Kirby Ferguson continues his Everything is a Remix series by showing us how many of our most cherished and familiar films combine elements taken from or inspired by other films to create their seemingly unique experiences. Sometimes, shots are reproduced almost exactly. Yet, the movie industry is extremely aggressive in prosecuting or suing anyone who tries to use their material.
Author Archives: Cimaxion
Everything is a Remix Part 1
Part 1 of Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix series. The techniques of copy, combining and transforming existing material is common to all artistic creation.
China: The Roots of Madness – 1967 Documentary
This film was written and conceived by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Theodore H. White. It covers 175 years of Chinese history, showing the turbulent forces that led to the victory of communism. The film is rumored to have had CIA involvement with its making and it has been harshly criticized for being blatantly dismissive of its subject and casually racist. But of course the harsh attitude toward its subject makes sense when placed within the context of a U.S. government trying to resist the spread of communism in the sixties.
Edge of the Universe – A Film by Justin Rosewell
Justin Rosewell made this odd little science fiction tale about a young man who senses something wrong with the world.
Tyran Goes to the Sea – Animation by Yura Boguslavsky
Russian animator Yura Boguslavsky made this film with children and adults in his animation workshop. It’s a lunatic and irrational story about a king with a wild beard and some very strange fish people who live in Cardboardia.
Man in Space – 1955 Disney Documentary
Disney’s lavish history of rockets leading right up to a pre-Sputnik 1955!
Parts 2 – 8 after the jump