Some say it is hard to be completely original now because all the “good” ideas have already been used. I can’t decide if I completely agree. As Lessig says, it is true that our generation often recycles old works and remixes them into something we call a modern or innovative form. For example, in the music world, many songs have used parts of past songs in the chorus or in the background. In Rihanna’s Please Don’t Stop the Music, she uses Michael Jackson’s famous line “mama se mama sa ma ma coo sa” from his song, Wanna Be Startin Somethin. Being an avid Michael Jackson fan, I knew that she copied those words when I first heard the song, but not everyone would know that. In this way, I feel she is plagiarizing Michael Jackson’s song until it is somehow known by the majority that those lyrics were not her creation. This relates to the Great Depression photograph we were shown in class. The second picture that was the same as the original disturbs me because it was practically identical. Yet, someone in class made a good point that whenever we take a picture of something, isn’t that also plagiarizing? This question still intrigues me and after giving it some thought, I think I have come to a conclusion that fits for me: In order to make a continuation of any original work, there must be some change to it to add the vision of the new artist. Even if that change is minimal, it is acceptable as long as he or she notes who or what they took the idea from.
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