Difference between revisions of "Howard Hawks as Auteur (Discussion)"

From Screenpedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
(added student responses)
Line 3: Line 3:
 
#How does Sarris characterize Hawks' visual style?
 
#How does Sarris characterize Hawks' visual style?
 
#What does Sarris mean by "professionalism" and how have we seen that in Hawks's films?
 
#What does Sarris mean by "professionalism" and how have we seen that in Hawks's films?
 +
#*'''Student response:''' For Hawks, professionalism defines a man's masculinity. The Hero in Hawks' films pride themselves on their professionalism. How good they are at what they do. In only Angels Have Wings, Geoff Carter is a pilot who's only focused on doing his job well and is fully committed to it under any circumstances. (Especially a woman).
  
 
==Peter Wollen (in ''Theories of Authorship'')==
 
==Peter Wollen (in ''Theories of Authorship'')==
Line 23: Line 24:
 
'''Group 4:'''
 
'''Group 4:'''
 
#What function does language serve in Hawks's comedies?
 
#What function does language serve in Hawks's comedies?
 +
#*'''Student response:''' According to Perkins, language brings confusion, not comprehension. Words are used to foil a person asking a question, and make them feel confused about their own inquiry. In Ball of Fire, verbal language brought on confusion for the Professor who was trying to discover slang meaning, but when it came to the relationship between Sugarpuss and the Professor, body language was more evident - even though the Professor was always searching for the right words to define his feelings.
  
 
===Lee Russell (Peter Wollen)===
 
===Lee Russell (Peter Wollen)===
 
'''Group 1:'''
 
'''Group 1:'''
 
#How does Russell characterize the Hawksian group?
 
#How does Russell characterize the Hawksian group?
 +
#*'''Student Response:''' Russell describes the most vital social group in a Hawks' film as "exclusive, self-sufficient, [and] all-male." They are united by their profession, which is typically a stereotypically manly pursuit. Members of the group must excel at what they do, and once a member of this group, the only way to lose membership is to violate the group's code. In Only Angels Have Wings, the pilots are this close-yet-stoical all-male group. They live by certain rules, such as not speaking of pilots who have died, blaming pilot death on "not being good enough"--tactics to build up the pilots' courage. And failings of courage violate the code, as was the case with the pilot who bailed out of his plane but left his mechanic to die. His only way to reenter the group comes with a dramatic display of bravery.
 
#What aspects of Hawksian "professionalism" does Russell discuss?
 
#What aspects of Hawksian "professionalism" does Russell discuss?
  
Line 33: Line 36:
 
#Wise sees Bonnie Lee in ''Only Angels Have Wings'' as the quintessential "Hawksian woman." What characteristics does she see associated with the Hawksian woman?
 
#Wise sees Bonnie Lee in ''Only Angels Have Wings'' as the quintessential "Hawksian woman." What characteristics does she see associated with the Hawksian woman?
 
#Wise maintains that Hawks's films "frequently show a merging of sexual roles for the benefit of both sexes" (113).  What does she mean by this? Have you seen evidence for this in the films we've watched?
 
#Wise maintains that Hawks's films "frequently show a merging of sexual roles for the benefit of both sexes" (113).  What does she mean by this? Have you seen evidence for this in the films we've watched?
 +
#*'''Student response:''' Naomi Wise’s meaning, as she states, is that “the women learn certain ‘masculine’ values while the men become ‘feminized’.”, and that, “Frequently, the men have more to learn (and gain) than the women, who are already mature at each film’s beginning…..The men tend to suffer from emotional blocks that keep them from full self-realization, while the women need merely to adjust to a particular situation.” I’ve seen some of this evident in films such as Ball of Fire, with the presence of Sugarpuss causing the professors to adjust, and essentially, learn a new way of dealing and interacting with her presence so out of the ordinary for them. This is also prominent in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, where merely everywhere the women go throughout the film, they have a profound effect on the men from their beauty and charisma.
 
#In the end, Wise claims that "a central theme throughout Hawks is the shedding of sexual roles" (118).  Do you agree?
 
#In the end, Wise claims that "a central theme throughout Hawks is the shedding of sexual roles" (118).  Do you agree?
  

Revision as of 16:20, 27 February 2009

Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema

Group 3

  1. How does Sarris characterize Hawks' visual style?
  2. What does Sarris mean by "professionalism" and how have we seen that in Hawks's films?
    • Student response: For Hawks, professionalism defines a man's masculinity. The Hero in Hawks' films pride themselves on their professionalism. How good they are at what they do. In only Angels Have Wings, Geoff Carter is a pilot who's only focused on doing his job well and is fully committed to it under any circumstances. (Especially a woman).

Peter Wollen (in Theories of Authorship)

All Groups:

  1. Wollen writes, "...by a process of comparison with other films, it is possible to decipher...a structure which underlies the film and shapes it.... It is this structure which auteur analysis disengages from the film" (146).
    • What does he mean by a "structure"? On the next page, he puts "Hawks" in quotation marks and refers to it (him?) as a structure. Discuss what he means by this.
  2. A lot of this essay contrasts the work of Howard Hawks with that of John Ford. What "master antinomy" does Wollen seen in Ford's work (what what does "antinomy" mean?)?

From Howard Hawks American Artist

Jacques Rivette

All Groups:

  1. What is the relationship of Hawks's comedies and dramas?

André Bazin

Group 4:

  1. How does Bazin defend the auteurist emphasis on the director?

V. F. Perkins

Group 4:

  1. What function does language serve in Hawks's comedies?
    • Student response: According to Perkins, language brings confusion, not comprehension. Words are used to foil a person asking a question, and make them feel confused about their own inquiry. In Ball of Fire, verbal language brought on confusion for the Professor who was trying to discover slang meaning, but when it came to the relationship between Sugarpuss and the Professor, body language was more evident - even though the Professor was always searching for the right words to define his feelings.

Lee Russell (Peter Wollen)

Group 1:

  1. How does Russell characterize the Hawksian group?
    • Student Response: Russell describes the most vital social group in a Hawks' film as "exclusive, self-sufficient, [and] all-male." They are united by their profession, which is typically a stereotypically manly pursuit. Members of the group must excel at what they do, and once a member of this group, the only way to lose membership is to violate the group's code. In Only Angels Have Wings, the pilots are this close-yet-stoical all-male group. They live by certain rules, such as not speaking of pilots who have died, blaming pilot death on "not being good enough"--tactics to build up the pilots' courage. And failings of courage violate the code, as was the case with the pilot who bailed out of his plane but left his mechanic to die. His only way to reenter the group comes with a dramatic display of bravery.
  2. What aspects of Hawksian "professionalism" does Russell discuss?

Naomi Wise

Group 2:

  1. Wise sees Bonnie Lee in Only Angels Have Wings as the quintessential "Hawksian woman." What characteristics does she see associated with the Hawksian woman?
  2. Wise maintains that Hawks's films "frequently show a merging of sexual roles for the benefit of both sexes" (113). What does she mean by this? Have you seen evidence for this in the films we've watched?
    • Student response: Naomi Wise’s meaning, as she states, is that “the women learn certain ‘masculine’ values while the men become ‘feminized’.”, and that, “Frequently, the men have more to learn (and gain) than the women, who are already mature at each film’s beginning…..The men tend to suffer from emotional blocks that keep them from full self-realization, while the women need merely to adjust to a particular situation.” I’ve seen some of this evident in films such as Ball of Fire, with the presence of Sugarpuss causing the professors to adjust, and essentially, learn a new way of dealing and interacting with her presence so out of the ordinary for them. This is also prominent in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, where merely everywhere the women go throughout the film, they have a profound effect on the men from their beauty and charisma.
  3. In the end, Wise claims that "a central theme throughout Hawks is the shedding of sexual roles" (118). Do you agree?

Bibliography

  1. Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema, 52-56.
  2. From Theories of Authorship, John Caughie, ed. (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981):
    1. Peter Wollen, "The Auteur Theory," 138-151.
  3. From Howard Hawks American Artist, Jim Hillier and Peter Wollen, eds., (London: British Film Institute, 1996):
    1. Jacques Rivette, "The Genius of Howard Hawks," 26-31.
    2. André Bazin, "How Could You Possibly be a Hitchcocko-Hawksian," 32-34.
    3. V. F. Perkins, "Hawks's Comedies," 68-71.
    4. Lee Russell (Peter Wollen), "Howard Hawks," 83-86.
    5. Naomi Wise, "The Hawksian Woman," 111-119.