Culture Jamming

     When I read the Culture Jamming or a culture jammed?:RiP!: A Remix Manifeston by L.B. Bermingham, I realized the manifesto extends beyond music and Walt Disney films. Literature is also a part of it. For example, when classic novels such as Little Women by Louisa May Alcott entered the public domain, other authors reinterpreted the story and modernized the characters to reflect on current society. I don't agree with this practice, I feel it takes away from the original source and newer editions are measured up to it. One question I have is, why can't a classic book remain as such so others can return to that time period and experience it the way the author intended? Why does it have to be reinterpreted into something it's not? I tried to read a couple that were “reinvited,” but wasn’t able to. The books are not as well written or as interesting. Now, I generally avoid them. 

     Copyright, fair use, Creative Commons and the public domain are complex issues that have been hotly debated since the middle of last century, but the advent of more and more digital technologies and the pervasive influence of the Internet have made the illegal sharing of files almost run of the mill (Bermingham). When it comes to music, I remember way back in the 2000s there was a crack down on individuals pirating it. At one time, it was easy to put a music CD into a computer and download music onto it. Then a blank CD can be used to burn the music on. Unfortunately, computers no longer come with a disk drive for CD in it. The disk drive needs to be purchased separately instead. A few years ago, I tried to burn a Ritchie Valens CD only to find out the music was formatted differently, and it wouldn't burn onto a blank CD. After experiencing that, I stopped burning CDs. 

     Another thing this article reminded me of is Alan Freed and the payola scandal. Alan Freed was a disc jockey from the 1950s. He helped push the rock-n-roll scene by playing the music and sponsoring the music in concerts. His success came to a halt when he was accused of a “pay-to-play” arrangement between promoters and DJs (Case Western Reserve University, 2026). The reason this article reminded me of him is because he also experienced the culture tension at that time when he played a new form of music that later became regulated. Now, some of that music has been mashed up in other artists' songs. 

 

                                References 

Bermingham, L.B. Culture Jamming or a culture jammed?: A Remix Manifeston. Southern Utah University. Retrieved from chrome-native://pdf/link?url=content%3A%2F%2Fmedia%2Fexternal%2Fdownloads%2F1000000604

Case Western Reserve University. (2026). Alan Freed. Encyclopedia of Cleveland. Retrieved from https://case.edu/ech/articles/f/freed-alan