Remix / Culture of the Copy - GCOP200

"It's not where you take things from, it's where you take them to" - Jean-Luc Godard

Today's lecture was focused on the theme of 'remixing' and the process of creation through copying. Anyone can remix materials at any level of creation, some are transformative, and others are not and hold no fundamental differences from the original piece. There are countless examples of art and media that have been copied/remixed over the years, and it's all about the boundary between 'ripping someone off', and creating an 'original', new piece of work. Music is a big example of this, as many songs copy the same beat and base line, and then overlay different lyrics and change the tempo of the song, for example:

Furthermore films are subject to this too, as 74 of the top 100 top grossing films in the last 10 years were remixes, sequels or adaptations. Even then the remaining 26 all fit into certain film genres where the same themes, characters, scenes and plots get copied and repeated - meaning that they're not entirely original either. Hollywood uses 'intertext' within their movies in order to evoke emotions within us. Symbols, well known characters and sayings, are all examples of how films try to create a sense of nostalgia, and sometimes end up with so much of this transferrable media, the film just becomes a copy in itself. This is however how produces ensure that the sequels are successful, and do so by using old content from past films/media. 

Creation requires some source of influence or inspiration. It's almost impossible to create something entirely new, without intentionally/unintentionally coping ideas from another source. When we create, we do so by creating something that we are passionate about, and during this process we draw unconscious reflection from things that we have seen and liked in the past. Therefore we are always being inspired by things that we see, and this process is an essential component in human discovery, progress and development. 

Why do we do this? Perhaps we use ideas that we like as a 'springboard' to kick-start our ideas. By using an already successful concept, we are stopping ourselves from starting from the very beginning. In terms of music, films and other technologies, by copying an already popular sound/theme/look, they are building upon the public appeal on what's already popular, and what people are used to at the time. For example cover bands are proven to be more popular than new original bands, this is because people are already familiar with the songs - which makes it harder for new upcoming artists to breakthrough (they will however copy/remix the sounds from popular songs, in order to attract the attention from the public). It's all about appropriation, and creating something not too similar to the original piece.

The process of copying enables us to learn, and we do this throughout our entire lives, not only at school, but at home too. We copy videos, books, and others, in order to learn how to do things, e.g to play music, sew, cook, draw... Copying gives us knowledge and understanding, and allows us to repeat the given task repeatedly without a stimulus/reference. For example Hunter S Thomson rewrote 'The Great Gatsby' word for word, just to know how it feels to write a good novel.

The basic elements of creativity: Copy > Transform > Combine 

The most successful and breakthrough creations are formed when things are transformed and combined after copying. This allows us to create new original ideas and combinations which haven't been discovered before. Many of the world's greatest inventions were created through this exact process. For example apple, and the creation and development of the Mac. 

Isaac Newton said "Stand on the shoulders of giants", meaning that we must use the understanding of 'great thinkers' in order to make intellectual progress. This however has become more and more difficult in the modern day, due to The Copyrights Act 1990. Despite this act originally setting out to push creative developments further, it has since been abused and has in fact done the opposite. Record companies and cooperations now go out of their way to sue other artists and businesses due to similarities in their work, in order to gain an economic surplus. This problem has halted the creative industry, and ignites fear within creatives, meaning that it becomes harder to see huge and groundbreaking developments within any design sector. Copying is such an essential and vital component in industries such as these, and it's such a shame that the idea of protecting your work has become so competitive, and has become of more importance than inspiring and pushing others to create freely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeAKX_0wZWY
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/268025.html