Penn As An Auteur: Comparing Bonnie & Clyde with Alice's Restaurant

 One major similarity between Bonnie & Clyde and Alice's Restaurant is that they both have a strong thematic focus on the societal issues of the 1960s. In Alice's Restaurant, Penn criticizes  the Vietnam War, the clash between the older and younger generations and both traditional and hippie culture. This is done mostly through the character of Arlo who is seen in scenes where he is at an army physical or with his friends in their hippie commune. Penn highlights the impracticalities and ridiculousness of both situations.  This heavy emphasis on socio-political themes is also prevalent in Bonnie & Clyde, which uses the period of the 1930s to bring forth issues that were still around in the 1960s such as gender representation, capitalism and being young in a traditionalist world. All of these themes are interconnected and relevant. The character of Bonnie summarises these themes through her untraditional representation of being a woman, being more stereotypically masculine than her male partner-in-crime, Clyde. In both films, Penn criticizes both his rebellious protagonist youths and the institutional culture they are  rebelling against. Whilst casting more sympathy on his protagonists, he still explores the issues with their ways of living with Bonnie & Clyde's criminal lifestyle ending in their deaths and Arlo's hippie lifestyle making him realise that he has no idea what he wants from life.

Penn's films do differ when it comes to cinematography however. Bonnie & Clyde uses natural lighting through the film to create a feeling of innocence, as if the characters can get away with all the crimes without any consequences. Contrastingly, Alice's Restaurant is characterised by artificial lighting, whether it be the harsh, brightness of the army physical centre or the warm lighting around Arlo's dying father in the hospital, Penn uses light to evoke a feeling of entrapment. Arlo is trapped by his legal obligation to serve in the army, he is trapped by the chance of inheriting Huntington's from his father and he is trapped by the hippie lifestyle he has which is both unwanted in America and stopping him from finding out who his own sense of identity. Another difference between the two films is through the dynamics of the plot. Bonnie & Clyde is filled with big events such as the police shootout in the forest or the several bank robberies throughout the film. However, in Alice's Restaurant, the plot meanders through circumstance, reflecting the life of the travelling hippie; temporary and unsure of itself. Key events in Alice's Restaurant are built up throughout the film, like the deaths of Arlo's father and of Arlo's friend. In that way, both films use cinematography to enhance their plots and ideas but Penn explores each film by using contrasting techniques and features.

Using these comparisons, Penn can be seen as an auteur. Both Bonnie & Clyde and Alice's Restaurant have clear themes pertaining to Penn's criticisms of the 1960s where American society was divided between tradition and progression. In both films, whilst using different techniques, he does use cinematography to enhance these themes, engaging the audience with an element of realism through the use complementary elements of film form. Whilst his work isn't as instantly recognisable as Hitchcock or Bergman, for instance, Penn has a strong identity within his films, using them as vehicles for his own opinions. In that sense, he is certainly an auteur.