Interpret This?!

            When an author writes, does he write to entertain a specific audience?  When a comedian tells a joke, does he only expect a certain group of people to laugh?  I ponder these questions when I think about interpretations and how they can be misconstrued.  Different people have different interpretations from an intended meaning that the author has given.  I am contradicting my claim in my last blog but I can change my mind quite frequently.  I do believe that there is a specific meaning that the author of a statement or work is intending for his audience.  The audience may have many different interpretations for the same remark.  I will utilize an example from my daily life and I will also utilize an example from a daily comedian.

            In my daily life, I have certain jokes or phrases that my friends can pick up on because they have been around me for a long time (historical context).  For example, I would use certain phrases that they would think is hysterical because they understand the tone and the connotation that I am using the phrase.  However, I have learned that it is not always the same for each individual person.  The story begins with me talking to my girlfriend at the time (we have now gone our separate ways).  We were talking about a\her struggling in school and that she had failed another of her exams.  In a very sarcastic tone, I said, “Gosh!! What the hell chica?”  I used a Napoleon Dynamite tone which I have posted below.  My friends would have known that I was completely kidding and I did not mean it in the way she interpreted it.  She became quite furious with me and it proceeded into an argument over something stupid.

            I learned my lesson firsthand that interpretations can be taken into different context depending on the recipient.  My meaning was to cheer my ex-girlfriend with my sarcasm.  Obviously, it did not work because she was even madder and it caused an argument.  It proves the point that I am trying to make about interpretations.  Interpretations are dependent on the reader and are independent of the author’s intentions.  The reader can misconstrue the author’s desired meaning with a text because their own emotions may alter their opinion.  In this alteration, their personal interpretation has been constructed and differs from the author’s intentions.

            Interpretations can differ upon reading or viewing a work of art.  In this example, Gabriel Iglesias is telling his interpretation of Steve Irwin’s death.  The problem that I have encountered with this certain clip is how different people have perceived it.  I have shown a few people and they have all had different interpretations of the video.  Some people were very offended by Iglesias’ jokes about Steve Irwin because he had died recently.  However, other people saw that the comedian was making a joke to entertain the audience (author’s intent).  Here is the clip and you may decide for yourself on your own personal interpretation.

            I would also like to consider the words of Stanley Fish on the subject of meaning.  Stanley Fish states, “the self will simply substitute its own meanings for the meanings that texts bring with them, the meanings that texts “have”…” (Fish 335).  Fish states that the individual will project a meaning onto the text without consideration of the author’s meaning.  I agree with Fish that the reader will place a meaning onto a text while ignoring the author’s meaning.  The reader becomes more engaged with the text because he/she will become intertwined with the text because they will interpret the text in whichever way they seem fit. 

            To answer the questions that I asked to begin this blog, I believe that an author has a specific meaning in mind that may pertain to all but he is not necessarily writing to a specific audience.  I also believe that comedians tell jokes to make people laugh and they know that not everyone will find a certain joke as funny because of their own interpretations.  My concluding statement is that the reader can interpret and project is own interpretation onto a text or work of art without consideration of the author’s meaning.