Authorship

Authorship is a broad and complex issue that it is hidden within our daily life. Before this lesson, authorship to me is a subject that is unfamiliar and not closely related to, however, it is possible to say that author and brands hugely influence our daily life. In the animation industry, there are a lot of famous directors and animators whose prestige is attributed to their signature style and the unique elements of their work. Audience would choose to watch as if they are purchasing a brand with confidence and which is true because the success of the authors is the epitome of the wealth of the society. It is also true that the authorship might suggest new approaches to the issue of the design process in a profession traditionally associated more with the communication rather than the origination of messages. (Rock, 1996) quoted from ‘The designer as author’. This might be sometimes happen in the world of animation where audience or fans blindly admire some animation studio or ‘author’ but do not critically analyse their work in a third-person view.

This can be linked to the essay ‘death of the Author’ written by Roland Barthes who suggest that ‘The explanation of a work is always sought in the man or woman who produced it, as if it were always in the end, through the more or less transparent allegory of the fiction, the voice of a single person, the author ‘confiding’ in us.’(Barthes, 1968, pg.143) Our society is traditionally set up as a hierarchy that believed the higher the position in the society is more important and is more influential so that creating a ‘religion’ is the path to gain believer and hence money. However, the relationship between the author and the text is changed according to time. In terms of animation industry, there are new spouts growing silently and the immensely powerful technology has provided a space for them to show their works globally. The reveal of the authors’ names is not necessarily related to the popularity, as Internet is a social platform, which automatically accepts opinions from everywhere that is when author is removed.

There are games in the industry where players can decide on the story and trigger events that might alter the ending of the story and this is when the audience collectively decide the ‘meanings’ in the ‘text’ and this is when the author’s view is not as important as the text itself in this case the content of the game. It might be similar to what Roland Barthes suggested that ‘the modern scriptor is born simultaneously with the text, is in no way equipped with a being preceding or exceeding the writing.’(Barthes, 1968, pg.145) Emotion and experience is a abstract element that is personal and incomparable therefore the interpretation of the games or animation can not be manipulated by the author but the content eventually. The space of writing is to be ranged over, not to pierced (Barthes, 1968, pg.145) and people in different state of the society approach animation in various ways and this is not attributed to the author but the educational system and the moral idea of the society makes us who we are.

Barthes, R. (1977) ‘Image Music Text’, London, Fontana Press

Rock, M. (1996) ‘The Designer as Author’, Eye no 20 vol. 5 1996