2.1 From Inspiration to Appropriation
Artists create in conversation with the culture they share. That conversation may be literal—an interpersonal exchange of skills, knowledge, and insights that sustains the artist's work. For example, this video explores the interplay between three comic book artists—Nick Bertozzi, Dean Haspiel, and Mickey Duzy—who live in Brooklyn and have informed each other's creative process.
Artists seek inspiration from multiple sources. In this interview, the members of the New York-based graffiti collective, Tats Cru, describe the sources of their inspiration, which include images from high and popular art such as comic books, advertisements, and cereal boxes.
Artists function as readers of their culture. Reading can be a generative process we share. As we read, we create meaning, often by comparing expectations formed from stories we know with our experience of a particular work, which serves as a launching point for our own creative work. these types of readers, potential authors who appropriate and remix the stories they know and love have kept classic books alive for contemporary audiences.
Jonathan McIntosh calls himself a "political remix artist." He responds to the media around him by re-editing it, re-dubbing it, re-contextualizing it, often to make a critical statement. He seeks to communicate his ideas in a language that speaks to a generation that has grown up watching television and has absorbed its core language. One of his best known works combines elements from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Twilight movies. What kind of comment do you think he is making here? What do you need to know about the two franchises to understand his argument about gender politics?
Our goal in this path is to help you understand how to collaborate with your students to “think, critique, and create.” Students may already be involved in a variety of remix practices outside the classroom as fan fiction writers, cosplayers, game modders, DJs and MCs, or meme-makers. This video, produced by American University's Center for Social Media, maps some of the most pervasive forms of remix practice on the Internet today. Each of these practices works by turning existing cultural materials into resources for new forms of creative expression.
Appropriation (also known as remixing) refers to a process of building upon something that already exists to discover new meanings, express new ideas. tell new stories, or create new sounds and images. This process makes an existing work relevant and meaningful in a new context.
Literature teachers have already been trained to think about remix practices, even if they do not fully recognize it. Traditional interpretive practices that emphasize the study of a writer's inspiration from other works have already taught them the process of appropriation. However, the new emphasis on remix culture among contemporary youth offers teachers the opportunity to revitalize concepts that are central to their discipline, as well as a way to talk with students about cultural practices that are central to their experiences outside the classroom.
Our goal in this path is to help you understand how to collaborate with your students to “think, critique, and create.” Students may already be involved in a variety of remix practices outside the classroom as fan fiction writers, cosplayers, game modders, DJs and MCs, or meme-makers. This video, produced by American University's Center for Social Media, maps some of the most pervasive forms of remix practice on the Internet today. Each of these practices works by turning existing cultural materials into resources for new forms of creative expression.
Appropriation (also known as remixing) refers to a process of building upon something that already exists to discover new meanings, express new ideas. tell new stories, or create new sounds and images. This process makes an existing work relevant and meaningful in a new context.
ACTIVITY: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Click on the activity below. This will take you to the PLAY! platform where we have created a Flows of Reading community of practice. Here, you can register and participate in exploring voice in remix.Literature teachers have already been trained to think about remix practices, even if they do not fully recognize it. Traditional interpretive practices that emphasize the study of a writer's inspiration from other works have already taught them the process of appropriation. However, the new emphasis on remix culture among contemporary youth offers teachers the opportunity to revitalize concepts that are central to their discipline, as well as a way to talk with students about cultural practices that are central to their experiences outside the classroom.
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