Auteur discourse and the cultural consecration of American films

This work builds on explanatory theories of cultural consecration that stress institutional agency and its discourse, in particular upon Allen and Lincoln's (2004) study of the 1990s consecration of some American sound films. It contributes new analyses of the role of auteur theory in such consecration by means of novel measures of directorial status grounded in Sarris (1968). Directorial status emerges as consequential for the volume of discourse on a film's director and on consecration itself. Directorial effects are prominent not only for auteurs but for directors regaled for excessive accommodation to the Hollywood system. Findings and theoretical lacunae focus attention in new directions, for example, toward the study of producer status and new dimensions of film discourse.