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Bound By Law, authored by Duke IP Law professor James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins and illustrated by cartoonist turned IP law professor Keith Aoki, is a comic that chronicles, into plain English, the struggle of one documentary filmmaker’s perils into current copyright law. The story begins with a creepy goblin, who seems to be an unfortunate librarian at the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, introducing the audience to two well mannered individuals (could James and Jennifer) who will guide the filmmaker, Akiko, through the confusing world of copyright and filmmaking. Akiko desires to make a documentary capturing all the sights, sounds, social issues and culture of one day in the life of New York. She asks her guides if she will need to clear rights for everything she captures, and that’s where the journey begins. Here she learns of that only works published before 1923 are clearly in the public domain, leaving eighty years of content that may need to be cleared for her film, if she happens to capture it on film. Akiko hesitantly learns of the changes in copyright law, the extensions and increasing amount permission clearances needed for her work, and also a helpful lesson in fair use in how “rights” culture can be changed by “making collective decisions about what’s fair”, and how the intention of fair use mediates between giving incentive to authors to use content to critique on culture. After having explored the world of fair use our hero embarks on the journey through term limits which unfortunately has been subject to some of the most draconian changes, including the most recent copyright extension (CTEA) which protects the works of an author for life plus seventy years after the author’s death and also extended all work currently under copyright for an additional twenty years. The comic beautifully and simple illustrates how this runs counter to the constitutions intentions and how current copyright law is doing harm to the public domain. The guides then bring Akiko to a ledge where the cold, dark, fenced factories and plants of corporate and restrictive control are contrasted with James Boyle’s ecological idea of sustainable development in the balance of copyright and creative works which is illustrated with a lush open landscape of creativity.
Relevance
The comic beautifully illustrated the ins and outs of copyright law and made the plethora of literature, prior to discovering this text, a bit more simple to understand. It balances the restrictions, and purpose of copyright law with the freedom a creator inherently is given. There is a considerable amount of content covering fair use, but the section on the copyright term extension is most applicable to my research. The comic wonderfully shows the frustration regarding the increasing amount of extensions and there affects and on the public domain. The work itself is a testament to the balance of creativity and law, and it’s endeavor to make these issues and rights known in plain English is a wonderful experiment, that I’m better informed after reviewing.
Duncum, Paul. "Attractions to Violence and the Limits of Education." The Journal of Aesthetic Education 40.4(2006): 21-38.
This article attempts to examine violence in the media and educate youth on how to act in the real world so violence is not used as a solution to their problems. It cites the following forms of media as sources of violence: television, film, video, and computer games. There are also four different types of violence that can be seen in the media: comic, transgressive, retaliatory, and gratuitous. The author wonders why, from a psychological standpoint, people are attracted to violence. A couple of possible reasons are given such as: exploitation of the worst in human nature or a product of an increasingly degenerate society or maybe just a fashion statement or possibly just finding pure pleasure in the art of violence.
Comic violence is defined pretty clearly by example with any Tarantino film. His film clearly spoofs and parodies other super violent films. Additionally, professional wrestling fits into this category. Transgressive violence is any violence having to do with heroism through violence. It includes superheroes beating super-villains and enjoying the retribution being seen. This category surprisingly also includes a game such as Grand Theft Auto, where you embrace the villain and want to succeed as the villain. Retaliatory violence always has to do with retribution. When you feel bad for a character, you want them to get their revenge. Finally, gratuitous violence is when there is an overwhelming amount of violence that is unlimited in every sense of the word. It is all about grandeur and gore. Startin in the 1960s, media became more and more violent. Now, the line between good and evil gets blurred and the level of gore and shock has increased dramatically in media.
This article relates to the thesis by explaining the different types of violence seen in the media. It points out that gratuitous violence would be the most likely candidate to cause real world violence because the media appeals most to that type of person; however, it is unlikely to cause such actions because the people who would really go on rampages do not get the level of excitement from the film, because they would rather have the real life thrill. This article also explains how people are more aggressive prior to viewing the media than after, further supporting the idea that violent media does not cause violence.
Pyongyang; A Journey in North Korea
Guy Delisle
Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China
Guy Delisle