RIP! A Remix Manifesto
Recently, I watched a documentary titled, “RIP! A Remix Manifesto.” The video was about copyright laws and how they have evolved over time in our society. In the beginning, copyright law was intended to encourage people to create. It would allow for new works of art in varying forms to be legally protected. Today, however, the copyright laws have gotten so out of hand that people are restricted from using pieces of other people’s work to create something entirely different. The example that was used throughout the documentary was a one man band, Gregg Gillis who is also known as Girl Talk. Gregg Gillis takes pieces of popular music and mixes them in new ways sometimes only using one line from certain songs. By using other peoples work to create his “mashups” he is breaking the copyright law because he would need to pay and get permission from the artists to do this legally. I agree and disagree with what was said in this documentary. I believe that it would be unfair for someone to steal your idea and be able to profit from it, but I also believe that the laws are restricting the creativity of people. One line that really stood out to me in the documentary is when they stated that corporations represent the copyright, and people in the public are called the copyleft because they believe in the exchange of ideas freely. Although I may agree with some of the ideas in the film, I am aware that laws in our country are purposely very hard to change, and that copyright laws are not going anywhere.
Nature Vs Nurture
The next video I watched was Zeitgeist: Moving Forward. This video spoke mostly about the great debate of nature versus nurture. What stood out most to me in this film was when they were talking about how peoples inherit characteristics are shaped not from our genes but how we have lived our lives. One doctor in particular was talking about the people he deals with on a regular basis in his work; primarily rapists, murders, and people who are known for violent acts. Based off of studies done with people who turn to violence as adults, these terrible acts are carried out by people who were abused as children. Another example they gave was from the Dutch Hunger Winter. This is where in 1944 when the Nazi’s occupied Holland and took all the food and diverted it to Germany. What the study was about was that if you were a second or third trimester fetus your body learned to be stingy with sugar and fat and that you end up storing every bit of it. Half a century later if you were one of these Dutch Hunger babies, you were more likely to have high blood pressure and obesity. Although I understand the importance of taking care of your body while pregnant, I never knew that something that happened while you were a fetus would have such long term effects like this. I have always believed that it isn’t entirely nature or nurture that makes humans act the way that they do, that it is a mix of the two. This video is swaying more to the nurture aspect as opposed to nature; I agree with most of their statements but also believe that some things shape the way we are because of our chemical makeup as well.
rs450cemarker 