Auteurs

Since the 50's, the Auteur Theory has dominated critical thinking about the movies in all places but a few college campuses. Although I've never seen it described this way, it's really movie criticism hijacked by the English Department, but instead of Famous Authors we get Famous Directors or Auteurs.

Auteur Theory is so pervasive, it's hard to believe it's only 50 years old.

(Once again, I'm struggling to make this believable: that people really used to think another way about things. It's easier to talk about the Middle Ages in this regard because it's a given that "it was a different time." In fact, the reverse is true: people can't think of St. Francis as a troublesome teenager singing songs (from another country - it was the "French Invasion" instead of the British Invasion) that drove his parents crazy, but it's true.)

Anyway, to describe life before auteurs, I have to talk about Tom Hanks.
People say: Have you seen the latest Tom Hanks movie? Did you like the last Tom Hanks movie?
If I say, answer quick: Who directed the last Tom Hanks movie? or, in desperation: Can you name any directors of any Tom Hanks movies? (I think you can name only one.)
Before the auteur theory, there were a lot of Tom Hanks-style actors: (going backward in time) John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin. Each one was the Tom Hanks of his day. I cannot think of a single Gary Cooper movie where he plays the bad guy. Not only that, he always played the role that the audience principally identified with. His career seems to have been micro-managed to keep his fans happy all the time.
So the Auteur Theory was developed in reaction to this mind-set.
Now we live and breathe in the world of auteurs. It's a cliche: if you talk seriously about movies, then you're talking about directors.