CR06

The "Rip!: A Remix Manifesto" video shown in class was definitely informative. I found myself agreeing with some areas and claims in the video while also being skeptical of others. I thought the statement/information describing Walt Disney as a remix artist was interesting. I had always heard/known that a lot of the Disney videos/characters were reincarnations of past fables and stories, but using this widely known and popular series as an example served to back the claims being made in the video very well. The main part of the video I agreed with was the notion that the future should be allowed to build on the past and the past's accomplishments. If you lock any and everything ever produced/constructed/conceived away and label it "unchangeable," you will halt the flow of progress, innovation, and prosperity severely. Many of the best and most important ideas of our time have come about as a result of some sort of collaboration with or modification to existing designs.

Where I disagree with the video is on the extremity with which it seemed to think the present was entitled to use the creations of the past. In the case of the video's opinion of Girl Talk, it seemed to me that the general consensus was that Girl Talk should be able to do whatever he wants with any kind of music and play it however he wants and claim it as his own. While I agree that he should be able to use the music, because sampling is something that is inevitable in that industry, it seemed a bit selfish/arrogant of the video to imply that all of the genius and appeal of his music came from the work Girl Talk put in manipulating his tracks. If there had never been any music or songs ever created or recorded Girl Talk would not be able to do what he has become famous for doing. In that respect, he should at the least do something/do more to acknowledge the artists which supplied him with the help and inspiration to create his original mixes.