The documentary, RiP! A Remix Manifesto (2009) directed by Brett Gaylor, discusses the issues of copyright and how the concept of it changes throughout time, especially in today’s culture. In this documentary, the narrator discusses the remixed works of many artists, he uses the artist Girl Talk in particular as an example.
The documentary focuses on this artist because he most popular for his music. However, unlike many other musicians, Girl Talk is special because his music contains mashups and digital sampling. As a result, his songs contain a mixture of over 20+ already recorded and popular songs. Because of this, many say that Girl Talk’s work is technically not his because it is borrowed along with also being illegal.
However, the narrator of the documentary backs up Girl Talk and uses examples of where many other artists have borrowed work from others from the previous generation or culture. My favorite example that this documentary uses would be the Disney example. The narrator describes that like Girl Talk and many other artists from years past have always borrowed from each other. He goes into detail about how Disney for years constantly remade movies based off of ideas that preceeded:
- Alice in Wonderland — orginal 1634
- Remade by Disney in 1950
- Cinderella — original 1697
- Remade by Disney in 1959
- Snow White — original 1864
- Remade by Disney in 1937
- Pinocchio — original 1883
- Remade by Disney in 1940
Disney even recreated movies in order to fit the age of a younger audience. This way, movies that were directed at an older crowd at an earlier time would now be available to a younger age and remade at a later date. The narrator describes it as an, “expression of a remix of the stuff that went before”. Some movies that Disney did this with were:
- Faust — original 1923
- Remade to — Fantasia 1960
- Modern Times — original 1926
- Remade to — Modern Inventions 1962
- King Kong — original 1933
- Remade to — The Pet Store 1933
- Steamboat Bill — original 1926
- Remade to — Steamboat Willie 1928
I thought that example was great. It also was one key aspect of the movie that stood out to me the most. Many people for years have borrowed, remade, and resampled each others work. What I got from out of all of this is, it can be a form of flattery. With Girl Talk, the artist recognizes the talent of the artist, he thinks their work is great, and wants to re share it to the world by combining it with other great music also. That is not degrading. For all anyone knows, that tiny sample of music could be the first time anyone has heard it. And from it they could have researched the rest of the artists sampled work and have bought a copy of the album. He is not stealing, he is sharing and if anything advertising a wide variety of music.
