Response to Lethem

I became interested in reading “The Ecstasy of Influence” when the writer began discussing animation, plagiarism, and influence; showcasing how one cartoon was the result of another, which resulted from another, and so forth. Without being influenced or creatively inspired by a central or base cartoon, one could not have created another cartoon essentially. An example of this was, South Park stemming from Charlie Brown’s Christmas Specials. Before reading this essay, I hadn’t noticed similar the two cartoons look alike.

In the same paragraph as that about animation and plagiarism, the writer talks about similarities between Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet and Ovid’s “Pyramus and Thisbe”, then Romeo and Juliet and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. All three have similar story lines but is this considered plagiarism? If it is then I must agree with the line “we want more plagiarism.” But I see the similarities as being influenced not intentionally copied. Everyone has their own unique perspective. Could these three examples be all based on the same idea, just differently perceived and expressed according to the artist and still be seen as separate, individual pieces of literature? I say yes.

I agree with what Lethem states to be the true goal of copyright law. That it is intended to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.” I think that too much of copyright has been focused on rewarding the labor of authors and them getting as much profit as possible through use of the copyright laws. Perhaps the profit of an author should simply be the knowledge that he/she is influencing someone else, which results in more artistic endeavors.