COMM 203: Copyrights vs. the People

Freedoms Phoenix

There are many things that people wish to own in this life. One of which being the rights to ideas, which from  all case and points they are entitled to. The problem with face in a world of ever expanding information is the fact that many deem that simply citing a source is no longer sufficient. By taking a concept and creating something new from that concept and making zero profit on it while still citing the original creator is still deemed criminal. For many there are ideas that are in the subconscious and do not overtly make an attempt to purposefully steal or plagiarizer from others, but more often than not there are several cases in which others get in trouble for things they feel are their ideas, but have been thought of before.

• Anytime a novel that gains high popularity there are writers who are completely unheard of that try to attach a likeness of their book to that novel.
• Majorly popular titles do steal from other sources and do not admit to it until later "Twilight vs. Pride and Prejudice"
• Hip Hop is a major pioneer of "sampling" as in taking someone else's music and splicing it in with their own beats.

This mashup video is illegal and you shouldn't watch it. But will you anyway?

As stated with some of the videos in class their are many subcultures that use things such as mash up videos as a form of better understanding the content they already enjoy and furthering their knowledge of things they do not understand.

• Anime conventions have AMV contests in which fans submit their videos to a panel that weed out which they'd like to air on a large screening. This allows fans of the shows to enjoy what they have already seen in a new light as well as attract new fans that might have been on the fence before.
• Personally I buy all my box sets from the providers that create them to help show my support for their art. 
• Many things such as Funimation Studios have allowed things such as Netflix and Youtube to screen an entire series online. Some might use this so that they do not need to buy the boxsets, but others may wish for that studio to continue such series akin to that and support the official releases.

Will everyone follow this idea of honoring the creators? No, but it is up to the rest of us to educate fans of anything as a medium that if you do not support the artist, author, or writer then more of the same things you like will never be made.