After reading Lawrence section on his favorite clip from “Read My Lips”, created by Soderberg I had to check out his work. I wanted to check out the mixed Hitler song “Born to Be alive” that resulted in a lawsuit, though this was not his favorite mix I just wanted to check it out to see why it turned to a lawsuit. When I got to the page on Youtube I was checking out other mixes of Hitler and I clicked on “Hitler Freestyle” it featured clip that was taken from an Adolf Hitler 1934: Closing Ceremony-Triumph of Will speech ant it is remixed with a Biggie and Tupac Live Freestyle. Lessig states “Whether text or beyond text, remix is collage; it comes from combining elements of RO culture; succeeds by leveraging the meaning created by the reference to build something new (76)”
The video clip starts with a black screen and the title of the ceremony and as it plays you hear Hitler saying “Es spricht der Fuihrer” then the Biggie and Tupac Live Freestyle start playing. The clip is a parody to Hitler and Biggie more than Tupac the author meshes up two very influential figures. The author creates something different by meshing two different things together to make something new. When you “mix these symbolic things together” with something new, you create, as Soderberg put it, “something new that didn’t exist before” (75). This holds true to what this video created we see Hitler a very symbolic strong figure being meshed up with Biggie a very strong influential figure in the rap game.
Their meaning comes not from the content of what they say; it comes from the reference, which is expressible only if it is the original that gets used. Images or sounds collected from real-world examples become “paint on palette” (74). The remix uses clips from the actual speech and it somewhat relates to the actual video of the freestyle performance done by Biggie. On the Hitler clip you can see that he is talking behind a podium the camera also shows an audience clapping and moving in a way that agrees with whatever Hitler is say. The clip of the actual free style performance by Biggie it shows him performing in front of a large crowd. He’s holding the mic and you can hear the crowd (the same sound of crowd on the remix), meshing perfectly to the video representing the cheering crowd of the video. The stage presence in front of Hitler and his body language match the lyrics of the freestyle.
Interesting remix, I liked that sometimes it actually looked like Hitler could have been the one doing the rapping. I think it's interesting that you started out by checking out the remix that Lessig was talking about and then ended up finding this one. That's what's cool about YouTube, you may be looking at one video, but they've got a million more that you'll probably wanna look at too. Nice connections to Lessig.
ReplyDeleteI really quite like this quote from you:
ReplyDeleteTheir meaning comes not from the content of what they say; it comes from the reference, which is expressible only if it is the original that gets used.
Yes, precisely. I wonder, sometimes, how successful a remix can be when people don't get the reference. Of course it can still be successful to some degree, but it doesn't hold the some weight as when people "get it." I think rap music is like this often...when you get the little name drops or the samples, it feels like a much richer experience.
Thanks.