Understanding appropriation as a creative practice
Slash, named for the punctuation mark in k/s (Kirk/Spock) is a subculture that began in the 1970s. It involves re-writing and re-editing franchise scenarios to propose a homesexual relationship between characters who, in the original, do not have this connection. The original and classic pairing is Captain Kirk and Mr Spock from Star Trek. The Read More …
A participatory culture is a culture in which the people who “consume” the culture also help produce it. For instance, folk dancing, home sing-alongs, Instagram, YouTube. A non-participatory culture is one where the culture is produced by elite professionals and the rest of us just consume the culture. For example, television, movies, ads. The Internet, Read More …
Guerilla film making appropriates real-world people, and often trademarked and copywritten settings, without permission. Example: the silly but fascinating Sundance Festival hit Escape from Tomorrow (2014), shot in Disneyworld and Disneyland without permission and without the knowledge of the theme park administration.
A term used by some practioners to refer to a practice of making their creative work freely available for appropriation and transformation. The practice is sometimes symbolized by a flipped copyright symbol: Copyleft symbol by Zscout370, Sertion, e.a. – Own work, Public Domain, Link The term copyleft is obviously a take-off on “copyright,” and includes Read More …
Fair Use is the term used in the United States. In Canada, the principle is known as Fair Dealing. An article on the library web site of Stanford University summarizes some of the basic aspects of Fair Use in the United States: In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted Read More …
A travesty is a grotesque caricature or parody, or a “crude, inferior imitation.” So when people say something is “a travesty of justice” they’re saying it isn’t real justice, but a crude imitation of justice. On the stage, travesty refers to cross-dressing, and by extension to the practices to which it refers in this class: Read More …
“Retromania” is a shorthand term that I personally use for a phenomenon to which attention is drawn in Simon Reynolds’s book of the same name. Retromania is the tendency of post-World War 2 mass culture to recycle itself and ignore the majority of pre-20th century or even pre-World War 2 culture, especially the massive legacy Read More …
Parody occurs when someone (most often legally) copies the style and/or elements of someone else’s creative work to make fun of it (and usually also celebrate it). Harry Pothead parody People often assume that parody is critical mode, but as the “Harry Pothead” example suggests it is frequently very mild-mannered and need not be critical Read More …
Someone steals someone else’s creative work and presents it as their own, with minimal or no modification. Plagiarism is sometimes unconscious, but often it is intentional fraud.
Appropriation in this context means taking some else’s creative work and reworking it for your own purposes. Cultural appropriation The adoption, borrowing, or theft of elements of one culture by members of another culture. Style appropriation Taking over another culture’s style or way of expressing itself for your own purposes. Creative appropriation in general Taking Read More …