One of the articles I'm working on right now is based on the presentation that I gave at the 2009 IP/Gender Symposium, in which I suggested some ways that narrative theory can help us think about vids as fair use of copyrighted material.
In the article, I mention Francesca Coppa's now well-known definition of a vid as "a visual essay that stages an argument." One of the advantages of this definition is that, to the extent that a given vid is an argument, it can be defended on the grounds of fair use—the same kind of fair use that allows me to quote from a novel when I write a review of it or an essay about it.
Now, I happen to think it's true that all vids are arguments, if only in the most basic sense. (For years, the textbook in my first-year composition class was Everything's An Argument.) But here's the thing: some vids are obviously arguments (vids like![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
luminosity's "Vogue" and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sisabet and luminosity's "Women's Work" come immediately to mind), and some vids are not so obvious. This is what Sarah Trombley's getting at in "Visions and Revisions" when she comments that "A fanvid which merely recapitulates the plot of a work or the development of a relationship between previously-existing characters is perhaps the least transformative use [of copyrighted material]" (665). And there are a lot of vids that seem to fall into this category of "mere recapitulation."
So one of the things I want to do in this article is talk about a couple of examples of vids that, although we might make a case for them as arguments, are not primarily or obviously argument-driven, and to talk about how those vids are nevertheless transformative works. The type of vid that immediately comes to mind for me is the celebratory vid, the vid that exists primarily to say "OMG MY SHOW" or "I LOVE THIS CHARACTER SO MUCH." (Celebratory vids tend to have a certain capslock quality to them.) The most recent example that comes to mind for me isfan_eunice's "Walking on Sunshine": I actually think that vid is making quite a few arguments about the new incarnation of the Doctor, the past and future direction of the show, etc. etc. etc., but when I watch it the overwhelming effect is, as fan_eunice puts it, "SQUEE in vid form."
I love celebratory vids—they make me happy, which is exactly what they're supposed to do—and so I have some possibilities in mind already. But I'm sure there are some I need to be reminded of, not to mention many that I've never seen in the first place, and I would love to expand my range of options! So please, tell me:
What are your favorite celebratory vids?
...or, really, your favorite vids that aren't primarily arguments—episodic vids, maybe, or a vid that, as Trombley says, "recapitulates the plot of a work or the development of a [canonical] relationship between previously-existing characters." Tell me about your own vids, other people's vids, whatever you want.
...now I want to watch "Walking on Sunshine" again.
In the article, I mention Francesca Coppa's now well-known definition of a vid as "a visual essay that stages an argument." One of the advantages of this definition is that, to the extent that a given vid is an argument, it can be defended on the grounds of fair use—the same kind of fair use that allows me to quote from a novel when I write a review of it or an essay about it.
Now, I happen to think it's true that all vids are arguments, if only in the most basic sense. (For years, the textbook in my first-year composition class was Everything's An Argument.) But here's the thing: some vids are obviously arguments (vids like
luminosity's "Vogue" and sisabet and luminosity's "Women's Work" come immediately to mind), and some vids are not so obvious. This is what Sarah Trombley's getting at in "Visions and Revisions" when she comments that "A fanvid which merely recapitulates the plot of a work or the development of a relationship between previously-existing characters is perhaps the least transformative use [of copyrighted material]" (665). And there are a lot of vids that seem to fall into this category of "mere recapitulation."So one of the things I want to do in this article is talk about a couple of examples of vids that, although we might make a case for them as arguments, are not primarily or obviously argument-driven, and to talk about how those vids are nevertheless transformative works. The type of vid that immediately comes to mind for me is the celebratory vid, the vid that exists primarily to say "OMG MY SHOW" or "I LOVE THIS CHARACTER SO MUCH." (Celebratory vids tend to have a certain capslock quality to them.) The most recent example that comes to mind for me is
fan_eunice's "Walking on Sunshine": I actually think that vid is making quite a few arguments about the new incarnation of the Doctor, the past and future direction of the show, etc. etc. etc., but when I watch it the overwhelming effect is, as fan_eunice puts it, "SQUEE in vid form."I love celebratory vids—they make me happy, which is exactly what they're supposed to do—and so I have some possibilities in mind already. But I'm sure there are some I need to be reminded of, not to mention many that I've never seen in the first place, and I would love to expand my range of options! So please, tell me:
What are your favorite celebratory vids?
...or, really, your favorite vids that aren't primarily arguments—episodic vids, maybe, or a vid that, as Trombley says, "recapitulates the plot of a work or the development of a [canonical] relationship between previously-existing characters." Tell me about your own vids, other people's vids, whatever you want.
...now I want to watch "Walking on Sunshine" again.
