Ambiguity. Meaning, Interpretation (Was Re: [lbo-talk] Munich)

[andie nachgeborenen]

Suprised to see you balk at ambiguity, Doug. Also,
outside heavt-handed agitprop, and maybe even inside
it*, is there any absolute right "meaning" or correct
interpretation of a work of art? Would have thought it
was one of the results of the last century or so in
thinking about this question that there's not. There
may be unsupported interpretations, silly and off-the-
wall interpretations (Jaws is Jesus, or Capital,
etc.), but no clearly and uniquely right ones. No?
Even heavy-handed agitprop or plain allegory can be
read lots of ways. It's quite possible to read Birth
of a Nation as a condemnation of the Klan -- in fact,
contrary to Griffith's plain intentions, it's hard not
see it that way. On a less blatant plane, Blake
thought that Milton was of the Devil's party (this was
a good thing for Blake) and did not know it. Etc.

--- Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu> wrote:


> > info at pulpculture.org wrote:
> >
> > >By leaving the ending ambiguous, it allows people
> to project on to
> > >the film their own interpretations.
> >
> > Is that the Hollywood way? Zizek has a riff
> somewhere on the shark  
> > in Jaws - people have projected all kinds of
> meanings onto it. But  
> > the point is that none of them are right. If any
> were "right" then  
> > it might alienate a potential ticket-buyers, so
> best to keep it  
> > free-floating.
> >
> > Doug
> 
> 
> Hollywood can do better, and some of this year's
> Oscar nominees prove  
> that: Munich, Syriana, Good Night, and Good Luck,
> and A History of  
> Violence -- especially Munich.  You may not like
> Munich's politics,  
> but you can't say that it doesn't know where it's
> about and where it  
> sands.  Tony Kushner had a great influence on Steven
> Spielberg!
> 
> 
> Yoshie Furuhashi
> <http://montages.blogspot.com>
> <http://monthlyreview.org>
> <http://mrzine.org>
> 
> 
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> 

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