In his 2008 book “Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy”, Lawrence Lessig points out the use of the remix done through new media as a new way of communication and production among the masses and as the revival of the RW (Reading Writing) culture. He compares this phenomenon to a written essay when the remix quotes contents from audios, videos or other sources in order to create something new.
He also remarks of the importance of communities, because “remixes happen within a community of remixes. In the digital age, that community can be spread around the world. Members of that community create in part for one another. They are showing one another how they can create. That showing is valuable, even when the stuff produced is not”. (Lessig, 2007:p77)
One of my favourite YouTube videos can be categorized as a remix. It was done by B. Storm, an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. In this video, he translates to ASL the lyrics of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”. Besides the translation, he also makes his own version of the video creating something new and interesting.
A big variety of ASL music videos can be found on YouTube. Some of them are very good produced and some others are not even well translated. However, they can be seen by a wide range of viewers that comment actively on each video correcting the ASL translation or participating in a constructive and compelling way since they are interested in Sign Language.
Transforming this songs and translating them to Sign Language in order to appropriate them among the Deaf Community (meaning not only Deaf but interpreters as well) is another example of the revival of the RW culture that Lessig talks about (or should i say RS? reading signing?). In this particular case, the remix cannot only create communities, but can enhance pre-existing ones.
REFERENCES
Lessig, Lawrence (2008) Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. New York: Penguin Press. Chapter 4 – RW, Revived, pp.51-83.
WEBSITES
B. Storm personal YouTube
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