Reduce, Reuse and Recycle That Media!

The repurposing of media for new contexts of use is no recent convention. Usually consisting of the re-presentation of one medium into the form of another, the media is divorced from its original representation to illicit a new set of aesthetics and cultural principles. In an article written by David Novak titled “Cosmopolitanism, Remediation, and the Ghost World of Bollywood”, the somewhat contentious nature of remediation is brought to the attention of the reader. Novak chooses the nineties band from San Francisco, The Heavenly Ten Stems, to illustrate the rather unstable platform of remediation practices. The band in question chose to, I guess you could say, cover the Bollywood song Jaan Pehechaan Ho which was first made famous in the 1965 Raja Nawathe Movie Gumnaam. Now, the song was initially remediated in the indie movie Ghost World, but according to Novak this was not perceived as an issue. The real issue surfaced when the song was performed by the San Franciscan band because apparently it was more of a mockery than a tribute to the original sparking a rather large protest from the audience at the performance. So one seemingly large question must be answered to make sense of all this, what is acceptable remediation and what is unacceptable? A major underlying principle for all types of remediation is, I believe, that the end product must be a tribute to the original, the final product as a mechanism for cultural enrichment and that it does not detract for the original source.

            One example of acceptable remediation that immediately jumped out at me was the infamous Andy Warhol and his remediation of iconic American products into works of art. The best examples of this being his Campbell’s soup can art or the Coca Cola logos. He was turning these genuinely ordinary but well known consumerist icons into pieces of high art which in turn catalyzed a new artistic movement referred to as Pop Art. Thus, his remediation of American icons made a profound change and impact in the culture of the art world and Warhol’s art was seen at the center of this shift. Furthermore, Warhol and his art are seen to have influenced an entire era in the sixties, even including music. Thusly, his remediation was a mechanism of cultural enrichment because his art spawned an entire artistic movement that inspired other artists to follow in his footsteps, such as Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist and Claes Oldenburg. Furthermore, his art elevated the mundane aspect of the original into high art which affected millions. Additionally, his art was a direct reflection of culture and its consumerist indulgences.

            An unacceptable example of remediation is the ever-so lovely Adult Swim cartoon Robot Chicken. If you are intrigued by pop-culture references melded with homoerotica and spastic interludes of sex, this is the show for you. In a nutshell, the show uses the medium of Claymation to parody movies, television shows or people. One particularly offensive and shocking example is “Mario and Luigi in Vice City”. Drawing their inspiration from Grand Theft Auto, undeniably one to the most violence video games in history, the dynamic duo are seen engaging in several graphic violent scenes, driving cars erratically while under the influence, indulging in drugs as well as several hookers. Thus, in the creators attempt to provide entertainment to the masses, they have taken an iconic video game duo that many associate with their childhood and spawned them into violent drug using hooligans that appear to partake in the company of prostitutes. This example does not in any shape, way, or form enrich culture but rather serves as a reflection of everything that is bad with in society and depicting it in an almost desirable fashion to the viewer. Thusly, in this specific example of the repurposing of media, the remediation definitely detracts from the original in a negative way and is essentially making a mockery of it.

            Therefore, the following account has attempted to established what some of the underlying principles are in determining acceptable and unacceptable remediation practices. Essentially, if the repurposed product has a positive impact on culture and although the media is divorced from the original, it does not negatively detract from it. But, most importantly, that the repurposed product is not offensive or derogatory to any race or echelon of society or depicts unsavory lifestyle choices as something that is acceptable or desirable, which appears to be the goal in the Robot Chicken cartoon.