The unique Bollywood

Hollywood sign

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hollywood_Sign_PB050006.jpg

Tom Brook wrote on BBC that ‘Hollywood is like an octopus with tentacles extending across the globe’ (Brook 2013). That is true. In a globalised world, Hollywood’s influence is spread worldwide. Hollywood movies have high-grossing box office recorded over the world, posing a threat to local industries. Viewing Hollywood’s success, many try to copy its production formula, leading to Hollywoodisation. That raise fear of cultural imperialism, for not only industries are being Hollywoodised, it helps spread of America values. But I think that is not necessarily the case as seen by success of Bollywood. Bollywood imitate Hollywood’s production style, but to a small extent it is Hollywoodised. For unlike most other film industry that just copy from Hollywood, Bollywood adapted and absorbed, as shown by the film 3 idiots. It insisted in its traditions like song and dance which defines uniqueness of Bollywood film.

Hollywood dominated the majority market share of film industry. Its competitive advantage lies in large budget production, advanced technology and massive capital. Globalisation further consolidates its position in world cinema. With the world becoming more connected, barriers between nations are break down, which helps the export of movies to countries around the world (Mazumdar 2013, p.47). Hollywood films receive high box offices. Looking at top-grossing film of 2012, Marvel’s The Avengers, Skyfall, The Dark knight Rises, they are all Hollywood blockbuster films and produced by America media conglomerate like Walt Disney and Warner Brother. The films each grossed more than $1000 billion worldwide (Box Office Mojo 2013), giving Hollywood large economic benefits. Facing Hollywood’s prominent status, local films can’t compete. To survive in industry, many try to follow Hollywood’s production format, leading to Hollywoodisation. It refers to incorporation of Hollywood’s typical film elements (Rampal 2005, p.195). Also transplanting of America ideas, for the adoption of Hollywood production is not just an export of a story but an ideology and culture, America values (Schaefer & Karan 2013, p.51). Bollywood is an exception that still retains its culture.

Bollywood refers to India’s film industry based in Mumbai (Schaefer & Karan 2013, p.51). The word is the combination of Bombay, the earlier name for Mumbai, and Hollywood. It is the largest film industry in the world in terms of number of movies produced and viewership (Schaefer & Karan 2013, p.29). In India, Bollywood movies are more popular than Hollywood one. Bollywood films is often said to be copying Hollywood. That is true when looking at its aesthetic which can easily see influence of Hollywood, but Bollywood is actually just Hollywood in style blended with Indian culture. That can be seen in top-grossing India film 3 idiots produced in 2009. (Click here to view the trailer)

3 idiots poster

http://sasa.princeton.edu/2012/04/04/3-idiots-viewing/

3 idiots followed typical Hollywood genre of drama romance-comedy. It is about two friends, Frahan and Raji searching for their long-lost friend Rancho. Through their journey, they meet their classmate Chatur who reminded them of their days in college of engineering. It is conventional Hollywood inspirational story about college life, friendship, love and dream. Classical Hollywood happy ending is adopted (Olson 2000, p.11). In the last scene, Rancho, who has become a well-known scientist, reunites with Farhan and Raji who both realized their dream. And Rancho and Professor Viru’s daughter Pia confess their love. That is happily-ever-after Hollywood ending.

The love story of Rancho and Pia showed Hollywood usual quarrelsome lovers. Pia doesn’t like Rancho in the beginning, though after spending time with each other, she has feelings for him and they fall in love. But Rancho suddenly disappears and Pia is engaged. In the end, Pia finds ‘Rancho’ and they confess their love. It follows the usual pattern which boy meets girl. They discover they have feelings for each other, face obstacles, at last overcome and fall in love. The kissing scene at the end showed Hollywood’s influence. In the past the kissing scene was usually cut-away, but that is changing which kissing are now shown (Rampal 2005, p196).

The casting of famous Indian actor Aamir Khan to play lead role Rancho and beautiful Kareena Kapoor play Pia, shows influence of Hollywood star system. One of Hollywood’s main reasons to success is its use of stardom, which well-known, handsome actors are often chosen to play the lead and there is always presence of an attractive girl, who falls in love with character.

The cast of 3 idiots
From left: Sharman Joshi (Raji), Aamir Khan (Rancho), Kareena Kappor (Pia), Madhavan (Farhan)
http://www.xvidbox.com/film-incelemeleri/komedi/3-idiots/

The film adopted Hollywood formulaic plot which involved conflicts. Farhan parents expect him to be engineer so he studies engineering, but his dream is actually taking photos. With Rancho’s encouragement, Farhan takes up courage and tells his father he doesn’t want to be an engineer. His father is angry at first, but after hearing Farhan’s words, he understands and they hug. It follows Hollywood norm of including conflicts when talking about relationship, especially family. That is also typical Hollywood way of telling audiences to overcome their challenges, like Farhan fear of his father, and chasing their dream.

Hollywood's cinematic style is seen in the film. The last scene pictures characters running which slowly fade out, with long-shot of beautiful sea and blue sky in background. Another example is when introducing Raji’s family. The camera show house with man riding pedicab passed by, and gradually turn from colour to black-and-white. Then in medium-shot, showing a father in bed, a mother cooking and coughing, a depressed sister, broken sofa and a bucket holding leaking water. That imitated Hollywood old movies in the 50’s. The film also adopted Westernised visual styles (Matusitz & Payano 2012, p.128). It is glamorous which people wear colourful costumes. That is especially seen in wedding, also singing and dancing scene.

The wedding scene
http://www.aainabridal.com/2011/02/bollywood-bride-kareena-kapoor-in-3.html

The above seems to prove that the film is being Hollywoodised, but unlike most of Hollywood films that have linear narrative, the film adopted circular form of narration. It is set on present with three friends looking for Rancho, adding flashback of characters’ college life, slowly revealing Rancho’s family background. Gokulsing and Dissanayake (2004, p.31) noted Bollywood movies ‘does not progress in a linear fashion but meanders, with detours and stories within stories’. That is characteristics of Bollywood movies.

Bollywood films show Indian values instead of America ones. It shows ‘uniquely Indian’ content (Mazumdar 2013, p.52). The film is presented from Indian’s point of view. It shows India’s history, culture and religious. Like the scene of Raji praying to Gods reveal India religion Hinduism, also traditional and modern clothing. Custom is shown like concept of men being engineer while women as a doctor. It explored India social problem like suicide rate being highest in the world. Gokulsing & Dissanayake (2004, p.27) noted ‘social issue are treated with a characteristically Indian flavour cinematically’.

The emotional story is another special feature of Bollywood films. Paranjape (2012, p.30) noted ‘Hollywood is a cinema of action, while Bollywood is still a cinema of feelings, moods, emotions, and sympathy’. Hollywood movies focused on techniques, while Bollywood tries to adopt that, it focused more on content to build up emotions. The film use of humour brings joy to audiences. Like Rancho changes a boy’s speech that is praised as model student for achieving high marks and he just memorized and read that out. That makes audiences laugh and at the same time reflect on academic system. The film also bring tear, like Rancho and Farhan tried to wake up Raji who attempted suicide because he was threatened by Professor Viru to choose either himself or Rancho drop out. Audiences will feel touched by the scene.

The song-and-dance number

http://feedmesubtitles.com/2013/01/23/3-idiots-day-23/

And more importantly, is film incorporation of song and dance sequences which is most distinguishing feature that defines Bollywood (Schaefer & Karan 2013, p.52). Singing and dancing is an Indian tradition. The use of music and dancing in film is actually an influence of early Hollywood melodrama which Bollywood absorbed, improved and developed into its own unique features. The film has three song-and-dance numbers. Hindi dialects are used, with a mix of modern street dance and traditional Indian dance that let audiences to view Indian culture. The sequences are used as ‘natural expressions of emotions and situations emerging from everyday life’ (Gokulsing & Dissanayake 2004, p.23). Like the scene where Pia dreamed of herself together with Rancho. (Click here to view the scene) The catchy music helps to express Pia’s feelings of being in love with Rancho, which vividly illustrate one’s heart bumping when meet someone they loved. It also entertains the audiences. The unrealistic sequences provide audiences an escape from life.  Paranjape (2012, p.30) noted that ‘without song and dance, there is no Bollywood’. That is where Bollywood essence lies in.

Bollywood is popular in India but not overseas. But with the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire, co-prouduction of Hollywood and Bollywood, more people are starting to notice Bollywood films. Bollywood films are now producing film not just for Indian but for global audiences. It is now reducing its running time by cutting down song sequences that is unrelated to the plot. 3 idiots is successful example of Bollywood expansion to international market.

Facing huge influence from Hollywood and invasion of western ideas, many local industries have lost their characteristics and being Hollywoodised. Bollywood successfully absorbed and adapted Hollywood production format while insisting on its tradition, nationality and culture. Every Bollywood movies that exported to other countries let audiences to see India culture.


References
Box Office Mojo 2013, ‘2012 Worldwide Grosses’, Box Office Mojo, accessed 1 October 2013, <http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?view2=worldwide&yr=2012&p=.htm>
Brook, T 2013, ‘How the global box office is changing Hollywood’, BBC, 20 June, accessed 2 October 2013, <http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130620-is-china-hollywoods-future>
Gokulsing, KM & Dissanayake, W 2004, Indian Popular Cinema: a narrative of cultural change, new revised ed, Trentham Books Limited, Great Britain
Paranjape, M 2012, ‘Cultural Flows, Travelling Shows’ in Roy, AG & Huat, CB (ed.), Travels of Bollywood Cinema Travels of Bollywood Cinema, Oxford University Press, India
Rampal, KR 2005, ‘The Hollywood Factor in the Reshaping of the Asian Film Insutry’ in Taher, N & Gopalan, S (ed.), Indian Film Industry: An Overview, The Icfai University Press, India
Matusitz, J & Payano, P 2012, ‘Globalisation of Popular Culture: From Hollywood to Bollywood’, South Asia Research, July, vol.32, no.2
Mazumdar, S 2013, ‘Transnational elements in the Hong Kong and Hindi film industries’, in Schaefer, DJ & Karan, K (ed.), Bollywood and globalisation: the global power of popular Hindi cinema
Olson, SR 2000, ‘The globalisation of Hollywood’, International Journal on World Peace, December, vol.17, no.4
Schaefer, DJ & Karan, K (ed.) 2013, Bollywood and globalisation: the global power of popular Hindi cinema, Routledge, USA and Canada

Bollywoodization?

‘Hollywoodisation’ refers to typical plot format of American film (Klein 2004). Bollywood adopted Hollywood’s production format and successfully incorporated that with Indian traditions, developing into unique style.

Bollywood refers to Mubai-based film industry in India (Schaefer & Karan 2013). Globalisation helps to break down barriers and export of Indian films to countries around the world. In recent years, there is rise of Hindi film industry and it is now the largest film industry in the world. Some even predicted that it will surpass Hollywood in revenues in future (Mazumdar 2013, p.47).

Bollywood is said to be ‘Hollywoodized’ which can be reflected in many Indian film. An example is Bride & Prejudice produced in 2004 which is an adaption of Pride and Prejudice. The film is about a girl who was brought up in traditional Indian family, met American men, which differences arouse. After spending more time with each other, they learned their misunderstanding and fall in love. This film followed typical Hollywood formula, with beautiful actor and actress, love and comedy genre, also a happy ending.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_and_Prejudice

It is true that Bollywood movie adopted production format similar to Hollywood, but to a small extent it has been ‘Hollywoodized’ as it shows strong traditional Indian culture by presenting ‘uniquely Indian’ content (Mazumdar 2013, p.52). In Bride & Prejudice, there are several song and dance numbers, like the wedding scene at the end of the film. This is typical element that defines Bollywood. The film is set in India, showing Indian life, its landmark, village, Hindi language. It also reveals custom like wearing traditional clothing, which illustrated Indian cultural values.

Bollywood films successfully learned and absorbed from Hollywood production style, while retaining traditional unique Indian elements, producing films that attract all. This is the concept of ‘glocalization’ (Kelin 2014), the combination of the word globalization and localization.

Bollywood originally is mainly made for Indian people, so it focuses on traditional dancing and singing with humorous narratives. As it is expanding to international market, Bollywood film content is also changing. Though musical genre is still dominant, more messages are explored in the films, like the hit-film 3 idiots, which criticize the educational system.

References

Klein, Christina 2004, ‘Martial arts and globalisation of US and Asian film industries’, Comparative America Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 360-384

Schaefer, DJ & Karan, K 2013, ‘Bollywood and globalization: researching popular Hindi cinema through the lens of film flows’, in Schaefer, DJ, & Karan, K (eds), Bollywood and Globalisation: the global power of popular Hindi cinema, Routledge, USA and Canada

Mazumdar, S 2013, ‘Transnational elements in the Hong Kong and Hindi film industries: A comparative analysis’, in Schaefer, DJ, & Karan, K (eds), Bollywood and Globalisation: the global power of popular Hindi cinema, Routledge, USA and Canada

Specular economy

The rise of social media contribute to what Marshall (2010, p.498-499) described as ‘specular economy’, which we are more ‘conscious of how we present ourselves and how others perceive us’. This is particularly seen in celebrity culture, like the case of singer Rihanna.

(image from https://twitter.com/rihanna)

Rihanna’s twitter account has over 30 million followers. She frequently sends tweets, sharing with fans her insight of life (Burns 2009, p.59). There are not only photos of her at work, but also her private one like having fun with her friends. That blurs boundaries of public, private and intimate (Marshall 2010, p.499). Private and intimate moment is now shown in public.

(image from http://style.mtv.com/2012/12/05/instagram-selfies/)

Rihanna provides link to her photos on instagram. She posted selfie photos with sexy pose. In most of the photos, she wore little clothes. She was often photographed wearing bikini. And also close-up photo of one part of her body like her butt. This reflected how Rihanna produced her online ‘persona’, her public image (Marshall 2010, p.499). Rihanna is known as one of the world’s sexiest women. Through the choice of photos, Rihanna presented her beauty and sexiness. Her self-taken photo is the way how she communicated to her fans, though some regarded that as narcissistic. Marshall (2010, p.499) perfectly use everyday example which people look into mirror to illustrate that we are conscious of how we look in the eyes of others. It is an act of self-performance (Marshall 2010, p.499). Celebrities’ fame is based on support of fans, so they try to present the best of themselves.

It is also a way to build personal brand (Burns 2009, p.60). Social media provide a place where celebrities can regain control over their public presentation of self, unlike in the past which media did the job. Rihanna promoted her ‘bad girl’ image. It is how she defines her unique self. She is aware of herself as famous celebrities, which her actions will attract attention. Many fans are watching her. Though the wild and sexy photos might lead to criticism, that she is bad model to teenagers, it is a way that identifies who she is, her true self.

References

Burns, KS 2009, Celeb 2.0: how social media foster our fascination with popular culture, ABC-CLIO, LIC, United States of America

Marshal, PD 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 498-502

Participatory culture

Web 2.0 provides environment for user-generated content, leading to rise of participatory media culture. Henry Jenkins defined participatory culture as one which ‘fans and other customers are invited to actively participate in the creation and circulation of new content’ (Burgess and Green 2009, p.10). People not only play the ordinary role of consuming information, but also act as producer. Social media clearly illustrated characteristics of virtuality and connectivity in participatory culture.

(image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kikemb/5428414543/)

According to Heim, virtuality refers to ‘an event or entity that is real in effect but not in fact’ (Raessens 2005, p.374). It is a digitally produced reality. This is seen in social media which simulate virtual communities (Chambers 2013, p.142). Social media allows people to update their status and post photos, sharing with their friends things that happened. People can also send online messages, which enable them to talk to one another and receive reply instantly. This imitates everyday life interactions which people have face-to-face conversation with others and share events that occurred in their daily life. The only difference is that the setting is now online and people face the computer. This virtual community not only helps people to maintain relationship but also reconnect, which can be seen in relation to connectivity.

Connectivity refers to the ability to make connection (Dijck 2013). Social media ties people who have shared values and attitudes (Chambers 2013, p.115). Like when people ‘like’ a page, it then shows people who also like that page, including friends. That bound people together and brings sense of belonging (Chambers 2013, p.144). Social media also allows people to reconnect with past friends through ‘people search’ (Chambers 2013, p.157). They can also enter name of their school, their geographical location, and that will connected to people who also study there or live in that place. This network enables people to regain relationship, finding people they know in the past. This connectivity provided by social media is further enhanced with the convenience of internet connection , where people can access the sites by mobile phones and stay connected.

In sum, social media illustrated virtuality of online community, and connectivity that connect people in network.

References

Chambers, D 2013, Social media and personal relationships: online intimacies and networked friendship, Palgrave Macmillan, UK

Dijck, JV 2013, The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media, Oxford University Press, New York

Raessens, J 2005, ‘Computer games as participatory media culture’, Handbook of Computer Game Studies, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 373-388

Political microblogging

The rise of Twitter led to formation of Twitterverse, similar to the term blogosphere, where blogs are interconnected (Small, p.113). Some argued Twitter helps to foster democracy, but that over-estimated its influence.

(image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/5364620846/)

Twitter is a microblogging tool, ‘miniature version of the regular blog’ (Larsson & Moe 2011, p.730), which allows people to write short comments within 140 characters and follow others. Some noted Twitter helps to increase political participation. Twitter is used as political blogging. Many political parties and leaders have their Twitter account, spreading information to the public. The retweet function further disseminates information (Larsson & Moe 2011, p.739), raising people’s political awareness. Twitter is praised as ‘a tool for connecting with people on individual level’ (Parmelee 2013, p.8). Leaders engage with public, like President Obama answered public questions in live Twitter chat (Schulman 2012). But that interaction is actually limited. Larsson and Moe’s (2011, p.733) research indicated that Twitter is mainly used for broadcasting information but not for conversation. It is a ‘one-way, top-down communication’ (Larsson & Moe 2011, p.739), which leaders provide updates but rarely have dialogue with public.

Some argued the power of Twitter was seen in Arab Spring Revolution, which led to spread of revolutionary movements in Tunisia, Egypt and overthrown the totalitarian government. It is true that Twitter has potential in calling people to participate in uprising, however, as Larsson and Moe (2011, p.733) noted, ‘it is difficult to say with any certainty what the role of Twitter was’. It was just hyperbole by media.

Another point raised by people is Twitter provide a platform where people can openly exchange ideas. People debate issues where different voices can be heard, especially marginalized and criticize views (Larsson & Moe 2011, p.741). However, that is dominated by a small number of active users like journalists and politicians, who already enjoyed prominent positions (Larsson & Moe 2011, p.740). There is just small amount of citizens who are interested in politics. And many people just receive but rarely sending message (Larsson and Moe 2011, p.741).

So the use of Twitter in achieving democracy is overestimated.


References
Olorf Larsson, A, & Moe, H 2011, ‘Studying political microblogging: Twitter users in the 2010 Swedish election campaign’, New Media and Society, vol. 14, no.5, pp.729-747
Small, TA 2012, ‘What the hashtag? A content analysis of Canadian politics on Twitter’, in Loader, BD, & Mercea, D (ed.), Social media and democracy, Routledge, USA and Canada
Parmelee, JH, & Bichard, SL 2013, Politics and the Twitter Revolution: How Tweets Influence the Relationship between Political Leaders and the Public, Lexington books, Lanham
Schulman, K 2012, ‘President Obama Answers #My2k Questions on Twitter’, The White House blog, accessed 10 September 2013, <http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/12/03/president-obama-answers-my2k-questions-twitter>

Blogosphere - an ideal public sphere?

Blogging is common nowadays. The number of blogs is rising, creating blogosphere. The term blogosphere refers to interconnectedness of blogs which form virtual community (Lee 2006). Some viewed blogosphere as new public sphere, but I think whether blogosphere can be independent and impartial is questionable.

The public sphere, according to Jürgen Habermas, is conceptual idea where people debate matters freely and openly (Boeder 2005). The use of hyperlinks in blog favors flow of ideas and rise of ‘networked public sphere’ (Boeder 2005). The comic below creatively illustrated this.

(Rupakson 2012)
(image from http://www.worthofweb.com/blog/case-study-blogosphere-by-james-surowiecki/)

Theoretically, blogosphere can act as independent and impartial public sphere where people share their views without external pressure. Unlike the press which is owned by media corporations and strived for profits, there’s no influence of power parties in blogs. People can freely express their opinions, present dissident views (Etling, Kelly, Faris & Palfrey 2009). Citizen journalist is example, which provide alternative to mainstream media. And as anyone can open a blog, citizen voice and minority viewpoint have a chance in being heard, challenging power of elites in their dominant position (Etling et al. 2009). 

However, in practice, this notion of blogosphere as public sphere is more ideal with involvement of corporate and government interests. Blogs are increasingly used as platform for advertising (Boeder 2005). People are being paid to write blogs to promote products, like mom bloggers (Local 10 2012). Boeder (2005) noted that ‘public sphere is deeply wounded by the intrusion of PR’. Opinions are staged which shaped people’s beliefs (Boeder 2005). State influence is another problem, which government monitors blogs and filter information. An example is censorship of sensitive information on microblogging site Sina Weibo in China (BBC 2013). That is further restrained by digital divide, which not everyone have access to Internet (Etlinget et al. 2009). All these brings to the conclusion that blogosphere is still ‘elite-controlled public sphere’ (Etlinget et al. 2009), which the powerful one have money and means to control opinions. Even though blogoshpere cannot act as independent and impartial public sphere, what it offered bring us one step closer.

References
BBC News 2013, ‘The astonishing speed of Chinese censorship’, BBC, 27 March, retrieved 22 August 2013, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21743499>
Boeder, P 2005, 'Habermas’ heritage: The future of the public sphere in networked society', First Monday, vol. 10, no. 9, retrieved 22 August 2013, <http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1280/1200>
Etling, B, Kelly, J, Faris, R & Palfrey P 2009, Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture and Dissent, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, retrieved 21 August 2013, <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/Mapping_the_Arabic_Blogosphere_0.pdf>
Lee, JK 2006, ‘The Blogosphere and the Public Sphere: Exploring possibility of the blogosphere as a public sphere’, International Communication Association conference papers, EBSCOhost, retrieved 21 August 2013
Local 10 2012, 'Companies pay mom bloggers thousands', Local 10, 6 Feb, retrieved 22 August 2013, <http://www.local10.com/news/Companies-pay-mom-bloggers-thousands/-/1717324/8603210/-/f99g77/-/index.html>
Rupakson 2012, 'Case Study: Blogosphere by James Surowiecki', Worth of Web Academy, retrieved 21 August 2013, <http://www.worthofweb.com/blog/case-study-blogosphere-by-james-surowiecki/>

We are all pirates

We are now living in remix culture.

With the prevalence of material and free software available on the Internet, everyone can now be producers by remixing materials. That is 'to cut, paste, sample or jam with content, in order to produce something which is distinctive of their own social and creative innovation' (O'Brien & Fitzgerald 2006, p.1). But are remixers considered as innovators or thieves?

Some regarded remix as original forms of art and expression (Stepanek 2009). It’s true that many finished works look different from original ones, but that doesn’t change the fact that the used material is based on others’ output. Guertin (2012) explained this perfectly that people do not own the content, just the creative process in turning pre-existed material into new ones. So, remixers are thieves. But I think that shouldn’t be a surprise, cause who aren’t pirates these days?

Pablo Picasso once said ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal’. Every innovation is based on precedent. There is hardly an original idea. This can be seen in clip Everything is a Remix: Part 2 (Ferguson 2011), showing many Hollywood films are adapted from popular culture. The well-known Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill is made up of different elements from various films, like adding kung fu genre where characters wore yellow jumpsuits as in Bruce Lee’s kung fu movie.

Bruce Lee (left), Kill Bill (right)
(image from http://www.ufunk.net/en/insolite/toutes-les-clins-doeil-%C3%A0-des-films-dans-kill-bill-en-une-seule-vid%C3%A9o/)

Guertin (2012, p.37) said ‘creativity is dead’. That’s really sad but true. We are all pirates. We all stole from others’ works. Even world’s great people like Beethoven, Albert Einstein didn’t come up with original idea. But what distinguish them from others is that they get inspiration and gradually develop into their own unique style.

As to the question if we have to pay for every sample used, I think the answer is no. But at the same time it is wrong to assume that everything is free on the Internet (Martin 2011). I think what matters are the extents to which we use materials. Fair dealing is what emphasized in copyright law (O'Brien & Fitzgerald 2006). Creators deserve credit and respect for their hard works.


References
Ferguson, K 2011, 'Everything is a Remix Part 2', retrieved 12 August 2013, <http://everythingisaremix.info/blog/everything-is-a-remix-part-2>
Guertin, C 2012, Digital prohibition: piracy and authorship in new media art, Continuum International Publishing, London
Martin, R 2011, 'Remix culture: a rights nightmare', retrieved 12 August 2013, <http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/indepth/s1645533.htm>
O'Brien, D & Fitzgerald, B 2006, Mashups, remixes and copyright law, Queensland University of Technology, retrieved 12 August 2013, <http://eprints.qut.edu.au/4239/1/4239.pdf>
Stepanek, M 2009, 'Remix Culture', accessed 12 August 2013, <http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/remix-culture>