"Designers plagiarize, whether or not they call it "looking for ideas." This truth has been hammered home during the last six months as two nationwide campaigns, by respected agencies, have blatantly copied the work of lesser-known créatives."
While reading this article, I found myself a bit torn. Whether it be design, literature, research, film, or music... there are definitely some rules about plagiarism that are set in stone. I remember at one point early in my education (middle school-ish age) a teacher told us, "If it wasn't your own original thought, cite it." This type of sweeping statement is easy to make in regards to research papers or lit reviews when the author is working to build off of the research that came before. If this thinking were to be translated directly to design and the arts, then under every design there should be a list of all those pieces that influenced it, because I guess technically the designer built off of those ideas to arrive at the current work. Maybe that's why plagiarism in artistic communities is so dicey, because there is no such thing as a completely original thought. Everyone is influenced by what is around him or her. If a scientific paper were published with no cited sources, the community would immediately question its validity. If an artistic piece were published with cited sources, the community would immediately question its validity. Hmmh.
A blogger who writes the "Grammarist" wrote about the recent issue of Helene Hegemann and her use of "remixing" rather than plagiarizing in her prize winning novel. EHow wrote all about the different levels of "remixing" in films. Not only that, but every rap song that hits the top of the charts will undoubtedly have a hand full of remixes following in its wake. I guess what I'm getting at, is plagiarism in the arts is a hard topic. This website displays what seems to be obvious examples of plagiarism, but then I think - what's the difference between this and the remake of a foreign film? Or the remix of an old song? This all just seems to be a slippery slope.
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