The Auteur Theory in the Age of the Mini-Series

Abstract

Dominant in mid-century, the auteur theory of cinema elevated the director of a film to a position of artistic eminence. The theory was eroded by theoretical attacks and by the rise of big-budget computer-driven action films. This chapter explores the further decline in the auteur theory wrought by the contemporary rise of the television mini-series. Various twenty-first-century mini-series have been critically acclaimed, but in most cases, these mini-series have multiple directors. There remains an aesthetic problem: can there be an integrated work of art when there is no integrating artist?