Auteur Theory is the study of a particular auteur's style and, inherently, what makes them qualify to being considering an auteur. We need auteurs in order for films to have differentiation from each other as well as developing a good variety of films to pick from. It allows film to be taken seriously as an art form with people creating shots the same way an artist can create a painting. The 'norm' behind an auteur is that they take the responsibility of the film as a whole even if that isn't necessarily the case which promotes the auteur as an individual. The increase of behind the scenes footage being released also promotes the role of the auteur as does interviews with the film directors in order to help promote a film alongside the stars. Another way that auteurs are exemplified and brought to public attention is through cult followings and fan communities who go out of their way to promote the works of a particular director and spreading their awareness.
Applying Auteur Theory to Guillermo Del Toro, we can see that he does in fact fit the definition. This films have a very distinct style and he creates far out worlds and creatures to fill his worlds with. He uses an almost fairy tale style with a very dark edge to it with the most prominent example being his 2006 film 'Pan's Labyrinth' which acts as a dark fairytale-esque story about a girl travelling between strange places and encountering horrifying monsters along the way. The first thing that came to mind when looking at the film was 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll which features the same idea except less horrifying and more whimsical. If we were to look at his other works too, we can see the use of childhood, violence and political agendas. His 2013 film 'Pacific Rim' features all these elements as he get a flashback of certain characters origins, strong violence with the manned robots fighting against giant monsters and
Examples of monsters in Guillermo Del Toro's works:
The Pale Man from 'Pan's Labyrinth'
A Kaiju from 'Pacific Rim'
Abe Sapien from 'Hellboy'
What's important to remember about Auteur's is that they have drawn influence from somewhere. Del Toro's influence clearly lie with Francisco de Goya, an Spanish artist whose style clearly is reflected in Del Toro's work. De Goya's paintings have dark colours and a generally dark tone and topics.
Francisco de Goya - 'Yard With Lunatics'
De Goya dealt with surreal imagery that always had some meaning behind it. Some of his pieces such as 'The Madhouse' and 'This is Worse' depict some horrific imagery which, despite being surreal as it subverts what we expect from art, it still has a real feeling. 'This is Worse' depicts a mutilated corpse and 'The Madhouse' features a hoard of people left to fester in their insanity. There is truth behind his bizarre vision, just like Del Toro.
'The Madhouse'
'This is Worse'
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