Is Everything a Remix? A Remix is Everything
Is everything a remix? At this point in time, yes, I believe everything is a remix. There is no original content being produced that is completely original, no entertainment being created that is completely unique from another work, and no inventions that aren’t completely unique in and of their own right without combining some previous inventions together to create the finished product. Therefore, going off the definition of a remix provided within the video, to remix something is “to combine or edit existing materials to produce something new” pertains to everything within our society. With this in mind, we can see that everything is indeed a remix.
One of the main arguments provided within the video is that the entertainment industry borrows, takes, and steals from prior works and material. They do so by incorporating aspects, or entire pieces into their own work. An example of this in the music industry is how Led Zepplin can attribute the success of many of their most popular songs to taking aspects, lines, or lyrics of other performer’s works. They copied other people’s work without making a difference, and therefore faced legal issues. However, years later the same aspects from their songs can be seen in works by artists such as Eminem and the Beastie Boys. The other main method of portraying the entertainment industry as a remix machine is through popular movies. Even original, era defining movies such as Star Wars, Kill Bill, and The Matrix owe much of their success to works that came before them. Some scenes are nearly replicas of those from films prior, some visual aspects are nearly identical, and the movies all follow classic genre tropes and methods. These are just a few instances that depict that there is no truly original content being created in the entertainment industry, and that everything is merely a remix of prior work. As Isaac Newton said “We stand on the shoulders of giants” which can refer to our use of the knowledge obtained by those before us and we are using it to our benefit. However, I believe a line from one of the Backstreet Boys’ songs more clearly depicts this phenomena, “Am I original? Am I the only one?” The answer is no. There is no originality left.
The creativity doesn’t end at the entertainment industry either. This also applies to inventions, software, and other forms of “intellectual property”. According to the video, creativity is derived from three elements: Copy, Transform, and Combine. By copying others, transforming the work of others, and then combining the works of others, you can create something new. This inherently shows how there is never truly anything “new” and that everything is a remix. There will always be an influence from some outside source to prevent your creation from being original. Most great inventions come about due to this, such as the printing press which was a combination of many inventions made centuries prior. Therefore, everything created is a remix.
