Watching one of the “Everything is a Remix” videos really got me to think on the level of ‘originality’ we really do have. His video to start with was set up as a typical video comparing things or kind of peeling things apart… not too original lol.

As he went through some of what are considered the most influential and groundbreaking movies of our time (Star Wars, Avatar, Kill Bill, etc). I agree with what he is saying, but I think that originality is relevant. So I don’t really think “everything is a remix.” We have cultural constants, that appeal to us and carry through generations with some variations. Hence when looking at ‘the big picture’ it seems as everything is just swagger-jacking or a modernized version of past stories/movies.

For example (yes I know what many of my blog readers are thinking by now… ) I will use the movie “The Lion King”. It is majorly based on the play ‘Hamlet’, so how original is it then? I say very original, the way the story was presented is original. Same thing with the current wave of superhero movies, they are being presented and expressed in a way much different (dare I say, more powerfully) than they ever were before on film, TV, or comics.

The implication that everything that we view as entertainment though is a remix of something of the past, does not disturb me. I think it merely shows a continuity in human themes. If we look at different cultures, generations, centuries, decades… we can see that the human priorities and worries are constant, they only are tweeked or ‘remixed’ through time and cultures. All societies have stories- with good, evil, finding oneself, coming of age, etc. The themes built upon for our entertainment such as a midlife crisis, relationships, reality shows, violence, magic are all derived from things that are important to all humans such as family, identity, cultural norms and deviances.

So … remix on!!!