Subjectivity IS Annoying

IMDb is a special place, amongst other sites I visit and participate in. One thing reigns supreme in its message boards: Subjectivity.

One of my favorite discussions I've read went something like this -

"I don't think that's what the screenwriter and director meant it to be. By the way the director was talking about the themes within the movie it sounds like it was going in another direction that what was intended."

(The movie's theme wasn't really clear, so there was talk about its  - unintentional - vagueness and character ambiguity.)

"That's just your opinion. There isn't necessarily one correct interpretation."

If the screenwriter & director (two separate people here) weren't on the same page on what the story was exactly about, then the burden of confusion is on their shoulders. Still, whatever they intended the movie to be about and the audience members come up with a different interpretation, then yes, there exists a "wrong" interpretation even though the creative dissonance between the writer and director led the audience to different interpretations.

Sometimes a blue chair is just a blue chair and there isn't any deeper hidden motif behind the color, or the placement of the chair, or the shading of the light in which the chair baths in. If I say to an author "The blue chair in chapter seven, that meant [blah blah blah]." And the author then responds "Well, no. It's just a chair and the reason it's blue is because I had a similar blue chair in my childhood which I sat on countless times," then I'm wrong.

It is probably why so many people who otherwise could not survive in a non-creative industry flock to the arts. It's where subjectivity acts as a barrier to any criticism or any standard besides "My standard." And feelings. A lot of feelings and "complexity" and "nuances" about "life."