The release of The Other Side of the Wind calls into question some of the basic tenets of film theory and film academia in that it is a film that is essentially impossible to credit to a single auteur because of the death of its director decades before the film’s release. This thesis seeks to reconcile the fundamentals of the auteur theory, by returning to its origin in the pages of Cahiers du cinema and in the writing of Andrew Sarris, with this curious film object, credited by its distributor as a film by Orson Welles. Because an auteurist question is only one that can be resolved by an auteurist reading, this thesis travels the length of Welles’s filmography to attempt to create a composite image of what a film by Orson Welles is, and to compare this image to the released version of The Other Side of the Wind.
","abstract_html":"<p>The release of <em>The Other Side of the Wind</em> calls into question some of the basic tenets of film theory and film academia in that it is a film that is essentially impossible to credit to a single <em>auteur </em>because of the death of its director decades before the film’s release<em>. </em>This thesis seeks to reconcile the fundamentals of the auteur theory, by returning to its origin in the pages of <em>Cahiers du cinema </em>and in the writing of Andrew Sarris, with this curious film object, credited by its distributor as a film by Orson Welles. Because an auteurist question is only one that can be resolved by an auteurist reading, this thesis travels the length of Welles’s filmography to attempt to create a composite image of what a film by Orson Welles is, and to compare this image to the released version of <em>The Other Side of the Wind</em>.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sawyer, Hunter M"],"institution":"The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York","degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Master","degree_discipline":"Liberal Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Leah Anderst"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-02-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-02-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:59:38Z","subjects":["Film and Media Studies","Orson Welles","The Other Side of the Wind","The Auteur Theory"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3584","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Leah Anderst"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sawyer, Hunter M"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-02-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Liberal Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Film and Media Studies","Orson Welles","The Other Side of the Wind","The Auteur Theory"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3584"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The release of The Other Side of the Wind calls into question some of the basic tenets of film theory and film academia in that it is a film that is essentially impossible to credit to a single auteur because of the death of its director decades before the film’s release. This thesis seeks to reconcile the fundamentals of the auteur theory, by returning to its origin in the pages of Cahiers du cinema and in the writing of Andrew Sarris, with this curious film object, credited by its distributor as a film by Orson Welles. Because an auteurist question is only one that can be resolved by an auteurist reading, this thesis travels the length of Welles’s filmography to attempt to create a composite image of what a film by Orson Welles is, and to compare this image to the released version of The Other Side of the Wind.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["“In the same figure, like the king that’s dead”: The Phantasmic Authorship of The Other Side of the Wind"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Leah Anderst"],"dc:creator":["Sawyer, Hunter M"],"dc:date.available":["2021-02-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The release of The Other Side of the Wind calls into question some of the basic tenets of film theory and film academia in that it is a film that is essentially impossible to credit to a single auteur because of the death of its director decades before the film’s release. This thesis seeks to reconcile the fundamentals of the auteur theory, by returning to its origin in the pages of Cahiers du cinema and in the writing of Andrew Sarris, with this curious film object, credited by its distributor as a film by Orson Welles. Because an auteurist question is only one that can be resolved by an auteurist reading, this thesis travels the length of Welles’s filmography to attempt to create a composite image of what a film by Orson Welles is, and to compare this image to the released version of The Other Side of the Wind.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3584"],"dc:subject":["Film and Media Studies","Orson Welles","The Other Side of the Wind","The Auteur Theory"],"dc:title":["“In the same figure, like the king that’s dead”: The Phantasmic Authorship of The Other Side of the Wind"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Liberal Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"],"thesis:institution_name":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:59:38Z"}