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Free Culture

Lawrence Lessig is Stanford Law Professor who founded the Center for Internet Law and Society. He’s a cogent writer on the intersection between intellectual property law and creativity. I first noticed him (although I now realize that I’d read him earlier) when he represented Eric Eldred in the U.S. Supreme Court case to overturn the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. He’s also chair of the Creative Commons project which is how this very blog is licensed. His most recent book is Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity and in a great example of putting your money (or book) where your mouth is he’s licenced the book (and made a freely downloadable version of Free Culture) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. You can also buy Free Culture in an old-style paper version with the pages all bound together. Derivative versions have started appearing already with one of the neatest ones that developed was AKMA’s idea to have people read and record chapters, which is almost completely done after a couple of days. I’ve downloaded the PDF version and I’m reading it now. It’s great and I’m going to buy the print version to finish reading it. I have to admit that I’m a bit of a policy wonk and I love the argument that he’s making in contextualizing the development of law, culture and public policy. Maybe it’s a Canadian trait with so much of our national identity wrapped up with communication technologies and being the birthplace of Marshall McLuhan and Harold Innis (who linked “Empire and Communications“). I’ll end with a quotation from Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig:
“A free culture is not a culture without property; it is not a culture in which artists don

March 30, 2004 akma, book, copyfight, copyright, creativecommons, ericeldred, freeculture, haroldinnis, lawrencelessig, marshallmcluhan

Citizen Kubrick

Jon Ronson has a fascinating article called “Citizen Kubrick” in The Guardian today about Stanley Kubrick‘s archive. It’s an amazing look into the massive amount of research that the filmmaker conducted with each of his projects. Each Kubrick film is precisely constructed and assembled together. I never get the sense of anything accidentally being included in one of his films. Jan Harlan‘s documentary, A Life in Pictures gives a picture of the man and his work, but Ronson’s glimpse into the Kubrick-designed boxes filled with photographs, letters and other more exotic artefacts from the artist’s life show the attention to detail that made each of his films so breathtaking. The article comes just before the opening of The Stanley Kubrick Exhibition at the Deutsches Filmmuseum and the Deutsches Architektur Museum. I wish that I could go, but the Web site has great photographs and information about the exhibition.

March 27, 2004 alifeinpictures, archives, filmmaking, history, janharlan, kubrick, theguardian

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

George Clooney made his directorial debut with an adaptation of Chuck Barris‘ “unauthorized autobiography” Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. It’s an inventive blend of documentary and drama that is anchored in reality, but what is reality anyway? The screenplay was written by Charlie Kaufman who seems to have done quite well with his other adaptation, Adaptation and this script also breaks the fourth wall and is at least partially about filmmaking and perception as well. While Clooney is known as an actor (and he does act in the film), he pulls off an amazing film that suits one of the most innovative television producers. Sam Rockwell plays Barris and manages to capture many of his mannerisms and his look, especially in “The Gong Show” phase.
I was a fan of “The Gong Show” and watched it far too often. While criticized as lowering the tone of television, now the work of Barris seems middle to highbrow. Barris had a sense of fun and an obligation to entertain that came through in the shows he made. Now the cynicism and lack of originality in “reality” television and much of television in general means that the criticism aimed at Barris in the past doesn’t even seem to apply. A fascinating part of the DVD is a documentary that features an interview with Barris himself that explores more of the man and his work.

March 26, 2004 adaptation, charliekaufman, chuckbarris, confessionsofadangerousmind, dvd, film, georgeclooney, review, samrockwell, thegongshow

Mr. Death

Mr. Death Unofficial Poster Errol Morris is a gifted filmmaker who carefully constructs his stories in a deliberate and highly-entertaining fashion. Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. tells the story of the man who began by designing and repairing electric chairs and then moved into researching the use of poison gas in WWII Nazi concentration camps, which resulted in his downfall. It’s a fascinating story of how pride and vanity can take people into directions that you could not predict. As with all of Morris’ work it tells both the story and provides insight into the way that we construct reality and truth. The critical thing in any documentary or research is in asking the proper questions. Morris asked the right questions to tell the story and Leuchter did not in his illegal research which has been used to deny that the Holocaust occurred. It’s one of the best documentaries that I’ve seen in how it constructs the story and deals with so many issues and potential pitfalls in the story. Morris and his way of constructing a film is a source of inspiration for me and he’s influenced the way I see filmmaking because presentation and re-presentation of reality is much more complicated than it seems.

March 26, 2004 documentary, dvd, errolmorris, film, fredleuchter, history, review

Neil Postman

I know of Neil Postman primarily as the author and critic of technology from his book Amusing Ourselves to Death. His theory from the 1986 book is that television makes everything show business. It’s not really much of a theory any more as the proof is so overwhelming as you see it all around as soon as you turn on the television set. Jay Rosen writes PressThink and today he posted his remarks “Remembering Neil Postman” where he talks about Postman as a person and mainly as a teacher. It made me think about teaching and the powerful and unintended effects that it has. What is particularly interesting to me is how Rosen writes about how Postman would disturb his students so learning could occur. I like that. It’s not how I teach, but I love being able to see things in a different way and it’s fascinating to see how you can make that happen. Cognitive dissonance is a good thing. PressThink is a great place to keep track of what is happening in the mass media and I’m glad that I read it and was able to find out a bit more about Neil Postman from someone who knew him as a colleague and a student.

March 25, 2004 amusingourselvestodeath, jayrosen, learning, neilpostman, pressthink

The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides Poster Sofia Coppola’s debut feature The Virgin Suicides has many of the elements of her recent and personal favourite Lost in Translation. I hadn’t seen it before and didn’t really know what to expect. It’s a great looking film but I didn’t like it as much as Lost in Translation. But it’s still an interesting film that captures a lot of teen angst in a great 1970s look. What I found fascinating was the mixture of elements: capturing moments, a sweeping storyline spanning many years, and a large cast. The strongest parts of the film were the look and the moments and those are the elements that Lost in Translation is built around which is why it works well. I’m looking forward to Ms. Coppola’s next film.

March 25, 2004 dvd, film, lostintranslation, review, sofiacoppola, thevirginsuicides

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