Characters enter the public domain. Winnie the Pooh becomes a killer. Where is remix culture going?

[Stevicus]

Characters enter the public domain. Winnie the Pooh becomes a killer. Where is remix culture going?

Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse have recently entered the public domain, making it possible for artists to use them freely.

apnews.com

The mouse and the bear are but the beginning. The heights of 20th century pop culture — Superman among them — lie ahead.

Classic characters, new stories, fresh mashups. Will it be all be a bonanza for makers? Are we entering a heyday of cross-generational collaboration or a plummet in intellectual property values as audiences get sick of seeing variations of the same old stories?

Does a murderous Pooh bear have something to show the 21st century entertainment world?

Why present a story about Winnie the Pooh turning into a homicidal maniac? It sounds rather silly and boring to me. I think the novelty of such things will wear off rather quickly.

King Kong, who has one of his enormous feet in the public domain already because of complications between companies that own a piece of him, will shed his remaining chains in 2029. Then, in the 2030s, Superman will soar into the public domain, followed in quick succession by Batman, the Joker and Wonder Woman.

When the law extending copyright by 20 years passed in 1998, musicians including Bob Dylan were among the key figures who had implored Congress to act. Younger generations of musicians, who came up awash in sampling and remixing, made no discernible outcry for another extension. In part this could be because in the streaming era, many of them make little off recorded music.

Jimmy Tamborello, who records and performs electronic music under the name Dntel and as part of The Postal Service — a group whose very name caused trademark headaches with the official version at its inception — says artists are generally happy to allow others to turn their work into new things. The problem is companies that come between them, and get most of the financial benefit.

“There’s always a corporation involved,” Tamborello says. “I think no one would care if it was just artists to artists. I feel like it would be nice if it was more open, more free. It seems like it has more to do with respecting the original work.”

“There’s always a corporation involved."

I wonder what kind of stories we'll see with Mickey Mouse. He could join up with Speedy Gonzales and Jerry (from Tom and Jerry) and form a vicious gang of rodentia to terrorize the city. Then Sylvester and Tom as two rogue cat cops to catch them.

 

[Valjean]

Just capitalizing on the head-in-the-sand, comic-book level of public taste these days...

 

[Revoltingest]

“There’s always a corporation involved."

You'd prefer that government censor or control media?

 

[Valjean]

You'd prefer that government censor or control media?

I'd prefer it resumed restricting media consolitation and monopoly by a handful of corporate interests.
I'd prefer it resumed the Fairness Doctrine that restricted unbalanced, biased propaganda stations/papers.

 

[Revoltingest]

I'd prefer it resumed restricting media consolitation and monopoly by a handful of corporate interests.
I'd prefer it resumed the Fairness Doctrine that restricted unbalanced, biased propaganda stations/papers.

...so your sensibilities will not be offended.

 

[Stevicus]

You'd prefer that government censor or control media?

No.

 

[Revoltingest]

No.

Good.
Pooh will kill.

 

[Revoltingest]

Some day Harry Potter will be bad guy.

 

[Stevicus]

Good.
Pooh will kill.

Eeyore would take revenge on Pooh.

 

[Revoltingest]

Eeyore would take revenge on Pooh.

Yogi get Eeyore.

 

[Valjean]

...so your sensibilities will not be offended.

So I'll be presented multiple perspectives, and all sides of issues.