Jane: Larry Lessig

What struck me most about Larry Lessig's talk was the way he referred to copyright laws as a form of prohibition: an unnecessary inconvenience that ultimately hinders our ability to remain a "read-write" culture. In a lot of ways, I think he has a valid point: so much exists to day in the form of copies, remixes, and sequels that it begs the question, what defines originality? One could argue that reframing another's work constitutes innovation, but I definitely agree with the sense of discomfort expressed in class the other day: sometimes appropriation of another's hard work, even a reinvention on a conceptual level, doesn't quite sit well. Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code presents a great example of such an uncomfortable situation of copyright. In 2006, the authors of a book titled The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail filed a copyright suit against Dan Brown for stealing their basic premise (Jesus has ancestors by Mary Magdalene). Brown won the suit on the grounds that ideas are common property, a decision that seems fairly reasonable. Yet the whole thing seemed a bit unsettling when I learned that he had used the authors' names, Michael Baignet and Richard Leigh, as an anagram for the character Leigh Teabing. Perhaps a nod of respect, but without citing the two authors as a source and having appropriated their ideas, the reference seems more tongue and cheek than reverent. 

I agree with Lessig: information sharing is so rampant today that it becomes a hassle, almost a barrier to creative thought to follow strict copyright. If we are to maintain a status as a read-write society, we should accept that inspiration from another's work isn't stealing, it's evolving, expanding, variations on a theme. Still, blatant appropriation never really feels right, and giving credit where credit is will always be a necessity, out of respect for originality (a rarer thing in this world).

And if you liked the dubbing videos, here's another Blair/Bush one (which I like better):

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3319967978568410735#