Defense

My argument is ethical and legal example of the read/write culture. Through my remix I am pointing out how many of the celebrities in today's society, claim they are different then how they appear. I use Paris Hilton as an example. She is constantly claiming she is perceived by people as something she is not...a whore. When really, she does nothing for us to suggest otherwise. I use a Carls Jr. commercial she had done that was eventually banned, because of the extreme sexual suggestion with added clips of her stating her claims of not being a sexually suggestive person. This commercial is just one of the many resources I could have used to state my opinion. I back up my remix as being legal. I abide by the fair use law by only using portions of the commercials clips, and mix them so they do not follow the original commercials order. The extra clips of Paris's claims are only small statements that are seconds long. They are statements made on her reality tv show, The world according to Paris and interviews. I used music I had purchased and was owed by me. The music, "I Touch myself" by the Divinyls is not being used to viewed at it in a negative way and is not directed toward the artist or producer. This is a remix that was influenced by Lawrence Lessigs: reexamining the remix. In this he states “Free is an important essential part of the cultural ecology” This influenced my project because I do believe that our freedom is our culture. In order for Paris Hilton or any other celebrity to be viewed in a certain way they chose to use their freedom. The freedom to act in a certain way so that it makes up how people perceive them. They use their freedom in ways to give people the reasons to view them in ways they would rather not be viewed, without the freedom to act there would be no opinions. They want opinions. Just as remixes want to make a statement about something. We need freedom to identify ourselves. We need the freedom to be inspired by something and turn it into something that states our opinion. It determines what we say about our culture.

Through this project I have learned about the copyright laws. I had always known there were these laws, but I never knew what they meant or what the limitations were. This project has related to all the arguments on digital technology we have covered in class. Digital technology has opened us up to adding more restrictions on these laws. Through technology we are exposed to more culture, and able to share our remixes with the world. It is beyond the point of being able to be controlled. Digital technology and freedom for artistic expression is our culture now. The past can no longer stall the changes we have seen in our present and will make in our future.