astridv | linkage: meta, and a vid rec

An anthropological introduction to YouTube, presented by Professor Michael Wesch at the Library of Congress.
I thought I'd put this video on as background entertainment while sketching, and it totally failed on that front as I watched the thing from start to finish. I'm not really involved in the whole YouTube culture, but I found this pretty fascinating.

Maybe of particular interest is the part at 43:37: Seriously Playful Participatory Media Culture. He quotes from Lim's vid Us... which is still the most poetic and moving statement on... I guess they call it remix culture now, that I've seen. (I've watched 'Us' what must've been a hundred times by now, and I'm still getting goosebumps seeing that one Batman clip, every time. That vid visualizes my thoughts and feelings so perfectly, it's crazy. )

Audio interview with Rebecca Tushnet on fanfic, copyright, and fair use, with mentions of the Organization of Transformative Works. (ca 9 min)
This was posted before I went on vacation... I'm really behind on posting, but I figure maybe not everyone has seen the link (in spite of the inevitable bruhaha that sets in whenever OTW gets some press).

Remixing Television - Francesca Coppa on the vidding underground
Excellent interview, wherein Coppa talks about the customary marginalization of women's contribution to art, all the while providing a good crash-course in vidding history. snippet:

I started doing this work because I knew enough to try to present the vidding community fairly. If you’re going to start documenting subcultures that have been doing interesting things in the world of film and video, vidders deserve a place at the table. The stereotypically female desire to keep our heads down should not keep us out of the history books.

That’s what happened with the novel. There were women who wrote novels in the 18th century, and then the novel “went professional” and the men came. Now people will tell you that the first novel was by Henry Fielding or Samuel Richardson. This whole women’s culture that came before that got written out and later had to be recuperated by feminists. And I feel that I would rather not die out and have to be recuperated by feminists. Maybe some of us could actually articulate ourselves right now and never be lost in the first place.

And, it's through this interview that I discovered this vid: (hey, is that a good segue or what? ;o)
Too Good To Be True by

blithesea
Rodney/Ronon pining
very funny vid, the editing is brilliant. Some of the edits I only realized on second viewing (during the first viewing my brain was scratching its metaphorical head, going waitaminute...). Watch it, you'll see what I mean.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ooh, I'm so glad to see someone else who was fascinated enough to keep watching the whole thing on YouTube. I'm not at all into that scene, but I think a lot of what the professor was talking about felt like it applied to the LJ community, too. It's rare that I see something that I feel explains things in my own life, but this did. And the bit about remix culture was awesome! Lim's vid, Lessing's quote, and the whole idea that this creativity is such a powerful positive force - it was really gratifying to see discussions like that in a venue like a Library of Congress lecture!

Lim's vid, Lessing's quote,

Yeah, I particularly loved that part - the way he took these two elements, and remixed them *again*, to make a new comment. I love it, this play with art, the communication aspect of it. I find it endlessly fascinating and I have very little tolerance for writers or artists (like Anne Rice or Lee Goldberg) who cling to their creations, unwilling to allow that dialog.

and the whole idea that this creativity is such a powerful positive force

*nodnod* That's also why I'm so wary of any commercialization of our space. I can understand when in some cases, like ffn, a site becomes so labor-intense that the person behind it needs to be compensated. When that happens, cool. But money should never become a main incentive. Right now the driving force in fandom is the love of art, not the desire for money, and that's something incredibly precious.

Re: "That's also why I'm so wary of any commercialization of our space."
Also, related comment is made by Coppa about historical origins of the novel and and men jumping in once it went 'professional'.

I'd add that sticking one's neck out, both to more widespread exposure in general --including criticism -- as well as seeing if one can make money at it (do people *really* value the work, well enough to *pay* for it?) would seem to me to have something to do with women being 'overlooked'.
If by general temperament or notions of artistic purity women are more hesitant to throw their hats into the ring in the first place, 'to put your money where your mouth is' (to use another cliche)... the "we wuz robbed" take on art/literary history seems a bit weaker IMO.

If by general temperament or notions of artistic purity women are more hesitant to throw their hats into the ring in the first place, 'to put your money where your mouth is' (to use another cliche)... the "we wuz robbed" take on art/literary history seems a bit weaker IMO.

Except there's the whole history of women being pressed into the 'weaker' role by society through the centuries, and it's rather unfair to put the blame on the individuals for not being strong enough to break through that conditioning.

'to put your money where your mouth is'

Well, yeah, that's what Coppa argues, among other things. It's a lot easier for us, though, with generations of women doing the ground work.

BTW, I also find all of the "art as argument" rhetoric a bit tiresome. A lot of times people want to simply tell a story, and/or set a mood, evoke an emotion, without it being anything really resembling an intentional, conscious process. I'd say the lack of that sort of creativity 'from the gut', rather than self-conscious 'argument' is why so much 'academic' art/music is fairly lame.

Hey, but that depends on how you define 'art'. :) I'm very much of the opinion that a lot of art presents an argument (even if it's "Hey, I think those two are really hot together and make a great couple, let me show you how." The argument doesn't have to be high-brow.)

I think when a story is too left-side of the brain, too academic, it shows. I've read one, maybe two fics like that. They're the exception, though. But you can tell a good story and say something with it.

Thanks for the YouTube link. I'm about halfway through and finding it so interesting.

You're welcome. (I love the part where he's talking about the success of his previous vid, and how he kept hitting 'refresh' to see the hit count. Heh.)

Just read the Coppa article.

I found it somewhat amusing that she was able to say that much about the topic while being apparently very careful to tiptoe around the role of slash in origins and in a lot of current motivation.

Which would be? I don't see her tiptoing around anything... the issue of 'why we slash' has been talked about plenty of times in the past; it's not the emphasis here.

the issue of 'why we slash' has been talked about plenty of times in the past

... and by Coppa, too. I can try to dig up a link if you're interested.

Thanks for the Wesch link. I'd missed this and was thrilled to see the Lim/Lessig remix.

Glad you found it useful!

linkage: meta, and a vid rec

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