A new approach on auteurs

When thinking about female auteurs, and directors, the first person who popped in my head was Drew Barrymore and her debut as a director for the movie Whip It. I have seen this movie and Drew Barrymore was the first women director I was exposed to (or at least the only one I was aware of). As I was thinking back into the film I thought about the tropes that feminist frequency spoke about, and it seems to pass the test she suggested for screenwriters and directors. I was still not sure on whether I should write about Barrymore or not, because she is a well know Hollywood actress. I looked over the question, and I feel as if I am more comfortable in focusing on Barrymore as a director and auteur, and not as an actress. The reason as to why I felt the need to be cautious with my decision was so i knew that I am not just choosing someone who has been seen as and has been in movies where females fall into the stereotypes. I wanted to choose someone who is going to be a positive influence on other women who want to direct. This is why the theory of the auteur is significant. 'Auteurism' developed in the 1950s from the critical ideas of the French journal Cahiers du cinéma and its main contributors, Godard, Truffaut, and Rohmer (Humm 96).



Sarris edited translations of Cahiers du cinéma, and in The American cinema describes the history of that cinema as the self expressive signatures of Hollywood directors rather than a collection of ideas to which these signatures were signed (Humm 96). It is very evident that Hollywood's directors tend to make a film in their way, or in their vision and when this is the case people learn things from films and this is why it is important to recognize who is the person who wrote the screenplay, who is the person who is directing this film. It may not be the intent of a filmmaker to teach audiences anything, but that does not mean that lessons are not learned (Hooks 2). When we go to the movies we, or at least I don't think of what it is I am going to watch, and what it is I will get from this movie. This is a very important issue because If we learn things unconsciously than we can definitely start to learn great things through film. Filmmaking is the most efficient, creative and satisfying form of activism (Saalfield 66). It may seem curious why I choose to write about Barrymore. When I first thought about it Whip it was not an activist movies, and Barrymore was not trying to fight against something, or was she?



Whip it is a movie about a young women who's mother is the stereotypical mom who want their daughter to compete and win beauty pageants. Bliss (the young woman) does not want to and instead wants to become part of a roller derby team instead. Throughout this movie the father and her best friend support her and in the end the mom supports her love for the rough sport. Now Barrymore is trying to send the message that girls should follow their dream of doing what they want, whether it is trying out for a sport that no girl would think of trying out for (which girls have done). Although this is a very inspirational film, there were some tropes that did show up such as the romance, but it has a different twist at the same time. Although this was Barrymore first directorial debut, I was not satisfied with the fact that she had just directed one film. I felt like there had to be more. As I researched I found on IMDB that she has directed two other films. One in particular caught my attention. She had directed a documentary in junction with MTV for a television series called Choose or Loose. Her episode was called The Best Place to Start. This short Documentary was about young kinds in high school and voting. Barrymore stated "Hi um, my name is Drew,... and I am a repressed voter." she than says "I, I wanna learn about the voting system; I wanna be a voter." (from The Best Place to Start). This is what truly caught my attention and it was one of the reasons that I took a chance in seeing other than an actress in Hollywood.



The unfortunate thing is that, as audience members of films we choose what we want to see and therefore some will not select movies that are documentaries. The real truth is that most people find it very difficult to journey away from familiar and fixed boundaries (Hooks 2). I believe that this is a reason as to why many Directors will not take a chance in directing a film where the cast is all female, and they are all the main character. Don't get me wrong there are films with those qualities, but I am hoping to keep searching for fictional films that are directed by women, and not only women, but women of different cultures, race, ethnicity. I want to read and see more screenplays written by women. A few final thoughts, Barrymore is also a producer, and does have her own production company with her friend. This shows that if she can make it why not other women. It is difficult, but I believe I can see more women as directors, and as auteurs. I want to see another Academy Award Winner that is a women, and I know I will get to see another one.

Works Cited

Almost Unreal. "Career." Drew Barrymore Web at Www.drewbarrymore.org • Drew Barrymore Web at Drewbarrymore.org • Your Ultimate Source for All Things Drew Barrymore. Fansites Network. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. <http://www.drewbarrymore.org/career/>.

Barrymore, Drew. "DrewBarrymore.com - Media Gallery - The Best Place to Start (26879 Views)." DrewBarrymore.com - The Official Drew Barrymore Site. DrewBarrymore.com. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. <http://www.drewbarrymore.com/videoqt-bps.html>.

Brownworth, Victoria A., and Barbra Findlen. "Debra Zimmerman." Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors. By Judith M. Redding. Seattle: Seal, 1997. 261-65. Print.

Brownworth, Victoria A., and Barbra Findlen. "Catherine Saalfield." Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors. By Judith M. Redding. Seattle: Seal, 1997. 66-70. Print.

"DrewBarrymore.com." DrewBarrymore.com - The Official Drew Barrymore Site. DrewBarrymore.com. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. <http://www.drewbarrymore.com/index.html>


Hooks, Bell. "Making Movie Magic." Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies. Great Britain: Routledge, 1996. 1-9. Print.


Humm, Maggie. "Ch. 4 Author/Auteur; Feminist Literary Theory and Feminist Film." Feminism and Film. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1997. 90-110. Print.


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