Abstract
Genre and auteurship are frequently seen to be incompatible. Where genre has its own “supervisory” function necessitating some adherence to convention through the repetition of significant elements, auteurship is understood to be about originality, the director marking out unique characteristics identifiable as patterns from one film to the next (Cook and Bermink, 1999, 137–38). When auteurs take on genre films, they are expected to reinvent and repackage them so that they conform to certain art-house conventions.1 When auteurs do reinvent and repackage, the use of genre becomes part of a coherent career path. Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim (2013) destabilizes this approach because it is a genre film that does not seemingly reinvent genre, and, as a result, a close reading demands a reconsideration of the relationship between genre and auteurism. This chapter examines Pacific Rim as a challenge to dominant theoretical approaches to both genre studies and auteurism and proposes that del Toro should be read as a “geek auteur.”
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Altman, R. (1999), Film/Genre (London: BFI).
Bender, S. (2003), Greasers and Gringos: Latinos, Law, and the American Imagination (New York: New York University Press).
Braccia, N. (2002), “Freaks and Geeks: Talkin’ the Net, Monsters and Movies with Guillermo del Toro,” Feoamante, http://www.feoamante.com/Movies/Inter–views/delToro/deltoro–pg1.html (accessed January 12, 2014).
Chang, J. (2013), “Film Review: ‘Pacific Rim,’” Variety, July 7, http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-pacific-rim-1200535260/ (accessed January 14, 2014).
Cook, P., and M. Bermink, eds. (1999), The Cinema Book, 2nd ed. (London: BFI).
Crawford, S. (2013), “Pacific Rim,” Eye for Film, July 10, http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/pacific-rim-2013-film-review-by-stuart-crawford (accessed January 14, 2014).
Debruge, P. (2013), “Do Critics Have the Wrong Idea about ‘Pacific Rim’ Director Guillermo del Toro?” Variety, July 15, http://variety.com/2013/film/news/do-critics-have-the-wrong-idea-about-pacific-rim-directorguillermo-del-toro-1200562916/ (accessed January 14, 2014).
Franklin, M. (2012), “Internet-Enabled Dissemination: Managing Uncertainty in the Film Value Chain,” in D. Iordanova and S. Cunningham, eds., Digital Disruption: Cinema Moves On-line (St Andrews: St Andrews Film Studies), 101–16.
French, P. (2013), “Pacific Rim—Review,” The Observer, July 14, http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/14/pacific-rim-review-philipfrench (accessed January 14, 2014).
Gómez-Peña, G. (2005), “El Archeotypal Greaser,” in Ethno-techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy (New York: Routledge), 221–22.
Goss, B. M. (2009), Global Auteurs: Politics in the Films of Almodôvar, von Trier, and Winterbottom (New York: Peter Lang).
Grant, B. K., ed. (2008) Auteurs and Authorship: A Film Reader (Malden, MA: Blackwell).
Jenkins, H. (2008), Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press).
Kermode, M. (2008), “Guillermo del Toro Interview at BFI Southbank,” The Guardian, April 6, http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2008/apr/06/guillermo-del-toro-bfi-southbank (accessed January 14, 2014).
Lussier, G. (2013), “Guillermo del Toro Confirms ‘Pacific Rim 2’ Is Still Alive and Being Written Now,” SlashFilm, October 13, http://www.slashfilm.com/guillermo-del-toro-confirms-pacific-rim-2-is-still-alive-andbeing-written-now/ (accessed February 9, 2014).
Peiss, K. (2011), Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press).
Romney, J. (2013), “Pacific Rim: America vs the World? Big Mistake,” Independent, July 13, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/jonathan-romney-on-pacific-rim-america-vs-the-world-bigmistake-8707465.html (accessed January 14, 2014).
Sanders, W. (1994), Gangbangs and Drive-Bys: Grounded Culture and Juvenile Gang Violence (New York: Aldine de Gruyter).
Sconce, J. (2006), “Smart Cinema,” in L. R. Williams and M. Hammond, eds., Contemporary American Cinema (Berkshire, UK: Open University Press), 429–39.
Shaw, D. (2013), The Three Amigos: The Transnational Filmmaking of Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuarón (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Stewart, A. (2013), “‘Pacific Rim’ Looking Grim with $25 Million–$35 Million Opening,” Variety, July 9, http://variety.com/2013/film/box-office/pacific-rim-looking-grim-with-25-million-35-million-opening-1200560676/ (accessed January 14, 2014).
Tasker, Y. (2006), “Fantasising Gender and Race: Women in Contemporary US Action Cinema,” in L. R. Williams and M. Hammond, eds., Contemporary American Cinema (Berkshire, UK: Open University Press), 410–28.
Taylor, G. (2007), “Pure Quidditas or Geek Chic? Cultism as Discernment,” in J. Sconce, ed., Sleaze Artists: Cinema at the Margins of Taste, Style, and Politics (Durham, NC: Duke University Press), 259–72.
Troper (n.d.), “Used Future,” TVTropes, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UsedFuture (accessed January 14, 2014).
Wood, R. (2007), “Ideology, Genre, Auteur,” in B. K. Grant, ed., Film Genre Reader III (Austin: University of Texas Press), 60–74.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2014 Davies, Shaw, and Tierney
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thornton, N. (2014). Pacific Rim: Reception, Readings, and Authority. In: Davies, A., Shaw, D., Tierney, D. (eds) The Transnational Fantasies of Guillermo del Toro. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137407849_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137407849_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-48826-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-40784-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)