User blog comment:LoveWaffle/We Didn't See It Coming - Iron Man 3 and the Future of the MCU/@comment-5977347-20130513205536/@comment-1895174-20130518043501

Authorial intent is not crap.

I'm sorry, that's just a factually inaccurate statement.

Yeah, you'll want to ignore it when analysing the film, in favour of things that are actually in the movie, but it's not crap.

You just explained why it's crap.

It provides great insight into the vision behind the work.

It provides some trivia, but your opinion of a work shouldn't at all be based on what the people behind it intended.

''But the difference here is, that it is actually in the movie. The authorial intent, is right there in your face. You're just choosing to ignore it.''

I can't ignore what isn't there. What is there is a Mandarin that's just a character to take the blame for Killian's activities, and Killian's boast. If they intended to make Killian the Mandarin, they failed spectacularly. Although I can't hold that against the film because authorial intent is crap.

''Well, the "Mandarin" and Killian both wanted to escalate the War on Terror. And they both wanted to get rid of the President. They're not that different.''

The Mandarin character didn't want to escalate the War on Terror. He just hated America.

Aldrich Killian wanted to kill President Ellis because it was a means to an end. The Mandarin character wanting to kill the president was the end. Two entirely different things.