The way Potterheads keep repeating "but what about death of the author???" almost feels malicious at this point. You should damn well know that having Good Intentions In Your Heart does nothing to stop the material impact of your actions (like keeping the IP relevant, creating avenues for people who weren't fans before to come into the fandom, etc).
Death of the Author is not a reason to keep participating in this fandom. It's just a shitty excuse.
Death of the author is for when the author is, y’know, dead. And no longer capable of profiting off your engagement. Death of the author fundamentally cannot apply to a living author who will use every cent you give her to make the world a worse place.
What death of the author/artist actually means=you get to interpret the work however the fuck you want regardless of the creator's intent.
What death of the author/artist does NOT mean=giving attention to a work that you know the creator will use to cause harm to real people.
Could I have worded that better? Probably but that's the gist in case anyone was still confused on what Death of the author/artist means.
Good addition. A lot of people use death of the author as “support a work without supporting the author” which, yeah, is not what it means, but when treating it in that context also just straight up doesn’t work when the author is alive and profiting.
