Blog 8/26 - Right to Tinker

“The right to tinker” is an interesting and controversial topic as there are rises in information is inevitable as we proceed to the future. There is so much information in the world; especially on the web that original content is hard to create without considered to be at least a reference to something else. When the movie “Avatar” came out, many people thought that the movie was considered to be Pocahontas in a nutshell because of the plot; a man, going to a strange world, meet and fall in love with a native, then fight alongside them to protect that world. When I went and see the movie for myself, I didn’t think it was like Pocahontas at all. For me, the movie portrayed something completely different from the Disney movie. Avatar was about drawing the line between science and nature, and it couldn’t have successfully defined itself without the amazing video effects and character development.

Particular in the Digital Technology and Culture major, most students are taught to be informed about digital copyrights because it shows up so often in any field that the major lead to. For me, being heavily influenced by art must be careful when using images on the internet toward a project or even as reference. Nothing is more damaging to an artist’s reputation than being called an art thief. The line for the right to tinker becomes difficult however, when you are altering an image or work of art hat have already been tinkered multiple times. How do you give the proper credit to the artists? Or does that still consider your own work? Technology now really blurs the line of what’s considered to be originality and art. Just a century ago, most people disregard Andy Warhol’s and his pop art because he didn’t create the subject in his pictures. Instead, he took something that’s already made and reproduces it in his own way to give it a new meaning. The Japanese doushijin work is really amazing because anyone can take characters or scenario that’s already done and retell it in their own light to give art a new life. I’ve read many Japanese mangas since I was little and I think that giving people the freedom to recreate and use work freely for the benefit of the public instead of profitable reason is a good way to empower our creativity.