Word of God or Death of the Author?

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Arcadia's legacy
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Word of God or Death of the Author?

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Postby Arcadia's legacy » Sun Aug 20, 2017 7:08 pm

Which of these do you prefer to go with when viewing both Evangelion as well as other fiction?
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Re: Word of God or Death of the Author?

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Postby imprimatur13 » Sun Aug 20, 2017 7:36 pm

Hmmm... A mix. I accept Anno as authority on a lot of things, but sometimes I don't know if he's telling the truth or not :). That is, I think sometimes he's actually trying to confuse the reader, and so I take everything he says with a grain of salt. Especially when it comes to NGE, I take the view that just about everything has meaning (no matter what Anno & Co. say).
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Re: Word of God or Death of the Author?

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Postby Reichu » Sun Aug 20, 2017 9:02 pm

I also go for the holistic approach. Why stick to one method when you can use several different information-collecting and -weighing techniques, each with their own pros and cons?

I used to be a real canon nut, but nowadays I find the concept of canonical tiers mostly useful for designating the parameters of a conversation. This helps provide focus and reduce miscommunication. So if a thread begins by asking a question where it is implicit that EoE is being counted, then it can be assumed from the get-go that the pre-EoE version of the show is not relevant and shouldn't be brought up in most cases that an OA enthusiast might be tempted to. Likewise, if a thread assumes from the start that concepts from NGE2 count, then it is obviously not a good thread for rambling about how NGE2 destroyed the mystery and yadda yadda. If a conversation begins with the disclaimer that what follows is head canon, then everything is fair game. In other words, context is important; set your "canonometer" accordingly.
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Re: Word of God or Death of the Author?

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Wed Aug 23, 2017 5:11 am

I honestly don't know if you can really discuss one absent the other. Auteur Theory is useful for discussing intention, Death of the Author is useful for discussing interpretive conclusions.

A good filmmaker usually doesn't have the two conflict with one another. Usually.

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Re: Word of God or Death of the Author?

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Postby Joseki » Wed Aug 23, 2017 5:29 am

Generally speaking I'm a death of the author guy, I try to put the opera in the right context and then answer the questions I believe it raises, I think about it until I have a somewhat clear picture and only then I search for other interpretations or the opinion of the author to have a more wide view.
I tend to value my own conclusions more than the author's opinion however, we are two different human beings with different backgrounds so my conclusion, if proved by a strong reasoning, is as valid as the one of the author.

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Re: Word of God or Death of the Author?

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Postby Chuckman » Wed Aug 23, 2017 4:11 pm

Canon is an artificial limitation on storytelling, and is the product of a capitalist-consumptive model of fiction that strictly dictates a line between creator and consumer with the former given almost divine provenance over the latter. It's especially toxic in the science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction community. This is thanks to an near requirement that one prove one's self loathing over being a nerd to fit in with the in-groups there.

Even worse this toxicity is spreading to everyone and turning millennials into the irony generation, but I digress.

A creator wants to explain what he was feeling or thinking during the creation of the work? Fine. That's still their view of it but the feelings, recollections, connections, and allegories that come to the person interacting with the text are equally valid. A creator's own interpretation of the work shouldn't be ignored, but shouldn't be given primacy either, and if it's not in the work, even if it's in a script or stage directions or notes or a first draft, it's only relevant in talking about the creative process rather than the meaning.

Appealing to the creator's intent, in an argumentative'logical sense, is just an appeal to authority. You're not "right' in your interpretation just because it agrees with the creator.

With all the ancillary crap that gets introduced with basically every nerd-popular property the intent of the author is impossible to discern anyway, given how much of the argument for intent rests on video games and marketing/promotional materials.
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Re: Word of God or Death of the Author?

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Wed Aug 23, 2017 5:33 pm

Very few authors have any direct control over marketing anyway. Many directors have stated that they felt that certain trailers advertising their work gave away too many important surprises. And the few directors that do have direct marketing control (such as JJ Abrams or Hideaki Anno) tend to produce very lack-luster and uninformative trailers.


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