Hello Kitty, Tony Soprano, and Authorial Intent

(image from Alyssa Rosenberg's, "From Tony Soprano to Hello Kitty.")

It's not everyday that trivial Internet scuffles can be used to demonstrate sophisticated literary concepts -- but Todd VanDerWerff, at Vox, has done a nice job of doing just that, in his article, "The Tony Soprano and Hello Kitty Stories Are About the Same Thing."

If you follow pop culture, you might be aware of the scuffle over the species of Hello Kitty (the L.A. Times reported that Sanrio, maker of Hello Kitty, claims she is a girl, not a cat), and the flap about whether or not Tony Soprano, fictional TV mobster, is fictionally dead or not.

But you might not have made the connection that VanDerWerff draws so neatly -- that in both cases, audiences are arguing about whether or not the author's intentions should be taken into account when interpreting a text.

This might be an accessible entry point for students to talk about how we create meaning from texts of all kinds.

I personally disagree with him on one point - that somehow, because we care less today about authorial intent, that we are less 'collective' and more 'individualistic' in our modes of interpretation.  I think we still tend to argue for, construct, and revise interpretations collectively.

But overall, he offers an engaging, clear, and light-hearted entry into the topic, even defining academic language like "authorial intent," and "New Criticism" without dumbing it down.

And there's something for everyone - he even includes Dumbledore, and Harrison Ford's character in Blade Runner. What's not to like?

What could be better than for students to understand how literary analysis is already an invisible and ever-present part of their lives?  And to learn how to do it more deliberately, and therefore, with more skill and delight?