ABSTRACT
Authorship is a critical component of the way many films are marketed in the media. In the case of art or ‘indie’ cinema such as that produced by Jane Campion there is a demonstrable commercial need to continue with the idea that the creative artist is the principal source of cinema expression and communication.Throughout her career there have been many different ways in which Campion has been described in the media as an auteur.These ways of understanding Campion’s auteur status are not mutually exclusive and often run alongside each other or up against each other in ways that are not always logical. Consider for example that Campion is the director of one of the industry’s most profitable crossover films (The Piano moving successfully from art cinemas to multiplexes) and yet in many media accounts she continues to be described in terms that paint her at the margins of mainstream cinema, as an oppositional voice to the vagaries of studio production. These methods of presenting Campion might vary according to the
inclination of the journalist, the anticipated audience for the media outlet, the particular film Campion is being interviewed about and so on.They may be invoked by, or attributed to, Campion herself.They circulate at different intensities, ebb and flow at different moments in her career.
