Earlier this week I wrote a post about creator copyright that was inspired by Nina Paley’s ridiculous little jingle called Copying Isn’t Theft. Still not able to get it off my mind, I’ve done some more exploring of the problem to really try and find the root of what I don’t like about it, and I think even more so than reprinting work like I mentioned previously, my big beef in the grander scheme centers more closely around the idea of derivative works.
Basically, “What can another artist do with your work?” Granted, I know that this can sometimes be somewhat of a slippery slope when skirting the lines of parody and fair use, but in general I think the most prominent example of my perspective on this is fanfic, which is very popular, but not often liked by many creators. Under copyright law, you can’t sit down and just write your own episode of The Simpsons because you’d be using characters and other IP that someone else had already created.
And frankly, I’m ok with that.
Sure, somebody might have a really good idea for an episode that they want to share – then go get hired into the writers’ room for the show and create your idea! Otherwise, at least to me it just doesn’t seem right to create something that isn’t actually mine to begin with, even if I do think that I’ve got a better line for Bart Simpson to say than “Aye carumba!” And think about it if you’re Matt Groening, the guy who created The Simpsons – through his own show, he still has creative control over the characters to say how they will and won’t be portrayed … this is lost with fanfic, which can be even more troublesome online when there’s a good possibility of such stories being confused with your own.
At best, continuity may be lost because I know that a lot of fanfic tends to involve mash-ups across multiple properties, and even worse, the characters may take on traits that Matt and his teams over the years have specifically worked very hard to avoid. Ever notice how most episodes of The Simpsons still today end with a sweet, endearing moment like Bart and Lisa playing together or Homer and Marge sharing a romantic moment, even amidst their own bizarre quirkiness? What happens when someone else starts writing in your world who doesn’t have the same dedication to these ideals that you have???
Maybe part of it, too, is that honestly I’ve never really shared much interest in wanting to create something new out of somebody else’s work. I want to write my own stuff, with my own characters and my own plot devices – sure, I love The Simpsons, but that was somebody else’s great idea and he’s the one who should get to create whatever new roads his characters decide to walk down. As flattering as you may think it would be to have somebody else create a new story in my own world, I’d much rather hear that they were so inspired by my work that they went and crafted something brand new themselves.
And I know that some of these comparisons don’t sync up the best to Nina’s original argument because she basically got busted for using copyrighted music from the 1920s in a film of hers that she assumed at the time wasn’t copyrighted. Unfortunately in that case, it’s sometimes difficult to verify the true rights behind some older IP, but at the same time it’s kind of hard for me to just write it off entirely – if she had been acting like a creative professional, she’d have accepted the true liabilities behind using materials which she wasn’t fully sure she had the rights to use and picked something else to be the soundtrack for her independent movie. Instead, she chose to focus solely on being an artist who just had to get this work out, and in the end it cost her $50,000 in licensing fees and she’s not even allowed to sell the movie anywhere afterwards.
Wouldn’t you think that at the very least, if your ability to make more art in the future was hinged on how your current work is published (i.e. I can’t make more movies now because I work three jobs to pay off my legal fees from the last movie), it would make more sense to just create your own art and for any instances where you are collaborating, make 110% sure that you have the necessary rights to do so? Nope, you may not necessarily be able to use that popular song because the rights are too expensive, even though you think they should be less because you’re on a low budget, but sorry – their toys, their rules. I can’t write my own episodes of The Simpsons, either, but I always have the freedom to create something entirely new that’s 100% my own – that’s what being a creative person is all about.
