ReMix Today....

In the media today, we don’t see many cases of plagiarism. Whether through music,
writing, or any outlet, there are fewer and fewer cases of this as time goes on. I believe this is
because we are now understanding more and more the idea of influence and inspiration. I also
think we see now that imitation is the highest form of flattery and are wholly embracing that idea
to not necessarily cover up our wrong doings but more to make sure that people understand
where we are coming from.
Imagine this...an older sister and younger brother who grew up together, in the same
home, with the same parents. Now think about this...both eventually become writers and write
generally about the same topic but did not plagiarize, even in the slightest. The original text is
titled, "From The Grasmere Journals" by Dorothy Wordsworth and was written in around 1807.
The ReMix text is titled "I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth. In this case,
ReMix can be defined as taking an original work or art, and changing it to fit your own
perspectives and ideals.
Dorothy writes about nature in general and how it helps her get through her somewhat
difficult daily life, while William writes more about physical things that describe nature and then
also how in his solitude he thinks about nature. There is a large difference between influence, plagiarism, and even reappropriation but they are also vastly similar in the ways their writers
want to convey the messages at hand. These writings are more specifically classified as
inspiration as influence than plagiarism.
In Dorothy Wordsworth’s original writing, she wrote them as if it was a journal entry so
basically it was a new day a new story type of thing. She not only writes this for her happiness
and her own sake but for her brother’s sake as well. She documents both her good and bad times,
relating them to how nature helped her. It is clear that she was widely influenced by nature and
even by her love for her brother.
In William Wordsworth’s “I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud” we see similar ideas and
physical things, but completely different execution. Before William wrote about this insight of
how nature influenced him, he wrote romantically. In his poetry, we see how close he and his
sister were and how greatly she influenced him and his writing.

Remix: Cinder"Ella Enchanted"

-What is Remix?

            According to Edwards, remix happens when one “explicitly builds upon or repurposes already existing material” (xxx). This means that remix occurs when a new author uses something that was already in existence but in a new way. The purpose of this remix could be to make it more enticing to the newer generation, to update the values that it teaches to represent what is being taught to current generations or to give the original new life. An example of this could be a new author taking an original piece of work and using it to create a new piece of literature.

-Cinderella and Ella Enchanted

            The stories of “Cinderella” by the Grimm Brothers and Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine represent an example of remix because Carson takes the original story of “Cinderella” and updates it while keeping the heart of what makes “Cinderella” “Cinderella” intact. She keeps the death of a mother, the introduction of cruel/evil stepmoms and stepsisters, and the prince as a bachelor, but incorporates it in a new way that speaks with the times. She updates the story to have the Cinderella of her tale be a true heroine who causes the events in the story that lead to her salvation whereas the original Cinderella was only saved due to the actions of others (ie. A magical tree, and birds). This would have helped others to read the story and see it in a positive light, rather than if they had just read the original for what it was. Carson’s adaptation helps to bring the “Cinderella” into the modern age by showing that a girl, even one who has been cursed, can saw herself. Whereas the moral of the original is that kindness is rewarded.

-Why Remix is Important?

            Looking at the two stories one can see why a remix for “Cinderella” would have been necessary. Times are changing, and society no longer wants to read about a girl being saved from her problems by a man she barely knows. Society wants to see a girl saving herself and maybe finding love along the way. This is one of the many reasons remixing is necessary. It helps to ensure that originals/classics are read by younger generations. It helps to update the information to show what society wants represented. It also helps to prevent classics from being forgotten. While many may have read “Cinderella”, there are other originals/classics that haven’t been looked at because they are old and unappealing to younger audiences. Remixing these materials means that younger generations may become curious as to what lead to the beauty that they are reading, listening to, etc, and will invite them to pick up the original. This helps to keep it alive for more years. So remixing is needed in society to help keep culture and older content alive. 

Sources: 

Edwards, Dustin. "Framing Remix Rhetorically: Toward a Typology of Transformative Work." Remix, edited by Department of English, University of North Florida, 2017, xviii-xiv.

Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm. "Cinderella." The Original Folk and Fairy Tales Of The Brothers Grimm, edited by Jack Zipes, Princeton University Press, 2014, 69-77.

Levine, Gail, Carson. Ella Enchanted. Harper Collins Publishers, 1997.

Remix: The Wiz and The Wizard of Oz

 “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.” If I were to give you one guess, I’m sure you could tell me what movie that quote is from (Hint: The Wizard of Oz). I know this because The Wizard of Oz is a classic. Now, what if I were to say “Ease on down the road.” Is that one a little tougher? That quote is from the 1978 movie, The Wiz, which is a famous remix of The Wizard of Oz. A remix, in this situation, is a recreation of a text in order to for a new piece with a new purpose. According to Dustin W. Edwards in “Framing Remix Rhetorically: Toward a Typology of Transformative Work”, it “builds upon or re-purposes already existing material” (Edwards xix). These two movies, The Wiz and The Wizard of Oz, have a similar plot, but their purposes and impacts are extremely different.

            Both of movies feature the same storyline, but certain adjustments created an entirely new movie that became a symbol for rising above adversity. When you get down to the bare bone of each movie, they both feature a young woman who finds herself in a strange place meeting strange people. They both learn a lesson and understand the world around them in a new way. The differences, however, are what make The Wiz a successful remix, specifically appropriation which is defined as a situation that “urges us not to look back, but it also encodes a knowledge of past sources that might otherwise have little home in contemporary culture” (Lethem 57), in “The Ecstasy of Influence” by Jonathan Lethem. The Wiz uses New York and African Americans in order to make the movie progressive and more relatable to a broader span of people; not every protagonist looks the same and experiences the same obstacles. In The Wiz, characters faced issues with confidence and finding one’s voice. They ultimately learned to be themselves and speak out against the people and ideas that oppress them. The Wiz used the notoriety of The Wizard of Oz to gain recognition, but it is the progressive ideas and characters that produced an innovative story.

            These movies also differ in their claims. The Wizard of Oz claims we are all in search of something, but it is up to us to make it happen. On the other hand, The Wiz claims that we have to believe in ourselves, despite what society expects from us and never let anyone overpower us. They both use emotional appeal, or Pathos, in order to demonstrate these claims. The Wiz has a group of crows that torment the scarecrow, which allows the audience to feel that sense of vulnerability, to convey the importance of confidence in one’s self. The Wizard of Oz uses the disappointment of finding the wizard to prove that we will not always be content with the results of our goals. At the end of the day, they use the same appeal, but they ultimately have a different purpose and claim.

            Remix is a writing tool that can allow a writer to apply their views and ideas to a previous text. The purpose of creating that remix might vary from author to author, but remix is meant to be collaborative and grant the opportunity to expand on one’s beliefs. Without remix, we would only be exposed to one set of opinions, resulting in an uneducated and unoriginal culture. Remix is what makes our society unique.

Re:Mix: Water for Elephants

Remix is defined by Dustin Edwards in “Framing Remix Rhetorically: Toward a Typology of Transformative Work” as, most simply put, being the altering of a text with a purpose.  Remix is seen in almost every form of expression: music, art, literature, film. A common example of this is books given film interpretations. I say “interpretations” because those film adaptations are often not entirely true to the text, they are remixed.

My favorite example of this is the novel and film of “Water for Elephants”. Water for Elephants is a relationship-romance novel by Sara Gruen about a veterinary student who drops out during his final exam upon being told his parents were killed in a car accident. Being left with his parents’ debt, he runs away and hops on a passing train which turns out to be the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. He becomes the vet for the circus and falls in love with their elephant and the star performer.

The film by Richard LaGravenese is changed in a number of ways- to the extent that the theme of the novel is lost. His film was remixed to cater to a different audience than the book did. This is a typology known as redistribution: “sharing and updating an already circulating text” (Edwards xxx). LaGravenese takes Gruen’s text and redistributes it to a new audience. Sara Gruen often incorporates animal relationships into her novels but the film loses that because it sells less in Hollywood. The film was modified to sell movie tickets. It focuses more on the romance between the two protagonists and less on how Rosie, the elephant, brought the couple together. LaGravenese plucked the plot from the novel that he thought would do well in Hollywood.

The beauty of the film is the inspiration that LaGravense found from Gruen’s novel. Influence and inspiration are a large part of the concept of remix. Influence and inspiration are what drive creativity. Had someone else been inspired differently, they may have scripted a film truer to the novel. Perhaps someone was inspired by the less accurate film adaptation of “Water for Elephants” to produce a true-to-book film. Remix is a never ending cycle of new content and is what creates human popular culture. Gruen and LaGravenese both made their contributions and have left the ball in someone else’s court.

Remix: Comics to the Big Screen

In today's society it is quite normal to come across many remixes in many instances. The most common remix that I tend to notice is movies. I have noticed a pattern when it comes to popular movie sagas or a popular theme that does pretty well. Most movies end up having a sequel to the original act or a remastered and recreated version to instill excitement in new and old fans. In this case I'll be comparing the original Spider-Man saga compared to some of the recent renditions of this saga. 

The original saga is significant in this remix situation because it displays the original works of Spider-Man and how his origins came about. This original saga derived from a comic book series created by the one and only Stan Lee. Stan Lee is an American comic book author, editor, film executive, producer and publisher. I think Stan Lee was trying to bring his comics to life by creating motion pictures that he knew his fans would appreciate as well as developing newer fans along the way.

For me personally I remember being more excited for the original film release in 2002 because I was a young boy and Spider-Man was my favorite superhero and at the time there were not any so this was a huge deal to me and I’m sure to most other marvel fans. Now after the first saga was complete I was sort of bummed because I didn’t know when I would be provided with a continuation of the series or not. Then around the ten year mark of the first initial release of Spider-Man marvel decided to produce one of the first recreations of the original film series and this time they would be sticking to the name that was created with the comic series The Amazing Spider-Man.

The sole purpose of this remix is to pay tribute to the original and the comic book series just in a newer fashion giving the longtime fans of the comic series a new sense of excitement and anticipation all over again. I’d say that the relationship of the Original to the Remix is direct because the films directly tie into each other with just a few slight twists. Overall I think remixes play a major role in growth and development of society even though we may not realize it. Remixes are responsible for some of the greatest advancements in the world, we can learn so much with remix situations and with that knowledge & the capability the possibilities are endless!