摘要：Throughout the twentieth century, American films were not only a potent site of reflection, contention, provocation and contemplation of social, political, and religious mores, but also of the search for identity in the world. There were, additionally, a number of films that attempted to outline the character of the artist. Some romanticized the artist’s life—one can think of Donald Sutherland’s portrayal of Paul Gauguin as an almost tragic hero in A Wolf at the Door (1987), or the doomed anti-hero of Jeffrey Wright’s Basquiat (1996). Others, such as Legal Eagles (1986) and I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), recreated the milieu of the art world, especially that of New York City. This presentation provides a comparison of A Wolf at the Door to Basquiat and Legal Eagles to I Shot Andy Warhol to reveal a deep-seated set of notions about artists and art, Modernism and Postmodernism to which the film industry of the last years of the twentieth century may be viewed as a response. The films capture traditional American views not only on the nature of the artist, but also larger issues; indeed, these films purportedly present to the viewer insights into the origins and manifestations of human creativity.
