Comment by lloydatkinson | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lloydatkinson | Hacker News Reader

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I can absolutely get behind this sentiment and the custom stamp is the icing on top.

It seems that for both study of English language/literature and art at schools is 80%-90% analysis of "what the author/artist was thinking or meaning when creating this" and then expecting the students to either agree with this ideology and pass the assignment/exam or disagree and fail the assignment/exam.

This is an incredibly narrow angle of study and allows little room for creativity or even the idea that the author literally meant nothing or left it up to interpretation and seems to be teaching rote thought only.

See also:

http://www.chrisbrecheen.com/2013/03/5-reasons-i-absolutely-...

https://www.tumblr.com/austinsirkin/180007505784/the-blue-do...

https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/dghmrf/im_in_eng...

I'm in the UK and this is the type of crap they were and still are teaching: https://madameanglaise.wordpress.com/2018/01/10/aqa-gcse-eng...

I know little about this subject, but let me take the devil's advocate position. In that last example, how are teachers of English expected to teach writing styles, choice of words and phrases, language features and techniques or sentence forms if they can't analyse such choices in examples from literature?

I know there's a movement in artistic circles that denies intent in the artist, but some artists do actually have an intent. Art is used as a medium for communication and therefore can have meaningful content. It's important to their artistic expression. It seems to me that not all art is semiotically vacant. Is that therefore bad art? Should it not be studied in those terms?

I'm an outsider, I have zero artistic training or background so the chances I have any idea what I'm talking about are extremely low. The only reason I even know what semiotics means is because a flat mate of mine studied contemporary dance and I helped her with an essay on it once a long time ago, as English wasn't her first language.

I agree, not all art is semiotically vacant. At the same time, we'll never get (as the viewers of a piece) get to fully understand what the artist wanted to express – and that's the situation I wanted to evade as the artist here.

Thank you very much! I had similar feelings during my education. Perhaps this is now the reaction to this ;)

(It's also often that people ask me 'What did you want to express while painting this?')

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