就其本身而言,作者论从来就不是电影的一种理论,虽说这一理论的开山祖也并未这样声言过。《电影手册》的作者们老是谈到“作者政策”,而将它译为“作者论”似乎是安德鲁·萨里斯的责任。他在一篇题为《论1962年的作者论》的文章中评论道,“为了避免引起混乱,从今以后,我将把‘作者政策’简称为作者论。” For its part, the author theory has never been a theory of cinema, though the ancestor of the theory did not claim it. Authors of the Film Handbook always talk about “author policy,” and interpreting it as “author’s” seems to be the responsibility of Andrew Saris. In an essay entitled “On the Author Theory of 1962,” he commented: “In order to avoid confusion, I will shortly refer to the author policy as the author from now on.”