J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues

[DonFerrari]

Hiku said:

Mnementh said:

I would argue against it. In my opinion stories were always out of the control of the author once released. If you and the author disagree on what can be seen in the stories, then the author hasn't the higher authority anymore. The author can make opinions clear from the outright, but probably many intentions are more hidden and everyone is free to interpret them. To bring it a bit away from Harry Potter, I would bring up Shakespeare. A modern reader of Shakespeare (or visitor to a play) for sure interprets things differently from what Shakespeare thought about it. That doesn't mean the modern reader is wrong. It just means there is no 'right' interpretation of a workand more importantly nobody owns the right interpretation.

So if you see Harry Potter books in a way and feel now Rownling maybe sees things differently, than your interpretation is still right - for you.

DonFerrari said:

I can certainly understand being displeased by what an author says, but that doesn't really change the story. Be it people that became pissed when she revealed that Dumbledore was gay (certainly there is plenty of hints in the book), or people that get sad that she isn't an advocate for trans people that doesn't change the book.

Actually the interpretation of the book will change each time you read because you have changed as well. But there is a reason to not take opinion of others and even more of celebrities in account, because the only opinion that matters is yourself and at most the ones close that love you.

Same reply to you and Mnementh.

I agree that people can view works of fictional art that way. But not everyone sees it that way.
Some people love ambiguous open ended endings like in Inception, where it seems like it's left up to interpretation.
I personally loved that. But then there are people who want to know what 'actually' happened. Because they value the creators vision a lot more than their own, even in situations where the creator wants them to draw their own conclusions.

When an anime studio starts making filler episodes, a portion of the fanbase don't even consider them worth watching, as they are non-canon, etc.

You know there are a lot of people who are passionate about things way more than you and I may be, and for different reasons.
And I don't think there's one 'right' way to look at it. It depends on the work and/or the person.

In some situations I appreciate that it was left for me to decide and I wouldn't ask the author to elaborate.
But there are some situations where I would rather get their answer. (Code Geass for example. And 11 years later, we got it.)

Hey not talking about open ended things. I`m more talking about the story is truly finished but the author keeps talking about how he interpret things in the work he wrote instead of putting that into the story itself.