The Author Should "Die" Again

I must preface this piece by saying I fear it will possibly only become more relevant with age, relevance to the point where art and storytelling is damaged to the point of irreparability by no one other than those creating it. Out of concern for sounding sensationalist and existentialism, rest assured that these are my fears amplified times 100. I believe and hope that this will age more poorly than Mort Sahl’s comedy bits about Eisenhower, but nonetheless feel I need to bring to your attention.

Death of the author, is a concept first coined in the essay “La mort de l’auteur” by French literary critic and theorist Roland Barthes in 1967. The essay argues against traditional literary criticism's practice of incorporating the intentions and biographical context of an author in an interpretation of a text. He essentially argues against the idea that the experiences and biases of the author serve as a definitive "explanation" of a text. As Barthes himself states: "To give a text an author" and assign a single, corresponding interpretation to it "is to impose a limit on that text.” The author is merely a “scriptor” which Barthes uses to specifically distinguish between the terms “author” and “authority.” The scriptor exists to produce but not to explain the work.

The Wachowskis “confirming” important thematic details about The Matrix, Shigeru Miyamoto admitting that Super Mario Bros. 3 was in fact a stage play, JK Rowling changing details about the Harry Potter series whenever she feels like it. These do not feel like isolated incidents, rather the continued growth of a worrying trend. Granted they are the most high profile but not the only, and it is moments such as these that make me worry for the potential further stifling of narrative interpretation, conversation, and thematic analysis down the line.

These well-known moments of authorial intent from high profile creators is highly concerning to me, and seems to be another negative aspect of the information age. When a creator reveals the intentions and specific meanings behind their work, be it a book, a film, a video game, even a song or album, I believe that they are, to an extent, killing conversations that consumers can have about said artistic work. No longer will we be able to theorize, ponder, or philosophize about these creations amongst each other and indirectly with these creators. When we know what it means, directly from the artist’s mouth, it makes art more dull, less fascinating and captivating.

Mainstream Korean music in particular is guilty of this on a large scale. I can’t tell you how many times I end up rolling my eyes reading an article about [insert artist here] talking to [insert host here] on [insert music show here] about what these songs and albums are about. If anything, BTS music videos are an example of why authorial intent is so damaging. If RM ever “confirmed” certain details about the canon of their music videos in explicit detail, he would essentially be killing millions of conversations being held online between eagle-eyed super-fans attempting to derive meaning behind their enigmatic and symbolic imagery.

All is not lost for those of us who fear for the future of interpretation. I know I may have sounded like impending doom was upon us. It seems like the more I get into this piece the more hopeful I become.

To my knowledge Hideo Kojima has never discussed intimately specific details and intentions behind his works, in particular his Metal Gear series of games. David Lynch has outright refused to talk about the “answers” of his surreal magnum opus “Twin Peaks.” And these are just two creators I could think of off the top of my head. I am fairly certain that there are many more beyond that value the role of the consumer and understand that we are not just subjects to be lectured in a class of factually indisputable information. As Russian playwright Anton Chekhov said: "The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them."

It may be safe to say that there is more art being created today than at any previous point in our history. All of varying different mediums, scope, style, and notoriety. It is more easily accessible than ever before. Art that becomes information has a limit on the amount of things we can discuss. Sometimes the less we know the better for us and our being. I like talking about stories, and I hope that as long as I live we will continue to be allowed to do so.