There has been a shift in word ownership, as well as their power and resulting influence: from authors—those who produce words—to their readers and recipients, or those that receive those very same words. This is hardly a recent phenomenon of Generation Y. Popular serial publication in newspapers and periodicals in the 18th Century onwards meant that literature was accessible to the common populace. This generally meant that the authority of the author over his own work became more subject to publishers and editors, who in turn relied on perceptions of and popularity amongst the public to profit commercially.
Even in 1861, the famous Charles Dickens had to subject his famous Great Expectations to the demands of readership by being pressured into giving Pip and Estella a happier ending, contrary to his original, gloomier intentions. The later, commonly used ending which Dickens grudgingly wrote ends on the suitably ambiguous phrase “I saw no shadow of another parting from her”. This allows romantic imaginings on behalf of the reader and a more sympathetic, emotional closure for the popular and low-born Pip, who had carried a torch for the beautiful and haughty Estella since childhood, despite being cruelly used as a pawn in her quest to break men’s hearts.
However, in the current 21st Century and age of technology, social media and consumerism, words are another commodity and any attempted ownership is a particularly fleeting and flimsy endeavour. Today, most things are available for free on the Internet from literary works, like Dante’s “Inferno” to music and apps via the apple store. One could argue that the unlimited reproduction of literature, and the gradual blurring between art and popular culture erode literature’s erstwhile cultural prestige and the original author’s controlled authority over his own work. Furthermore, when personal responses, opinions or videos commonly “go viral”, it is hard to determine the origin of any conversation or control the resulting ripples that result in the far reaches of the Internet’s scope.
Roland Barthes’ The Death of the Author (1967) is a canonical text which argues against literary criticism's traditional practice of incorporating the author’s intentions and biography to interpret a text. Instead, Barthes advocates liberating the reader from “domination” by the author since “to give a text an Author” and assign it a single interpretation “is to impose a limit on that [very] text”.
This sentiment has been well adopted by those of this generation, many of whom feel like they have an intrinsic right over words in the world, as well as their producers. Take for example George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (also known as the immensely popular television series Game of Thrones)._ _Martin has often received death threats for killing off popular characters – just think of the brutality of The Red Wedding, a massacre where numerous characters including Catelyn Stark and Robb Stark were murdered – and slow writing pace, which they blame on Martin’s personal lifestyle and travels.
This reveals, perhaps disturbingly, how the public feels entitled to demand word production or creative output at our expected pace. Furthermore, in the current century, through social media and the internet, the line between personal life and public work, the creative process and the creative product are becoming ever blurred, causing an audience to feel a consumer’s right over the word-producer himself as well as the written or creative product. This certainly heralds the “death” of the author’s authority and independence.
Like what happened to the ending of Great Expectations, the claims of ownership by readers or viewers make us feel we have a right to our expectations (no pun intended) being met and the right to object and impose ourselves upon a narrative. However those in the 21st Century further their levels of imposition on an author by re-writing elements that they dislike and broadcasting them to others publically, instead of merely complaining to the author (like in Dickens’ case). There are 5,500 stories on fanfiction.net alone under the category A Song of Fire and Ice. Fanfiction can be defined as a literary subgenre where people come up with their own endings or versions of a story or create romantic pairings not in the original book or movie.
Additionally, with the advent of social media, the pressure of conformity on creative artists and producers to new, modern ideals is ever more evident. Even new Disney cartoons feel the need to re-invent the stereotypical “Disney Princess” and ideas of true love at first sight, damsels in distress and Prince Charming. In the wise words of Queen Elsa: “You can’t marry a man you just met.”
Instead, recent movies like Frozen emphasise stronger and more independent female characters. Rather than relying on a handsome prince to save the day (who in the end turns out to be a villain), Anna thaws her frozen heart and commits an act of true love by sacrificing herself to save her sister.
This progress can definitely be a step forward for gender equality and female emancipation. However, it also reveals the irrefutable pressure the viewers have on word or creative production due to commercial concerns or public popularity. This new power vested in a popular readership due to technology, allows readers to respond, alter, and proliferate words, often without jurisdiction from their origin, granting an unprecedented independence to the reader from the “domination” of the author, greatly amplifying an already existing trend.
