Fleming’s 1939 American film The Wizard of Oz is an early pioneer of the use of innovative techniques in camera work, music, visual and special effects in modern day movie production.  The musical-fantasy classic has also become a firm favorite among the American public and coupled with its influence in the film industry, it should be regarded as the most significant American film of all time.

 

The musical piece Over the Rainbow from the Wizard of Oz soundtrack has been a family favorite ever since its introduction to the American public in 1939. On Tuesday June 23, 2004, the American Film Institute recognized Judy Garland’s timeless rendition of the tune as the #1 song in American cinema. Approximately 1500 actors, writers, critics, filmmakers and other Hollywood notables took part in the voting process. In winning the prestigious award Over the Rainbow topped other notable film songs such as As Time Goes By (#2) from Curtiz’s 1942 classic movie Casablanca and Singing in the Rain (#3). Over the Rainbow has also won other notable awards such as being voted the #1 song of the century by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Recording Industry Association of America. These and numerous other achievements provide support for the premise that The Wizard of Oz is the most significant production in American film history.

 

MSNBC. "'Over the Rainbow' named top movie song." MSNBC Website. 1 Dec. 2008 .

Flemings 1939 American film The Wizard of Oz is an early pioneer of the use of innovative techniques in camera work, music, visual and special effects in modern day movie production. The musical-fantasy classic has also become a firm favorite among the American public and coupled with its influence in the film industry, it should be regarded as the most significant American film of all time.

This article deals with copyright legislation and jurisprudence in terms of the various forms and degrees of control apportioned to copyright owners and producers and distributors of technologies used to disseminate copyrighted works. It analyzes the rulings of several court cases tracing the evolution of current copyright practices regarding distribution technologies beginning with the Betamax case and ending with Napster. The author describes each case in terms of a struggle for control over the distribution of works of authorship between copyright owners and producers of technologies of dissemination. She concedes that the trend in digital media copyright protection has been to grant copyright owners control over new distribution outlets because unauthorized distribution often results in the producers of the dissemination technology profiting from the exploitation of a new market to which the copyright holder is entitled. She acknowledges, however, that it is not socially optimal for copyright owners to retain complete control over the technologies of dissemination because their first instinct in litigation is to prevent the use of the new technology. Therefore, with most technologies of dissemination of copyright protected works, courts allow the sale of new technologies because it is in the interest of society and of economic value for new markets for the dissemination of works of authorship to be created, but they require the proprietors of such technologies to obtain licenses from copyright owners to distribute copyrighted works.

Since my paper deals with digital media copyright regarding peer to peer file sharing networks I am most interested in the author's analysis of internet technologies. The author explains that the battle between digital media copyright owners (primarily record companies) and producers and distributors of new technologies that disseminate works of authorship on digital networks has led congress to anticipate new forms of exploitation and grant more control to owners of copyrights to facilitate the use of digital networks. She adds, however, that there are many academics who believe that despite any policing efforts by congress and the courts, new technologies will constantly arise to take the place of those that submit to copyright compliance. Further complicating the matter, she introduces a set of "self-styled copyright anarchists" who are determined to continue illicit file sharing activities that evade protective measures supported by copyright legislation. Finally, she considers plans proposed by German and Canadian legislators to impose a surcharge on internet service costs to compensate copyright owners for the inevitable dissemination of their works over the internet. She concedes, however, that this is likely unfeasible since such a surcharge would have to be negotiated among all recording studios and would probably be prohibitively expensive.

 

Milos Forman's monumental 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, based on Ken Kesey's book of the same name, is both a humorous and sobering look at life in the secluded, rigidly controlled environment of a psychiatric ward. As a tightly confined and admittedly eccentric community, the ward serves as an allegory for human society in general. In this sample of inmates, one can observe the tense dynamic between a strictly regimented system and an individual determined to undermine it. Viewed in its historical context, the film also serves a reflection of the factors that led to the establishment of the institution. It symbolizes the awkward transition between two system of mental health care, and how this transition led to the rise of the oppressive institutional force McMurphy and his fellow patients must reside under.