Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Authorship theory and genre theory if taken at face value mean the analysis of film using the author or genre as the main area of study. However both theories are beset with problems as well as advantages and are much more complicated than their title suggests. Their advantages and disadvantages are laid out in many debates, discussions and articles. When looking at both theories in regards to The Palm Beach Story (1941) one must take into account that some elements of each theory are more relevant than others and can therefore not be included in a study based on this film. So already we have occurred a disadvantage that is relevant to both theories in that with regards to certain films the theories have to be tailored depending on what the critic is analysing and which area. Before the 1950s the idea of authorship was unusual as the, “industrial nature of film production prevented a single authorial voice making itself heard in film.” This meant the cinema was unable to be regarded as an art. However many companies used a logo before a film and this appeared as mark or authority and in some ways a guarantee of the films artistic value. With the emergence of the idea of the author this ensured that the product was m