Questions regarding The Purge and the Demiurge

http://www.uiowa.edu/~c08g001d/Sontag_AgainstInterp.pdf

Keith and Richard,
Your comments exemplify a tendency that seems to me a learned response rather than a spontaneous one.
In relation to reading the meaning of a work of fiction, I've always disliked the mention of interpretive "theories".
An artist almost never wishes his audience to come up with the correct theory for understanding the work.

A film is understood by an act of "reading". "Theory" is not the right word, as a theory is, by definition, a proposal subject to proof.

There are general filmmaking theories, just as there are theories guiding the creative processes of music, poetry, dance, painting, etc.
But those exist as a set of principles to allow the artist (and audience) to judge the execution of the work. Those theories govern the application of technique within a given medium.
I wonder if that is the source of confusion for some viewers.

I recently posted some thoughts to address questions similar to the ones you're asking.
http://www.pelleas.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=807&sid=05118b8a78573fdde9d1104f828c383c