So are you of the Barthes "The Death of the Author" school of thought, at least in regards to the added canon that JK Rowling is doing?
The people on this website absolutely should not and cannot be trusted with “the death of the author” concept because there are only a select few people on this website who understand the core difference between “this is my interpretation of this work” and “this is the only interpretation of this work” which so easily leads to “this is the only interpretation of this work and fuck you for ever thinking otherwise I hope you kill yourself while your family watches”.
Which is inherently bad in and of itself but then you add that to the fact that tumblr is so unabashedly selfish when it comes to representation that they’ll strip what was meant to be representation for someone else just so that the concept fits them too.
And again, from a pure interpretation standpoint, there’s nothing wrong with anyone thinking something represents them while someone else thinks it represents them. Something like:
“Hey, I’m queer and I think the song Bohemian Rhapsody really represents my struggle.” “Hey, I’m suicidal, and I think the song Bohemian Rhapsody really represents my struggle.” “Hey, my mom just murdered someone yet somehow I’m responsible for making her cry and I think the song Bohemian Rhapsody really represents my struggle.”
What’s not fine is when you get stuff like, oh, I don’t know:
“Well, in my opinion, Holmes was written to be asexual/aromantic and he and Watson had a friendship that surpassed most male friendships during this time-period as they were able to show emotion and confide in one another, going against forms of toxic mascul—” “PFFFT GAY THEY’RE FUCKING GAY, YOU HOMOPHOBE, SHERLOCK WENT DOWN ON HIM 10 TIMES A DAY, THEY’RE G A Y!”
It’s that selfishness, that refusal to admit that there are other interpretations, that makes “The Author Is Dead” trope so dangerous on this hellsite because people will not only unabashedly reject the person who made the work they allegedly love, they’ll go one step further by claiming their interpretation is the only interpretation while bashing anyone else who says otherwise.
And soon, without anyone there to argue the author’s original intentions, representation and intent end up disappearing. And I get it, sometimes that’s a great thing. How JKR managed to write a whole series without thinking Harry would be a great teacher is beyond me. But sometimes, it’s fucking terrifying, because tumblr doesn’t know when to stop stripping away for their own personal gain.
The first time I was ever introduced to this concept on this site was years ago when there was a picture of an art piece where a man and a woman were holding the quivers of this combo-bow-and-arrow and were leaning back and they had to stay in their positions or else their arrows would strike the other. Since the woman was leaning farther back, the ‘edgy’ caption was that it was a symbol of how women had to carry more emotional weight. I reblogged with the artist’s name, trying to explain that the piece was so much more than some seventh-wave feminist interpretation. It was the artist’s way of showing trust in a relationship because if either of them slipped up, it would destroy them both, so they had to work together to make sure they got through this. And I got a bunch of pretentious sixteen-year-old edgelords screaming, “The author is dead” and mocking me for trying to argue that she wasn’t.
It’s early, it’s daylight savings time, time confuses me, and I want ginger ale so I’m ending it here with a:
TLDR: You can have your interpretations, you can even consider them canon, but don’t give this hellsite the freedom to kill off a person’s interpretations, even (especially) if that person was the original author.
Or, to put it best using a quote that I love:
THE AUTHOR IS NOT DEAD, MERELY SOMEWHERE ELSE!
That’s a concept I can get behind!
Also I didn’t know where to put this part but don’t any of you look at my books in ten years (period, just don’t in general) and say, “The main character has CP because I said so.” “…But the author said she has Spina Bifida.” “The author is dead.” “The author’s sitting right over there drinking chocolate milk with a crazy straw.” *Blows bubbles as I wave* “THE AUTHOR IS DEAD!”
romaincrisis
titsay
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
kaledo-art
snowghoul
