Sometimes when you read someone being interviewed...

Question

You are reading the interview, say in a magazine, and the person has a comment, and the sentence has a part with brackets...like this for example: "Yeah, there are a bunch of little themes like that. I mean, yes, it's a fantasy, and we're at Comic-Con [so it's in the] comic book genre, but it's very close to home. " What do those brackets mean? Is it something the person actually said? If so, why is it in brackets?

Answer 1

Speaking conversationally is different from writing. So oftentimes a speaker will leave out a *necessary* part of a quote because it's assumed, in context, or just because he forgets to add it.

The person who is transcribing the Q&A/article will add brackets to give the reader a better sense of what the speaker meant.

This is especially true in newspaper and magazine articles, because quotes will be pulled from an interview out of context.  

Answer 2

No, it's what's been added in so that the statement makes sense.

Answer 3

The brackets enclose words the writer adds to make the quote read more clearly.