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Collaborative Authorship in Stanley Kubrick's Films

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Collaborative Authorship in Stanley Kubrick's Films Voices and noises: Collaborative authorship in Stanley Kubrick’s films Manca Perko Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of East Anglia School of Art, Media and American Studies January 2019 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived therefrom must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract This thesis sets out to challenge the mythology surrounding Kubrick’s filmmaking practice. The still dominant auteur approach in Kubrick studies identifies the director’s filmmaking practice as autonomous, with little creative input from his crew members. Following the recent shift in research that focuses on the collaborative nature of Kubrick’s working practice, I argue for a different perspective on creative practice in film production. The working process in Kubrick’s crews is shown to exhibit strong collaborative features and to encourage individual creative input. This thesis is based on the examination of historical evidence acquired from the Stanley Kubrick Archive in London and an extensive collection of mediated and personally conducted interviews with Kubrick’s collaborators. The historical discourse analysis employed in this thesis is rooted in New Film History methodologies and, with its findings, leads to an alternative perspective on film history. The challenge to the accepted view (or myth) of Kubrick is achieved with the use of discourse sources from production and from the archive, presented in the form of stories from pre-production to the promotion stage of film production. The outcomes of the research reveal other ways in which Kubrick collaborated and these alternative perspectives are then used to build an argument around collaboration in Kubrick’s films. With its focus on challenging Kubrick mythology by revealing the unheard voices in the production process, thereby challenging the common perception of them as ‘noise’, this thesis questions the applicability of authorship theory to the study of filmmaking practice. As such, it represents an important original contribution to the field of Kubrick studies. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 6 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 7 Authorship ................................................................................................................ 13 Classic auteur theory ......................................................................................... 13 Variations/contexts of authorship ....................................................................... 16 Modern approaches to authorship ...................................................................... 19 Collaborative authorship ........................................................................................ 20 Kubrick Studies: Authorship and collaboration .......................................................... 22 Textual analyses ................................................................................................ 24 Adaptation studies ............................................................................................. 26 Biographies and complete/combined works ....................................................... 28 Industry studies/production contexts .................................................................. 31 Methodology and thesis structure .............................................................................. 33 Chapter one: Origin stories ................................................................................ 47 Origins ...................................................................................................................... 49 Forming collaborations .............................................................................................. 55 Perception(s) of a shared vision (sociocultural approach) ....................................... 56 Divide et impera ................................................................................................ 63 Mentoring .......................................................................................................... 66 Collisions .......................................................................................................... 73 Hierarchy of individual power (socio-cognitive approach) ..................................... 77 Exploitation and undermining the status ............................................................. 78 Negotiations: Combining socio-cognitive and sociocultural aspects ....................... 81 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 83 Chapter two: War stories .................................................................................... 85 The creative environment .......................................................................................... 88 ‘Against all odds’ and heroes ..................................................................................... 93 Tests and ordeals – the road of trials ...................................................................... 94 Restrictions, rules and limitations (politics, economic and social conditions) ...... 99 Emotional engagement as a pendulum of collaboration and fighting for autonomy ............................................................................................................................ 104 The reward: ‘Triumph of the will’ and the lesson learnt ....................................... 109 3 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 113 Chapter three: Practical stories ......................................................................... 116 Full Metal Jacket .................................................................................................... 119 Pre-production ..................................................................................................... 120 Research and planning ..................................................................................... 124 Creating the set ................................................................................................ 128 Production: Originality, experimenting and decisions .......................................... 134 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 142 Chapter four: Post-production stories ............................................................... 145 Trust in developing the material: The laboratories ................................................... 147 Editing film ............................................................................................................. 152 Help with special/visual effects, grading and corrections...................................... 159 Editing sound: Music ........................................................................................... 169 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 176 Chapter five: Promotion stories ........................................................................ 178 The initial issues with A Clockwork Orange ............................................................ 179 Issues on rating.................................................................................................... 181 Advertising/promotion of A Clockwork Orange ....................................................... 191 Theatrical promotion: Trailers, film posters ......................................................... 193 Print: Advertisements in newspapers and magazines ............................................ 197 TV, radio advertisements ..................................................................................... 200 Promotional material ........................................................................................... 202 Promotional tours and interviews ......................................................................... 205 Distribution ............................................................................................................. 207 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 208 Conclusion: Hidden behind the noise ............................................................... 211 Findings .............................................................................................................. 214 Limitations of the study ....................................................................................... 220 Implications and recommendations for further research ....................................... 221 Appendices ...................................................................................................... 225 Interview 1 .......................................................................................................... 225 Interview 2 .........................................................................................................
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