Good Copy Bad Copy

�??All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated�?��?� �?? John Donne


Copyright has always been a fragile compromise between the needs of those who create and the cultural enrichment of the mass public. Enter the digital age and the line is more blurred than ever before. That�??s why Good Copy Bad Copy, a Danish documentary on the current state of copyright, is such a critical and cultural phenomenon right now.

Does copyright law stifle creativity rather than encourage it? Apparently our founding fathers thought not. They thought people wouldn�??t create unless their art was protected.

But they weren�??t around to hear the Grey Album, or Girl Talk�??s sample-based remixes from dozens of elements in pre-existing songs. Not only recent phenomena like this, but creations like the West Side Story show there�??s an equally convincing argument that mixing and sampling have been human nature since the beginning of time.

Plus, as human beings, we are at the same time bombarded and inspired by various stimuli. Cryptomnesia, or "concealed recollection," is a theoretical phenomenon involving �??forgotten�?� memories. So is it plagiarism if one does not remember from where or whom they were inspired?

Though the documentary is less about such theories and more about their implications on culture and commerce, you�??ll inevitably start googling everything you can find �?? from silly court cases like Three Boys Music v. Michael Bolton to poststructuralist dissertations by Rosalind Krauss. And paradoxically, the more you learn, the harder it will be to fully establish your opinion, since each perspective is just one piece of an increasingly intricate puzzle.

Consensus? See it. Not to get up to speed on legal jargon or hear awful mash-ups of Gnarls Barkley, but to see how things are changing because of the digital era and to realize how big a role you play in it.

Because in all seriousness, even a base level of consciousness on this is crucial.
Take it from us. We didn�??t even feel ironic downloading our copy of the film since the filmmakers are distributing it via torrent download off their site.

By Katie Facada for EMERGE

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