I chose to analyze part two of the video series “Everything is a Remix” by Kirby Ferguson. This part of the series was about the videos/movies created in history, and how a majority of them use material already used in other films. There were three reasons that Kirby gave about why film creators include past material from other works, in their own work: “It is massively expensive, graphic novels, TV shows, video games, books, etc. are such rich sources of material, and people prefer the familiar” (Ferguson). In my opinion, “people prefer the familiar” is a very accurate statement in this case, because Kirby mentions a statistic during the video, that proves his point to the audience: “74 out of 100 of the highest grossing films are either sequels, remakes of earlier films, or adaptations of comic books, video games, books, etc.” (Ferguson). Films that become successful, are the ones that rely on preexisting material and ideas. There were many examples of those types of films included in the video, some of them being: Pirates of the Caribbean “3 sequels to a film adapted from a theme park attraction” (Ferguson), Transformers “2 sequels to a film that was adapted from an animated TV show based on a line of toys” (Ferguson), and Julie and Julia “a movie based on 2 books, one of which was based on a blog inspired by the other book, and was later adapted into a film” (Ferguson).
Now some people might be thinking, “Isn’t this stealing?”, and the answer (in my opinion) is no. Not if the creator has properly credited the original creator’s work, or altered it enough to make it their own. Just using the original work as the foundation of the new work someone is creating, is not stealing. Let’s consider Star Wars for example. In the video, Kirby mentions and discusses multiple ideas that George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, got from other films: “The Call to Adventure”, “Supernatural Aid”, “The Belly of the Whale”, “The Road of Trials”, and “The Meeting with the Goddess”. These examples are said to have been used as “outlines” for George Lucas to create Star Wars. Within all of those examples, George Lucas only used bits and pieces of each, just using the idea as a starting point, then altering it to make it his own. Kirby also says that Star Wars is “an updated version of the “Flash Gordon” series, with the same opening titles design” (Ferguson). This opening titles design is used in other movies as well, such as Toy Story 2, and therefore cannot be called stealing. It should actually be a compliment to the original person that thought of. If so many other great films use it, it must be a great idea. Star Wars is one of the most well known movie series in the world, and every person has their own opinion on whether or not George Lucas stole ideas from other movies, or borrowed them to make something new and exciting. Kirby mentions that “George Lucas collected material, he combined them, he transformed them… without the things that preceded it there could be no Star Wars” (Ferguson), and I agree with his statement.
In conclusion, I think that there are only two guidelines that should be followed in order to avoid “ripping off” someone’s work: If you use an idea or just something someone has already used, credit it properly. Secondly, if you only use someone else’s work as your foundation, and you alter it to make it your own, you can still cite it to give them credit, however it is now your own work. The last phrase that Kirby says in the video, I thought, would be beneficial to include in my post to sum it all up… “Creation requires influence” (Ferguson). Practically everything that is made nowadays, has been made based on something already created. It would be very difficult to come up with something brand new, after so much already exists.
Video Sources: https://vimeo.com/19447662 and Kirby Ferguson’s video “Everything is a Remix” (Part 2).
Photo Source: http://projectanm.blogspot.ca/2011_06_01_archive.html
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