Roland Barthes

Crossposed on rhizomicon.

The Hitler “rant” meme has been around for a few years, but recently it has been targeted on YouTube for copyright violations thanks to a new YouTube tool, Content ID. The original content is from The Downfall/Der Untergang {2004}, a German language film about the last days of Hitler.  The above video is an example of the meme and takes a few good jabs at the recent spate of copyright takedowns. Knowyourmeme has posted a video on how to resist these copyright “trollings”.

Exceptions to copyright infringement often hinge upon arguments to allow critique and creativity. While a Hitler parody may not be “high art” and many would scoff at its creativity, where should the lines be drawn? Old media rules of intellectual property are all about the property and gaining revenue streams from property right. Like it or not, those days are over and deep pockets for lawyers notwithstanding, taking that approach is in the long run futile. The music industry is slowly learning that the music is the loss leader. The real money is in touring, merch., licensing, and capitalizing on the relationship with the fanbase. Filesharing can feed the new model by providing an avenue to cut through the clutter.

So, how to deal with all of this “new” media stuff {which isn’t all that new nowadays} and social media when you’re trying to make a buck. Well, I’ve actually seen The Downfall. It’s pretty good, but not for everyone. If I were Constantin Film or advising them this is what I would tell them to do::

1. Get the film on a site like The Auteurs, which allows Internet pay-per-view
2. Use the parody videos to market the film on Internet PPV & DVD and capitalize on the ongoing buzz
3. Use inline ads on YouTube to get users to view/purchase

Everybody wins. Creative mashups live on. Low-cost marketing can drive additional revenues, albeit in dribs and drabs, but why leave those dollars on the table? What kind of capitalists are you?

While some in entertainment might balk at the idea of work being repurposed and parodies may do violence to the “brand”, don’t we live in an era of the death of the author.

Song:: Beastie Boys-‘Cookie Puss’

Twitterversion:: “Hitler rant” meme takedowns in force, but why not leverage the buzz, remarket, & allow creative expression?#ThickCulture @Prof_K

I’m finally back in Toronto, but had an interesting sidetrip to Québec and will be blogging about separatism and Canadian identity in a future post.  I saw on Twitter that a trending topic was the hashtag, “#thingsdarkiessay.”  I knew it had to be some “inside joke” or meme I wasn’t aware of and the above tweet explained that it originated in South Africa, but was gaining attention in the US, due to the use of the term “darkies.”  Several observations on people’s tweets, pointing out the “irony,” noted that blacks were making it a trending topic.  I didn’t go through the thousands of tweets, but I’ll surmise {given the above} that the hashtag originated from black South Africans.

Regardless of intent, as a meme goes viral, it takes on a life of its own, making Roland Barthes‘s Death of the Author{s} quite salient.  Is this related to -or- independent of an idea that with some content {e.g., race or language referring to race}, the author becomes irrelevant or somehow transformed?  How does this inform dialogues about race, particularly as the Internet blasts apart contextual boundaries, let alone the determination of the “offensiveness” of content in a global context.

Twitterversion:: Trending topic #thingsdarkiessay originated in #SouthAfrica but sparks tweets in the global Twittersphere. #ThickCulture http://url.ie/2s8n

Song::  F*ck You (Distasteful Ruff n Ready Mix) – Lily Allen

Crossposted on Rhizomicomm

I was reading a review on Salon of Ellen Shell’s Cheap.  The premise is an intriguing one.  The world wants cheap, mass-produced items that are relatively disposable, but we are often unaware of the global implications of our desires, in terms of labour and the environment.  I’m currently revising a manuscript on innovation, technology, and China, so these concepts are top-of-mind.  One of the arguments that Shell makes is that downward wage pressures in low-wage nations are used to keep wages in the U.S. down through threats of downsizing and outsourcing.  The linchpin of the argument is one of costs, i.e., keeping them low, which revises quality expectations and feeds the corporate oligarchy.  Shell goes on to use IKEA as an example of a company selling disposability at the expense of true craftsmanship.  Sure, there is design that goes into the pieces, but the materials used and the mass-produced nature are indicative of a society that values disposable furnishings with cutesy names.  Palahniuk used what he called the “Ikea nesting instinct” as a social critique on consumption providing meaning, which Fincher captures in his adaptation of Fight Club {1999}::

I think that IKEA is doing what all mass-cult brands do.  They sell a meaning system, but this meaning system is increasingly tied to a fashion system {Roland Barthes; Grant McCracken}.  So, it’s not that we just want new things, but we want new things that have the right meanings.  After all, that’s the key to happiness.  While this may seem cynical, I think that this reflects a trend towards impermanence in our lives, in terms of jobs, where we live, and relationships.

Where’s the loyalty, where’s the love?

It’s in places like Red Hook, Emeryville, East Palo Alto, Coquitlam, Etobicoke, Boucherville…

Is IKEA that bad?  They could stand to do a better job of living up to their positioning, but I think Shell is right to make us think about our own culpable actions.  I think we need to be more conscious of what we value.

Twitterversion:: New book by Ellen Ruppel Shell takes on IKEA&what we value.Is the disposable society increasingly pervasive?#ThickCulture http://url.ie/22bq @Prof_K

Song:: Ikea – Jonathan Coulton