In class the other day, we learned of the importance of copyright laws and the powers they hold over electronic media today. On top of that, we learned the limitations of copyright in the form of fair use. One of the more notable examples of fair use we covered regarded the use of films. When using a copyrighted motion picture, the limits of fair use include the nature, amount, and commercial impact of material used. Basically only small portions of a film can be used in a way that does not serve as a substitute for the original work.
The use of movies often is found on the internet in the form of internet memes, which are ideas spread throughout the internet and take on a pop culture status. These concepts are both dispersed throughout the internet and are reshaped in a variety of ways; the memes are at the mercy of the creativity of those who find them. Memes are such a fascinating aspect of the internet that there is an entire website dedicated to following and analyzing them.
The website is called KnowYourMeme.com and it is a database attempting to organize the incomprehensible breadth of the countless memes circulating throughout the internet. Although it is not a perfect website (searching can be difficult and popups can occur), it is both informative and extremely entertaining.
One especially entertaining meme is titled “Supercut Movie Clichés”. This particular meme encompasses varying movie clips that share a commonality such as a catchphrase (i.e. “He didn’t make it”, “We’re not in Kansas anymore”, etc.) and cycles through the commonality in each of the different movies. The comedic value lies in the worn-out phrases in critically-acclaimed movies. It would seem like a no-brainer to avoid these lines (such as “no-brainer”), but they constantly occur in these films. With respect to copyright, the videos are applicable in that the clips of the movies are extremely brief and serve a separate purpose so as not to replicate the original work.
“We’ve got company”
I do see a lot of these reoccurring lines that have been in movies and then people will say them in daily use and then they begin to become a part of our culture. Almost everyone knows the line, "How you like them apples?" It is very famous and when things like that began to get used, it becomes something that other movies may pick up on and use sometimes. It's just the way things start to work for society and all. It is kind of weird, but that is just the way things are. I will notice though when a famous line from one movie get referenced or used in another.
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