[LeifCarrotson]

Unexpectedly?

The whole point of publishing an idea or art piece is to influence people. Sure, some people will misinterpret it, but it should be pretty obvious that if you make a heroically brilliant protagonist dismissive of an opioid addiction that some people are going to think that's cool, especially if you're portraying that on TV. That's why Burgess wrote:

> I should not have written the book because of this danger of misinterpretation...

Kubrick's film (disclaimer: I've only read the book, I've never seen the movie) has apparently made this problem worse for Burgess. Similarly, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was a deeply flawed protagonist, which readers of his books would see, but I believe that the way the character was portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in the recent film/series adaptations similarly disguised those flaws and had a strong potential for some misinterpretation and more negative impacts.

[pallas_athena]

>The whole point of publishing an idea or art piece is to influence people

One of the topics constantly running in my mind is Alan Moore saying that writing a comic, novel, movie, is an act of magic.

You write, or say, something. Other people hear, and their brain is forever changed. They will think and/or act differently.

So he truly is a wizard.

[kayodelycaon]

> The whole point of publishing an idea or art piece is to influence people.

As an author, I throughly disagree with this statement. Humans like to tell stories and entertain each other.

My primary goal for publishing my stories is for people to find them enjoyable. Some of my stories have a secondary goal of showing less common perspectives for the purpose of introducing people to ideas they may not have considered.

Any idea can influence someone, but does not mean all ideas are published to influence.

[saltcured]

I would agree with you if one takes "influence" to mean something ulterior like propaganda or social programming.

But I also can't help but think of art and literature as a bit like a radio transmission. It depends on your being in tune enough to influence the receivers, or no signal comes across at all.