind-the-scenes documentary. These paratexts—by no means arbitrary or ancillary—are instrumental in constructing pre-textual expectations and, correspondingly, textual meaning and value. Through the exploitation of Romantic and auteurist maxims art demands an artist and the director is the film artist, the commercial projection of branded authorship sanctifies the product as unique and distinguished, rendering it irresistibly attractive to a consumer irrespective of its actual value; the bet-hedging branded author functions as an a priori guarantor of quality, which is especially important for a post-recession horizontally- integrated entertainment empire for which a film can still be a failure even if it makes dozens of millions of dollars. This thesis investigates the effect and affect of commercial brand-authorship with regards to J.J. Abrams’ authorship of Star Wars: The Force Awakens—how it manifested through a variety of media; how these media were tailored to pander to the fandom; and how online audiences responded to interviews, video- blogs, and SFX reels in order to construct their own utopian presumptive visions of the film. Yet the fetishised auteur-brand carries little interpretive weight and a sole focus on paratexts tells us even less about the textuality of contemporary authorship. Concordantly, this thesis concludes with an extensive authorial reading of Interstellar, The Hobbit trilogy, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe with an eye to how they each use their ‘authors’—and for what ends. This, in turn, leads to an expansion of Gérard Genette’s hypotheses on transtextuality and the discovery of auto-centric transtextual sub- categories: autotextuality (Interstellar), intratextuality (The Hobbit), and unitextuality (Marvel). Unlike an ahistorical auteurism that myopically valorises directorial style for its own sake, this thesis finds that there are numerous ‘types’ of authorship and that ‘Nolan’, ‘Jackson’, and Marvel’s authoriality cannot be understood without a corresponding appreciation of their industrial burdens and commercial imperatives. Constituting a dialectic on ‘authorship’ versus ‘auteurism’, Author Functions, Auteur Fictions engages with a commercialised auteurism that has evolved far beyond Corrigan’s model into a much more endemic and integral socio-economic system: the author-industrial complex. ii Acknowledgements As this is a thesis predicated upon a suspicion towards entrenched conceptions of ‘solitary’ authorship, it is only right that I acknowledge the immense support, encouragement, and guidance I received from my colleagues, friends, and family over the four years it took to complete. First of all, appreciation of the highest order goes to my supervisors Dr Jonathan Rayner and Dr David Forrest whose expert tutelage has guided me through my career and whose enthusiasm and faith never faltered, even as mine did. I wouldn’t have got nearly this far without your help and for that I am eternally grateful. Additionally, the whole system would crumble without the University of Sheffield’s tireless departmental staff—particularly Emma Bradley, Sidsel Lund, and Peter Barr, who endured my endless idiotic questions with unwavering patience. This thesis would also not exist were it not for the funding I received from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The AHRC scholarship allowed me to pursue this passion as a full-time vocation. I hope the following pages vindicate the investment. Gratitude, congratulations, and well wishes go out to my postgraduate brothers- and sisters-in-arms: Jack Cortvriend, Kate Gath, Mary Going, Sarah Jackson, Jamie Morgan, Helen Newsome, Rosie Shute, Danny Southward, Matt Voice, Peter Walters, Dan Westwood, and Rich Woodall. For the invigorating debates, welcome distractions, and drunken evenings (and the odd afternoon)—cheers. Appreciation and apologies go to Sarah Ward, Pali Gyte, and especially the eagle-eyed Joe Slawinski for enduring proofs throughout this process. Drinks are on me. And to Ian Alexander (CEO of Alexander Industries), the (ahem) ‘best looking housemate ever’ Jay Allan, Jack ‘If we’re gonna play this game, we need some rules’ Bateman, the renowned author Sam Bolton, Chris Bowman [NB: not actually a bow-man], the not-so-renowned author Matt Burgess, Maester Thomas ‘I am the competition’ Cullum, Mordor scum and real-life Spider-Man Chris Dobson, Master of Chili Sam Donaghey, the renowned author and undisputed karaoke king Tom Fletcher, (soon-to-be) Dr Dave Forbes, the renowned author Hannah Frost, the renowned author Fay Guest (or is it Faye?), Darth Ryan Hall the Wise, Headmistress Jade Horsfield, Melissa Jacobs (not so much a revolutionary as a lazy bones), the recently-engaged Ryan Jay (congratulations!), the beard-envy inducing Joe Mansfield, Isengard rat and unblinking warrior Jack Milnes, Joel Prescott—Grammaton Cleric and Dog Whisperer, Domin’egg’ Puggmur, the renowned author Rowan ‘Chocolate Baby’ Ramsden, Jack Reeves—Cola Cube, Lucozade Tablet, and Chicken Pasanda enthusiast, King Chicken and Bonnie Tyler’s #1 fan Jamie Sleight, filthy Blairite traitor and renowned kebab journalist Mikey Smith, Mike ‘Ruinz’ Stankiewicz (definitely a red), James ‘does it taste like hickory?’ Watson (moshi moshi), the renowned author Holly Wilkinson, fellow Gary fanatic Selma Willcocks, the renowned author Coral Williamson, Alex Wood (not a man but a state of mind), and anyone else I may have forgotten: thank you all for keeping me (mostly) sane—even if this paragraph appears to offer proof to the contrary. Finally, without my family I would be nowhere and no one. Dad, Mum, Rich, Laura, and Kim—thank you for everything. And to my little nephew, Ben, to whom this is dedicated: I hope you’ll forgive the lack of tractors, helicopters, and trains. Table of Contents Volume I: Arguments List of Tables v List of Illustrations v Introduction: The Author-Industrial Complex 1 Part One: Authorship in Criticism Chapter One: An Anatomy of Auteurism The Rise and Fall of the Author in Film Criticism 1.i Revolutions 17 1.ii Devolutions 28 1.iii Structures; Strictures 39 Chapter Two: Reading Authority Constructing a Strategy of Authorial Response 2.i Post-mortem 53 2.ii Tending Intention 61 2.iii Spectating Narration 74 2.iv Communities, Codes, and Great Expectations 85 2.v Consolidation—An Auteurist Epitaph 101 Part Two: Authorship in Commerce Chapter Three: Branded Auteurs Fetishising Authorship in the Cinema of Attractors 3.i Here, There, and Everywhere 113 3.ii Credit Where Credit is Given 122 3.iii Hype(r) Texts and the Paratextual Primacy Effect 150 3.iv Advertising Attractions 171 Chapter Four: Authoring From the ‘Outside’ ‘Before’ the Text, ‘After’ the Text 4.i Locating the Author 185 4.ii A (New) New Hope 188 4.iii Home Sweet Home-Video 208 Part Three: Authorship in Practice Chapter Five: Use Your Allusion Studies in Contemporary Blockbuster Authorship 5.i Standards and Practices 233 5.ii Previews and Pre-Views 246 5.iii Lights! Camera! Author? 258 5.iv Familiarity Breeds Content 284 Conclusion: The Genius of the System; The System of ‘Genius’ 295 Volume II: Appendices Bibliography 1 Spectatography 21 Filmography 23 Videography 39 Illustrations 45 v List of Tables Table 1 – Critical and commercial receptions of Francis Ford Coppola’s films, 1972-1990 (p. 135). Table 2 – Worldwide box-office Top 10 for 2014 (p. 181). List of Illustrations [NB: Figures (i.e., I.1) refer to the relevant material in Volume II’s Illustrations section; page numbers link to the related discussion in Volume I’s text.] I.1 – Directorial authorship on The Change-Up’s 2.8 – ‘here is Freddie, set apart (physically, theatrical poster (p. 3). emotionally, mentally) from everyone else’ (p. 80). I.2 – James Cameron’s possessory credit for Avatar (p. 3). 2.9 – Exodus’ poster celebrates its shared authorial lineage with Gladiator (p. 96). I.3 – Producer-as-author in Project X’s ad campaign (p. 4). 3.1 – Empire’s Bond-heavy November 2015 issue (p. 113). I.4 – Comparative authorship on the Sausage Party poster (p. 4). 3.2 – Mendes’ post-Skyfall authorial aggrandisement re: Charlie and the I.5 – Marvel Studios’ authorship of Ant-Man, Chocolate Factory (p. 114). placed at the forefront (p. 4). 3.3 – Pan’s commercial projection as pseudo- I.6 – Fox’s use of X-Men: Days of Future Past to Harry Potter (p. 119). promote Fant4stic (p. 4). 3.4 – Brooklyn’s commercialised literary I.7 – Dobkin gives way to Downey Jr. and authorship (p. 119). Duvall on The Judge’s poster (p.