Mike of Modernity(or post?) Post Class :Jenkins

Jenkins thoughts about the relevancy of Fan Fiction, co-opting characters from mainstream works and redefining them, are intriguing and bring up an interesting argument about the efficacy of Intellectual Property Rights. But, his thoughts that these new fan-driven inspirations will eventually grow to fill an ever more demanding consumer market is frankly scary. Jenkins seemed to feel that this might equalize the extreme imbalance of power among the creators of film,television and internet media. A field that is dominated by muti-national corporations that have their fingers in nearly every pie imaginable, leaving little room for the "little guy". To my way of thinking recycling somebody else's old ideas stultifies the very essence that spawns creativity. Certainly nothing is new "under the sun", as originality - whatever that is - grows more difficult to achieve. But straight ripping off characters and mixing them together in new ways shows the very corproartions that produce these franchises that we are in thrall to them for our artistic, communicative and entertainment needs. Hollywood already has a name for these works: "spin-offs" and "sequels". Fan fiction that breaks copyright, if popular, soon gets quashed, and not for profit parody is simply free marketing for the company. George Lucas figured this out long ago, and soon will the slow-to-catch-on executives at Time Warner, Universal, ad infinitum. Once fan fiction becomes popular enough to market, it will be immediatley swallowed in the system. Entropic isn't it? Isn't energy better spent producing independent, daring and fresh ideas that could possibly attract a new audience rather than glomming on to pre-built characters and stories that will only ever be THAT character or story. Some authors creations can stand to be redone, though even Shakespeare wears thin when exploited too much. Are we all so enmeshed in the Mega Media Monster that we can't see past it's constructs? Am i the only one who feels insulted sometimes when a pay good money for a movie only to be served stale dialogue and stock characters? When one's creativity is placed inside another's, a dangerous game begins. Not only of property but of the very energy that feeds art.