Week Four: Mashups & Remixes! Innovators or Pirates?

What’s the time? It’s blog time!

                         One of the best examples of remix out there: "Shining"

The topic under discussion this week is: Innovators or Pirates? The argument of whether or not remixers (including mashup artists, DJs and digital media artists) are innovators or thieves.

It has been argued that we now live in a “remix culture”, “a culture which is dominated by amateur creators who are no longer willing to be merely passive receptors of content” (O’Brien & Fitzgerald, 2006). These amateur creators are eager to remix, mashup, cut, paste, sample and edit in order to “produce something which is distinctive of their own social and creative innovation” (O’Brien & Fitzgerald). The question is, should they be allowed to?

Image Courtesy of: mixstream.com

It seems to be inevitably that mashups and remixes will encounter legal problems (when the whole or at least a substantial part of the original content is used) unless the remixing artist is given proper permission or the original content is licensed under a Creative Commons license. A good example of this is Grey Tuesday where, on the 24th of February 2004, DJ Danger Mouse’s (Brian Burton) The Grey Album was made readily available through several different websites in an effort to combat EMI’s attempts to prevent it’s distribution. Grey Tuesday was “widely reported by media outlets including CNN, MTV and Rolling Stone, and significantly increased public awareness of the protest against EMI” (Martin, Moore & Slater, 2010). Subsequently, Burton was hired by Damon Albarn to produce the second Gorillaz album (a band that was signed to EMI at the time of The Grey Album’s release).

It has to be said that to harness the creativity and innovation on display within this field that there needs to be a change in copyright law. O’Brien and Fitzgerald assert in their study that “there certainly appears to be a strong argument that non commercial derivatives, which do not compete with the market for the original material, should be afforded some defense to copyright action”.
I couldn’t agree more with O’Brien and Fitzgerald and feel that the laws in regards to copyright need to be changed with the times. We live in a new digital age and with an increasing amount of creativity and innovation appearing on the Internet, the creators of this content shouldn’t be punished for their art.


Reference List:
O'Brien D & Fitzgerald B, 2006, Mashups, remixes and Copyright Law, Internet Law Bulletin 9(2) pp. 17-19
Martin B, Moore, C & Slater C, 2010, Sharing Music Files: Tactics of a Challenge to the Industry, First Monday 15(12)

Week Three: Media Imperialism vs. Good Art

Yet another week, yet another blog post!

This weeks discussion has to do with art, primarily what art movement or art genre/style has influenced or changed the way I view a culture other than my own. For me, without a doubt, the art from is film and it has changed and influenced me in innumerable ways.

Image Courtesy of: nohomers.net

George Ritzer writes about Media Imperialism, the conventional view “that it was the Western (especially US) media that were imperialistic and dominated less developed nations and their cultures” (Ritzer, 2010, p. 139 ). By this he’s meaning that it was television programs created in the US, movies from Hollywood and American media conglomerates (such as Fox and Time Warner) that were seen as “imposing themselves on less developed nations and playing not only a key role in their media, but shaping their culture” (Ritzer, 2010, p. 140). While this WAS true, it could be a statement that would be hard to argue today.

A simple example of this within the world of film; the Oscars, an American film institution that is synonymous with American classics in the art of cinema. However, two years ago a French film, “The Artist”, took home three of the five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor). This helps to lend credence to the argument against Media Imperialism still being an issue, leading people to believe that “Western, especially American, media are not as powerful as they once were or had thought to be” (Sparks, 2007).

Yes, I realize this is merely an example of how different cultures have managed to influence an art form, not necessarily how they have influenced me or the way I view a culture, but bear with me, I’m getting there…

With having such a keen interest in cinema, it’s films like The Artist, brilliant films from other cultures, which have caused me to seek out as many different cinema experiences from as many different cultures as I can. Recently last month I attended the Melbourne International Film Festival (as I do every year) and managed to see films from all over the globe (“L’ecume des Jours” from France and “Magic Magic” from Chile were two good examples and worth watching), giving me a glimpse at the creativity and imagination that filmmakers from all over the globe are able to present to audiences.

I would be remise if I didn’t acknowledge the fact that my love of cinema did originate from mainstream American cinema, the Media Imperialism that Ritzer discusses, but it because of this Imperialism that I, like many other lovers of art in whatever form it may be, have sought out a sort of Media Nationalism, wanting to devour as much as we can from whatever culture or background it may be. Because, let’s face it, at the end of the day great art is great art.


Reference List:
Ritzer G, Globalization: The Essentials, 2011, John Wiley & Sons Publications
Sparks C, Globalization, Development and the Mass Media, 2007 SAGE Publications

Week Two: A Scape from Appaduraitraz

Alrighty guys, its week two so here’s another blog post!

                                                             Arjun Appaduari

Image courtesy of: Wikipedia

The discussion this week in class had to do with the idea put forth by Arjun Appaduari (the handsome and happy gentleman featured above) and his “theory of scapes in the formation of globalization” (Rantanen, 2005, p. 13). Appaduari maintains that globalization consists of the intersection of five different “scapes”:


Ethnoscapes – basically people who are on the move (i.e. tourists, immigrants, refugees)

Image courtesy of: globalissuesclass.wordpress.com

Mediascapes – the distribution and production of information

Technoscapes – both the mechanical and informational technologies

Financescape – basically currency markets, national stock exchanges and commodity speculations

and Ideoscapes – Primarily the enlightened world view (consisting of ideas, terms, images such as freedom, welfare, rights, sovereignty, representation and democracy)

When I had to think of a way to incorporate this principle into an everyday scenario from my life it actually ended up being pretty easy! Appaduari writes that these “scapes” are “deeply perspectival constructs, inflected by the historical, linguistic and political situatedness of different sorts of actors” (Appaduari, 1998 , p.33). One of these “different sort of actors” falling into a more intimate sort of subset was that of family…bingo!

My mother is Canadian, born and raised in the prairies of Saskatchewan. My Dad was born in Melbourne but emigrated over to Canada in the early 70s, met my Mum and lived happily ever after (moving back to Australia to raise their kids, me included). My very family is a prime example of one of Ethnoscape Appaduari writes about with my upbringing being a cross cultured mix of Aussie and Cannuck. Coincidentally, my parents are back over in Canada as I write this on a 4 month long holiday, helping to spread further the idea of the global Ethnoscapes as well as Australia’s great reputation with elderly tourists.

  Here's a photo of a Buffalo they almost hit while riding through Yellowstone National Park

Photo courtesy of: Tom Swan, 2013

Come to think of it, I get a call from them once a week through Skype for them to check in and let me know they’re alive and my Dad uploads a photo a day (example above) to his Facebook page…Bam! Another example, Technoscapes this time! They did forget to call me on my birthday last week though so maybe we’ll just forget about the Technoscapes for now…

Reference List:
Rantanen, T 2005, The Media and Globalization, Sage, London pp.1-18

An Introduction of Sorts....

I'm usually no good at these sort of things, having to sit down and type a little something about yourself but since it's for the betterment on my education (and yours in you comment on this blog) I'll give it a go!

My name is Chris Swan, I'm 27 years old and living in Melbourne (have for many, many years). This isn't my first time through the University circuit, I originally studied film (Digital Film & Television Production to be precise) but have had a little trouble finding a job in that field so while still struggling with it I figured why not head back to school. I'm in second year at Deakin and the outcome of this study is to hopefully become a high school film and media (or English) teacher, those that can't do teach am I right?

So I guess a little something about myself outside of the academic... I love film. I watch as many movies as I possible can and have written review for www.newshit.com.au in the past and now have my own website where my film school friends and I review films and also have a fortnightly podcast of movie discussion (we're having a little bit of a problem with the domain at the moment but I'll update it here ASAP). I also try to write and produce short films whenever I get the chance and will be producing/co-directing a TV series for Channel 31 later in the year entitled "Kickers" about a group of friends in their mid 20s stuck in a prolonged state adolescence (keep an eye out for it in the new year!).

Hope you enjoy checking out my blog and since I want to try and have a little fun with this I'll end it off with a fun little video made a few years ago while sitting up, listening to records and drinking wine. It's an intimate love triangle between a TIE fighter pilot, a ruthless bounty hunter and a Jawa... enjoy!
 

PS. I figure I should point out the reason this blog is being updated so late into the game is because I have just moved into a new house and have been having trouble getting the internet connected, so apologies in advance for any and all scattered submissions, cheers!