Remix Project and Reading Response #6

1. For my remix project, I have turned movie posters from some of my favorite films of last year into the now infamous “doge” memes. I chose this combination because I am a big film fan and enjoyed these films endlessly so poking fun at them becomes even funnier than it would otherwise be. I also enjoy the doge memes and see them in a light that many do not. Doge memes feature Shiba Inu dogs with some kind of sassy expression (the most popular of them use the same face from the picture that started this meme series) combined with short and comically incorrect phrases that represent an internal monologue of the dog (or “doge”). While these memes are meant to simplistically satirize the situation they are depicting, another layer that only those with firsthand experience recognize is the personality of the Shiba Inu. As an owner of a Shiba Inu, it did not take me long to realize the breed is known for being strong-willed and cat-like in nature; they will try their best to run their house and are convinced that they should get what they want when they want it. In that way, the doge meme is given a whole new comedic element in the eyes of Shiba Inu owners: the sassiness of the expression and the short incorrectly written internal monologue match the breed’s steadfast personality and thus create a hilariously bratty and blunt depiction of a situation that you almost feel could very well be going on inside your own Shiba Inu daily.

2. Consistent with doge memes, each poster in my project takes the overarching message or point of the film and comically depicts it in the most simplistic light possible. For example, my poster for the film “12 Years a Slave” (titled “12 Years a Doge” in my version) has a quotation mimicking the short excerpts from reviews of films put on posters to entice the viewer that reads “Much injustice… wow.” The “wow” and “much” are common terms in the doge meme series and the message is simply that this movie was about the historically shocking injustice of slavery. Many people were very enthusiastic about the historic relevance of the topic without much critique of the film’s cinematic elements (which in my opinion were flawless regardless), but overwhelming politically-correct response from critics that culminated in an Academy Award win for Best Picture (which is normally not given to such a dark film) is nonetheless comical. Its satirization mostly comes in the sarcastic “wow” of the dog(e).

3. One of the major harms of copyright laws that Lawrence Lessig discusses in chapter 12 of his book “Free Culture” is the element of sharing and the effect it has on constraining innovation in media. Lessig notes that the capturing and sharing of information has always been important to our culture, but that in the new age of technology, digital creation and sharing “will enable a broad range of citizens to use technology and criticize and contribute to culture all around” (Lessig 184). When copyright laws prevent us from being able to create and share content without a steep price, the creating and sharing will inevitably stop or at least become severely impacted. Consequentially, the discussion and contributions to our culture that result from the sharing of content end and we become a much more segmented and less informed society.

4. I participate in “unlawful” use of media in about everyway possible. Some of the more innocent uses come when I post a picture I do not have the rights to on Instagram or Facebook; that has become such common place on social networks that we hardly even notice it. However, I also participate in more outright “unlawful” use of media such as ripping of mp3 files off of YouTube and downloading torrents of movies and television shows. While this is more notably “unlawful,” it is of the same principles as using a photograph you do not own: you are taking the work of an artist without his or her consent (or without compensating them). Despite this, I do not consider myself a criminal in anyway. The new age of media is so sharing-heavy that copyright laws are no longer a possibility in a traditional sense. The internet would not be what it is without sharing of such content, lawfully or not, and as a result, the artists responsible for creating the content would not receive anything near the amount of attention or recognition without it. “Unlawful” use of media is a part of what is helping media evolve with the times and without it, media itself would suffer greatly; what was once “criminal” is now “contribution.”

Reading Response #5

1. Going by Sandra Gaudenzi’s description of interactive documentary, Out My Window encompasses the “fluid, layered and changeable” nature of the medium that leads to a possibly infinite amount of forms through “a dialogue between the user and the possibilities that the interactive documentary system offers” (Gaudenzi 2). Through a series of algorithms, the user can pick and chose their way through the virtual world of Out My Window ensuring each who participates in the interface their own, unique experience of it.

2. The first mode of documentary that Bill Nichols describes in “What Kind of Documentaries Are There?” is the Poetic Mode, which seeks to explore connections of “temporal rhythms and spatial juxtapositions” rather than conventional here-and-now conventions driven by continuity editing (Nichols 102). This mode focuses more on mood and tone of the piece rather than the direct transfer of information to the audience. 

The next mode Nichols discusses is the Expository Mode, which takes historical bits and from them forms an argument and a specific perspective. This mode relies heavily on the spoken word. 

The Observational Mode of documentary throws meditated construction out the window, instead focusing strictly on what happens in front of the camera and nothing more. Through this, we see life at the pace we live it, leaving the viewer to form opinions of the matter at hand simply through their observations. 

The Participatory Mode requires the filmmaker to actually be with and participate in the lives and/or cultures of his subjects in order to gain a first hand understanding of what he is filming. As a result, the viewer is given a feel of what this experience was like for the filmmaker and in turn, they can form their opinion on the matter. 

In the Reflexive Mode of documentary, the viewer is tasked with not simply seeing through the world of the documentary, but seeing the documentary as the constructed piece that it is. This relies on the viewer looking at the events shown as needing interpretation rather than the film itself. Needless to say, reflexive documentaries rely heavily on content. 

Finally, the Performative Mode of documentary highlights the subjective nature of each individual’s understanding of the world and uses it as gateway to general understanding. Actual facts and the imagined are often intertwined in this mode. 

3. Since Nichols descriptions in “What Kind of Documentaries Are There?,” the main changes in the format have largely been those described by Gaudenzi in her description of interactive documentary. The many types of documentary Nichols describes are all what Gaudenzi describes as the linear form and cut of documentary, which though still relevant, now have competition in the form of fluid, interactive documentaries that let the viewer pick-and-choose their experience rather than it being forced upon them in the form of a concrete piece.  

4. Out My Window is very much a representation of the world as we neglect to see it. We become so caught up in our own private lives that we rarely look beyond into the lives of those around us as well as simply what is going on around us. Out My Window lets the viewer explore the world as though they were a fly on the wall in any room or space of their choosing (although with the ability to pick-and-choose what information they take in and experience).