I don't necessarily agree with the thesis of "The Death of the Author" but I don't know anything about Alan Moore--and while the critique of cold-war ideology is fairly clear, there was a second theme in there that maybe he didn't mean about the dehumanizing element of power and how the more powerful an individual becomes, the more calculating and ammoral as well. Dr Manhattan is definitely not a heroic character. His declaration of godhood is, in the end, impotent.
There's nothing wrong with imagining the themes of a work to be whatever you choose... so long as you're not given the great responsibility to adapt that work to a new audience.
I don't necessarily agree with the thesis of "The Death of the Author" but I don't know anything about Alan Moore--and while the critique of cold-war ideology is fairly clear, there was a second theme in there that maybe he didn't mean about the dehumanizing element of power and how the more powerful an individual becomes, the more calculating and ammoral as well. Dr Manhattan is definitely not a heroic character. His declaration of godhood is, in the end, impotent.
"Death of the author" is code for "I don't care what the author meant--it offends ME, therefore it is evil."
It is death to creativity.
There's nothing wrong with imagining the themes of a work to be whatever you choose... so long as you're not given the great responsibility to adapt that work to a new audience.