Remix

1. Remix PROTOCOLS OR PIRACY?

2. WHAT IS REMIX? • “Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.”— Mary Shelley via Jonathan Lethem • Mikhail Bakhtin Dialogic principle: everything anybody ever says always exists in response to things that have been said before and in anticipation of things that will be said in response. • Remix makes this dialogism visible, audible.

3. This is remix.

4. Henry Jenkins (“21st Century McLuhan”) • argues convergence not primarily a technological process • “Instead, convergence represents a cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content.” Page 3. • “Convergence occurs within the brains of individual consumers and through their social interactions with others.”

5. What is media? (Again) • Cites definition of “media” by Gitelman: • a medium is a technology that enables communication • a medium is a set of associated protocols or social and cultural practices that have grown up around that technology • Protocols change (laws included) • Convergence refers to a process, not an endpoint.

6. Who is Henry Jenkins? • Jenkins is not an activist or lawyer or reporter but an academic and a fan. • Wants to think about “convergence culture” which includes industrial and popular economies. • “I want to describe some of the ways that convergence thinking is reshaping American popular culture and, in particular, the ways it is impacting the relationship between media audiences, producers, and content.”

7. How is Star Wars a prime example of media convergence? • share of profits becomes popular strategy for production and distribution • reestablish value of tie-in products in the toy industry • John Williams’ score revitalizes soundtrack market • rich narrative universe provided countless artifacts that could be reproduced in variety of forms • continue to make money, keep franchise alive for fans/consumers

8. Remix Culture: Fan Films • “Fan digital film is to cinema what the punk DIY culture was to music. There, grassroots experimentation generated new sounds, new artists, new techniques, and new relations to consumers which have been pulled more and more into mainstream practice.” 136 • interactivity: enabled or constrained by technology • participation: shaped by protocols, more under control of consumers

9. Folk culture: no distinction between producers and consumers • stories, songs, dances, etc • displaced by mass media • commercial culture changes that: have to recoup enormous costs, amateurs can’t match production standards Convergence culture returns us, in a way. • think American Idol (?) • think the gazillion YouTube remix videos • See Lessig’s TED lecture

10. But isn’t so much just “bad”? • Jenkins: “a thriving culture needs spaces where people can do bad art, get feedback, and get better.” • much mass media is bad, but polish discourages others • some will be good enough to incorporate, much will find modest audience, get polished, become more valuable down the line • Production/participation is an end in and of itself. • Example: Brat Pack/Phoenix videos