What are some means we can use to direct the analyst's interpretation of a movie scene?

Question

What are some means we can use to direct the analyst's interpretation of a movie scene? I feel like Kubrick's films can be interpreted in too many ways. Some people think they make his films even greater than they are, but I must disagree. I feel like it makes them weaker, so I was wondering what are some of the techniques we can use to direct the interpretations of the people who view your films so that they can only be interpreted in one correct way.

Answer 1

I think you are mistaken to think that a film, novel, poem, essay or short story should 'only be interpreted in one correct way'. What is the 'correct way'? The author's way? Your way?

Literary theory has moved on in the last hundred years. We have decided that New Criticism was better than what was before, but Structuralism, Semiotics and others which followed have also bitten the dust as we realise that the interaction between writer and consumer -- the process of making meaning from a text -- is incredibly complex.

When I was at university in the 80s we were encouraged to take various perspectives on texts: a Marxist interpretation of Enid Blyton, an Aboriginal perspective on Jane Austin, etc. There isn't one view of any text. Why should there be? My experience of the world is different to yours. Therefore, my interpretation of a text will be different to yours.

The same applies to film. I see a scene one way but you see it another. Why should one perspective be privileged over another?