No worries - I tend to think it's a bit wanky to try and force fandom to use any other language than what it usually uses very effectively, so if I'd set out to write this as meta I would've wanted to go about it differently. But this this was in a conversation already talking about literary theory, and the point's not even new except in how it works with various theoretical approaches, so I was doomed!
t's fairly understandable to me that it happens because when we have conversations about fanworks, we largely ARE critiquing other people's interpretations.
I think you're right about this - it's the nature of the game that fandom can't change the facts of what was on screen, but there is something to be 'won' or 'lost' in establishing the orthodoxy around what it means - ie. shaping the narratives that fandom then runs with for pleasure.
I will say that the most egregious misapplication of 'Death of the Author' that I've seen is...
Hee! Yes, that's always fun. With Joss it gets particularly ridiculous, because he contradicts himself the whole damn time anyway. (If I were being generous, thinking about it, I would say that was him trying to force people to think beyond his authorship... But I'm pretty ungenerous about Joss these days, so mostly just assume it's because he's a wanker who says what he thinks people want to hear at any given time. ;) )
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Date: 30/07/2012 20:21 (UTC)t's fairly understandable to me that it happens because when we have conversations about fanworks, we largely ARE critiquing other people's interpretations.
I think you're right about this - it's the nature of the game that fandom can't change the facts of what was on screen, but there is something to be 'won' or 'lost' in establishing the orthodoxy around what it means - ie. shaping the narratives that fandom then runs with for pleasure.
I will say that the most egregious misapplication of 'Death of the Author' that I've seen is...
Hee! Yes, that's always fun. With Joss it gets particularly ridiculous, because he contradicts himself the whole damn time anyway. (If I were being generous, thinking about it, I would say that was him trying to force people to think beyond his authorship... But I'm pretty ungenerous about Joss these days, so mostly just assume it's because he's a wanker who says what he thinks people want to hear at any given time. ;) )