Mi Casa, Su Casa

It started in elementary school. The teacher would ask us, the students to group up with classmates. During our adolescence, we would simply choose our friends and complete the task together, while each group member, hopefully, providing some sort of input to navigate successfully through the activity. As we got older, like in high school, when the teacher would encourage group work, most students would try being in a group with the smartest students in the room. Why? Well, we wanted a good grade on the assignment. Now, in college, to be surrounded by thinking individuals is crucial. We often hear, “surround yourself with people who will elevate your way of thinking”, or something along the lines of that quote. That quote has been passed down for generations, as most cliché terms have been.

Why is it acceptable to recreate cliché terms in an effort to make them more appeasing to the targeted audience, but it is not okay to remix music, film or even some literature? We’ve been programmed to build knowledge off of others, this way of thinking was further encouraged in our schooling as I have exemplified above. As individuals we are of course encouraged to be original in creativity, but, sadly, this is not always the case. All of our knowledge stems from a previous knowledge, as a famous philosopher once said that I cannot remember the name of. (If anyone knows whom I am referring to please write below in the comments)

While watching Good Copy Bad Copy, group projects and/ or activities in the classroom was the first association I made to understand the controversy over piracy laws and other issues surrounding copywriting. I have heard about the producer / music group Girl Talk before and it truly amazes me that one man can hear a beat from a completely different genre and mix it in with a lyrical song of another genre. If you actually listen to some of his work its quite hard to depict every single artist he includes in the mix within thirty seconds of the beat. With that being said, by him taking multiple original pieces and compiling them together to create something new is an original creativity in itself. There was an (text)book writer who makes a valid argument in the video. He explains that when two people get married they often seek out other vows for inspiration for their own and they may even include a bit from someone else. I know that a marriage vow isn’t necessarily commercialized as is with Girl Talk but the concept is highly similar. 

There was another segment about piracy on the Internet. This has been around for decades and it is not slowing down. The moment that something is created and is accessible over the Internet (as with any medium created and then distributed), the author is giving up total control over the piece. While reading the article on Maggie a student at Michigan State University, we see how a photo was taken from its original state and remixed in a way that is dissimilar to the intended message of the original photograph. The fact that Maggie was in a public space and so happened to have her picture taken, and then to have had it taken out of context, is unfortunately something that Maggie cannot necessarily be upset about. Her right to privacy exists no longer once she is in an openly public space. It can be argued that Maggie owns her digital body (or her aboriginal bones), just as an artist can own their digital music circulation. But unfortunately they cannot control every aspect of what is going to happen to their music once it is in a public space.