Impact of Cinema on Social Issues: Auteur's Perspective

Auteur theory holds that, ‘a director’s films reflect that director’s personal creative vision, as if he/she were the primary author. From the earliest silent films to contemporary times motion pictures have crossed over and both entertained and educated the viewing audience. Filmmakers are one of the social interpreters reflecting and commenting about society and the times. Motion pictures can highlight social issues from economic and environmental justice, racial lines and discrimination, violence against women, worker rights, homelessness, and poverty to all forms of human rights abuses. Good films can raise awareness and be a start to addressing local and global issues. They can educate about cultures, and give a broader political, religious, or social context. For example the movie “Blood Diamond”, starring Leonardo Dicaprio, depicts a country torn apart by the struggle between government loyalists and rebel forces on the control of the diamond mining market. After the movie was released

Birth of a Nation turned out to be a controversial film because of its depiction of slavery and the Ku Klux Klan. The film was considered sexist and reinforced representations of African-Americans. It generated so much criticism and controversy that Griffith followed it with Intolerance, which showed the dangers of racism and prejudice. However, it too was deemed racist with tones of anti-Semitic and anti-Arab representations. Birth of a Nation generated so much criticism that an entire movement, race cinema, evolved to counter the negative stereotyping of