Lessig's bias is obvious: she thinks it's absurd and unjust that the innocent folks who make remixes are persecuted by the big, bad rights owners. At one point she even says that she cannot think of any reason why anyone should have a problem with what remix artists are doing. For the sake of balance, can we think of a legitimate reason (outside of the law) why someone might have a problem with remixes, or is Lessig right that there are no such reasons?
Price mentions that ideas about plagiarism often connect to ideas about authors and authorship. What are some such connections you see?
Michael,
ReplyDeleteYour question about Lessig makes me wonder if those who are anti-remix feel somehow cheated that the person remixing, in many situations, has taken a shortcut. This has not been my experience, but I see how someone stuck in the lone genius mindset would see an inbalance in the workload. In other words, I think it has to do with how we each personally interpret the ideas of work and originality.
At TriQuarterly, the literary journal I help manage,we had a short story submission we really enjoyed composed (collaged) entirely of sentences found on Craigslist. The author, of course, acknowledged how the piece was created, but perhaps another writer who felt compelled to start with a blank page could feel somehow that the effort and artistic thought going into both stories was unequal. Again,I haven't seen this firsthand, but considering how attached artists are to their work, I bet there are at least a few who speciously separate remixes from the idea of "true art."
Drake and ghost writers, right?
Aram
Micheal,
ReplyDeleteRegarding your second question, I've also been thinking a lot about the connection between plagiarism and ideas of authors/authorship. These things are so hard to talk about because they are so unstable. How I, an American who has always attended American universities, perceive plagiarism, authors, and authorship is most likely completely different than how someone from outside of North America may view these things. Different cultures have varying ideas on who can "own" knowledge, how knowledge should be shared, what an author's function is, etc. I agree with Price that when we are teaching these concepts in the classroom, we should emphasize that these terms as they are perceived in the U.S. are not inherently "true," rather, they are context-dependent.