The Auteur as a Socio-Political Commentator: A Reading of Selected Films of Teco Benson.

Undeniably, film is a powerful and significant art form- more serious even than many other art forms. Its absence from the life of our contemporary society would most probably constitute a social catastrophe. In the words of the art historian and critic Erwin Panofsky: If all serious lyric poets, composers, painters and sculptors were forced by law to stop their activities, a rather small faction of the general public would seriously regret it. If the same were to happen with the movies, the social consequence would be catastrophic. (as cited in Quart and Auster 2). As an art form, film and society are inseparable. The field of sociology of arts has often considered the relationship between arts and society. The conclusion that ‘art is society and society is art’ (which has somewhat become a cliché) applies with double emphasis to film - “a powerful visual medium with extraordinary ability to influence the thinking and behaviour of its audience” (Ukadike 31).