Category Archives: Course Stuff

The Cat NOT in the the Hat! A Parody?

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The parody book “The Cat NOT in the Hat! A Parody” by Dr. Juice used Suess- like rhymes and illustrations to tell the story of O.J. Simpson’s double murder trial. The book depicts O.J. Simpson, wearing the Cat in the Hat’s distinctive red and white striped stove-pipe hat, and holding a bloody glove. An example of a line from the book: “One knife?/Two knife?/Red knife/Dead wife.”

Parody falls under fair- use according to the Copyright Act. However, what defines parody? According to the book, “Mass Media Law”, parody must “reflect the content of the original work not just the style or method of presentation”(523). In fact, Dr. Suess Enterprise sued because they did not believe that Dr. Suess’ image should be allowed to be commingled with a murder trial. Penguin book lost the trial because the court found that it was more a parody of the O.J. Simpson trial that used Suess’ shtick.

http://www.imaginelaw.com/lawyer-attorney-1181191.htmlThe disputed work

Compagnie Marie Chouinard

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The performance of Compagnie Marie Chouinard in the Williams Art Center this past Wednesday was interesting to say the least. The performance itself was a very intricate one, involving much difficult choreography and movement. Personally however, I found it a bit difficult to relate to. I could tell that the intent was to add some symbolism, but I had a hard time trying to understand what that symbolism was. The production itself was a bit too conceptual than what I am used to. This is most likely attributed to the fact that I do not have a very strong background in studying the arts. It was clear that the performers were not only great athletes, but had put much time into preparing for this show. It’s just that I did not take as much out of this event as I had from other performances, such as The Arabian Nights

Brownbag – Mary Jo Lodge

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The talk with Professor Lodge provided much insight into the intricacies involved with copyright and the world of theater. I was not previously aware of how much had to be done to get clearance to perform a play. It truly can be a very nerve-wracking process. Also, I did not realize how much of a problem it could be to edit an already-existing work, and that permission would be needed to take out certain parts. The most extreme case of this was seen when Professor Lodge talked about Rent, and stated that nobody is allowed to edit any portions of it at all. This however does make sense to an extent, as some scenes do have major importance to the central meaning as a whole, and losing them would end up majorly changing the entire production. The discussion as a whole was both interesting and insightful, and taught me much about the world of theater.

People of the Book

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I went to the writer talk today with no prior knowledge on Geraldine Brooks. Her talk was both witty and insightful. I was actually reminded of our class when she started to describe how she was inspired to write the book “People of the Book”. She was sparked by the mystery behind a Hebrew codex known as Sarajevo Haggadah. Little is known about the owners of the book other than it was saved from destruction twice by Muslims and once by a catholic priest.

Once Brook had her topic, she went to see the actual text itself as it was in a state of preservation. She described getting an epiphany as the preserver removed little fragments from the pages such as a hair or an insect’s wing and saving them. Each of these small tidbits were clues to the history of this book. Brooke decided that while we may never know the true path of the Sarajevo Haggadah, she could create a story and allow these clues to lead into her story. This really made me think of all the time our class spent looking at books and important documents, such as the slave emancipation documents. Each of these documents has a history and clues much like the ones Brook keys into to.

School Plays

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I participated in a couple of plays in middle school, but never really stopped to think about where the rights of the original author and the creative license given to the director lay. In fifth grade I was a part of the play Oliver. In fact, I was Oliver- well the first of 5 Olivers. I wonder if our school had to seek permission to allow for multiple people to play the same person in a role. All of the dialogue and content was maintained from the original. I wonder if there were ever any specifications that my school failed to meet to put on a play, such as proximity to broadway or availability of talent.

 

Today’s Class

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Today’s discussion was particularly interesting in the way that people linked the play Arabian Nights to what we have been discussing recently. When I viewed the play on Wednesday, I was primarily focusing on the story, and wasn’t thinking about how the play relates to the issue of copyright laws. However, now it is easy to see how the two are related. Of particular interest to me was the discussion of the improv. part of the play, where the class came to the consensus that this particular scene would actually be owned by the actors themselves. Intricacies such as these are what made this discussion particularly insightful.

Copyright School

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After watching the youtube videos in class on tuesday, I became curious about YouTube’s copyright policies. I have seen videos taken down before because of copyright infringement, but never really thought about what happened to the YouTube user who put the content up. According to an article on Politico, If a Youtube recieves a copyright notification about a user’s video then not only will the the video be blocks but the user will have to complete “YouTube Copyright School”.

What is “YouTube Copyright School”? This video:

Not surprisingly this video has over 3 million views. It has a lot of down ratings and comments have been disabled. After you watch the video you have to pass a quiz to prove that you understand copyright law. If you pass the quiz then you can remove the strike from your account.

What do you think of YouTube Copyright School? Is it the right approach?

 

Sampling

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In this work, Vaidhyanathan is arguing for “thin” copyright protection (as opposed to “thick”) or copyright doctrine that is just strong enough to encourage the creative industries in art and business but also “porous” enough to allow for free flows of information and rich democratic speech. I think that this is the best way to view copyright law.

When it comes to sampling, like any other music sampling, it can be done incredibly well or used blatantly poorly. MC Hammer’s “U Cant’s Touch This” borrowed lengthy hooks and choruses from Rick James “Superfreak”, downgrading his song from a sample to a copy of the original. Sample- based music is not to be confused with piggy- backing on old music to create mega- hit, but the art of utilizing technology to remix and share music in new and innovative ways. Recording artists such as De La Soul, Public Enemy, and Beastie Boys used multiple brief samples that were often left completely unrecognizable to construct songs.

Arabian Nights

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I thoroughly enjoyed last night’s performance at the Williams Art Center. I knew nothing about the play beforehand and was not sure what to expect. It was a great play about the power of storytelling. The cast brought the stories to life while adding personal comical bits to their roles. Each cast member had to play multiple characters, as the storytelling narratives call for, and they did a great job moving in between these different roles.

When I went to pick up the tickets for the performance the teller made a joke about our VaST class title. “So I guess you didn’t have to buy any books for the class”. The play demonstrated the power that stories and knowledge can have. We have viewed many different kinds of narratives from scrolls to book arts in this course. It seemed very logical that a performance as a form of storytelling, on the very subject of storytelling, would come next.

 

“In Defense of the Liberal Arts”

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Last week, I submitted my essay that analyzed how the Copyright Act of 1710 and Age of Enlightenment gave authors extrinsic incentives to publish their works. Society ultimately benefits from the discourse that their literature inspires.

After watching this TEDxWhitehorse talk today, I realized that I undervalued the power of literature. In the essay, I touched on how authors could critique political and religious institutions or comment on the flaws in society. Literature, however, is more powerful than just critiques. Rather, we learn about ourselves by identifying with characters.

Judah Pollack, the speaker in the video, describes how he works with soldiers who return home from war. Oftentimes, they feel misunderstood. Ulysses in The Odyssey becomes a relatable character who helps them recover. Another classic, Candide, is still important to readers because “we still recognize ourselves in the mirror of [Voltaire’s] characters and their concerns, as if we would not be surprised to encounter Candide or Cunegonde on the streets of Manhattan today” (Wright).

I want to end with the following quote from Pollack’s presentation because I think it sums up everything well and is thought provoking.

“Pirates used to plunder gold and now they steal stories. Stories are actually more valuable than gold…Stories are the swords we use to slay our dragons. Narrative is the tool we use to understand ourselves and the world. If you don’t share your story with someone, you can never truly be seen. If you don’t share your scars with someone, you can never truly be known.”

Another video series where Pollack incorporates ideas about copyright and literature into everyday life. Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 I particularly like his analysis using Voltaire and Candide: “In many ways, Voltaire gave us the answer about how to mature out of childhood.”