re: The real Dottie lives in West Monroe

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Na, the story still exists. The author already created it with or without your participation.

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Details of the story still exist. Meaning doesn't exist entirely until there is a reader to interpet those details.

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I'm open to saying that the audience and the author engage in a dialog,

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This is probably a much better way to phrase the thought that I was trying to get across. I like the image it brings in my head.

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but the goal of the author is to frame that dialog, control it for a purpose.

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Or I guess I would say that the author may just paint a scene, show actions unfold, and let the audience decide on personal meaning. Statements can be made explicitly, but intentions can also be left ambiguous for the audience to decide on what explanations make sense to them.

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So unless Marshall's comment was 20 years after the movie was made (and I'm not sure we have a way to date it), then I would assume that it was the intention.

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It may have been her intention as you said it. Shoot, it pretty much sounds like it was definitely her intention. I'm mostly arguing for ambiguity. It may have been a failure either on my own part or the part of the movie makers, but there seems to be at least some ambiguity to the scene. I still see something of a worthwhile statement either way.

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To me, there's no point in discussing if we allow movies to mean anything to anyone. There's nothing to discuss there because then movies are meaningless. What's the point of the board?

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I don't think so at all. It doesn't reduce meaning of a movie. It expands the meaning. The point of discussing different meanings that people derive becomes an opportunity for acquiring different ideas that people may take out of the exact same experience. It's the opportunity to see things in a different light and expand your mode of thinking.