After reading all of your comments from class, and reading the assignments…I have to say, I am worked up! I agree, the big corporations have gone a bit too far and are imposing on our freedom of speech (including expression). It seems even the public education sector has followed the conglomerate attack on our freedom. When Wal-Mart signed the school uniform contract with the department of education to provide the “only acceptable” uniforms for the public school system, they, too, stifled children’s creativity and freedom of expression. What’s next, they will not be able to carry their Star Wars lunch box with a PB & J sandwich because George Lucas doesn’t like PB& J and will not have his name latterly attached to that type of sandwich!
I understand the intellectual property rights of creativity, especially concerning software. Using Microsoft as an example when the MS office suite came out in 2010, an underground black market in Russia burned unauthorized copies of the CD and distributed it throughout the country causing Microsoft to lose millions. This, I understand----- The kid being sued for broadcasting a ‘homemade’ Mickey Mouse parody, really?! Are they forgetting that the next generation of creators will come from the consumers and fans of their work today? If we stifle this urge to create now, what will become of the entertainment industry 20 years from now?
America has always been known as the land of the free just as American’s have been known to be the best “out of the box” thinkers. How can we have both freedom of expression AND out of control corporate retaliation?
America is the land of the free which means we are free to sue each other too. I'd personally love to see a land free of billboards and spammage. I can't even imagine a city without junky signs everywhere but it would be nice to rid ourselves of logos and corporate influence and get back to a cleaner landscape. The internet is getting junked up with advertising too but I remember a time when there weren't even any banner ads. Now that was a long time ago. Oh well. rant over. Enjoyed yours.
ReplyDeleteYeah you’re right. I also think that the next generation of producers will come from consumers as well as fans. Especially, that every consumer can be a “prosumer”. There are more and more possibilities for creating fan productions. Often you don’t need any special knowledge or can learn how to do it by yourself. But in the end, the media industries will earn definitely enough money. No matter if there are fan productions.
ReplyDeleteSlightly unrelated comment:
ReplyDeleteGrace, are you familiar with the 2007 Clean City Act in São Paulo, essentially stripping the city of billboards and advertisements, deeming it visual pollution. There was strange controversy surrounding the true motives, but it does have the idyllic image of a simpler time.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/innusa/255338682/lightbox/
I got a tickly about the PB&J sandwiches :). Yes, of course the idolization of fans and availability of producing your own media only allows for our poster filled bedrooms to transform into a digital presence...smothering this ability can seem useless in the grand scheme of things
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