As I was working on my Research Proposal draft on Remix Culture, or rather avoiding working on it, I just stumble on Political Remix Video work of Diran Lyons and I think it will definitely inspire me to create some work on my own, I’m still deciding whether or not to join the Political Remix sphere focusing on Mexico as I think it could be interesting to work on juxtaposition ideas happening as well as using narrative remix on language by using both English and Spanish content (which are both things I intend to explore in my research but on different topics).
Since a couple of days back I’ve been gathering some ideas but whenever I think I got it, I get a mental block or think I should really focus on the proposal and research first, so for now I’m just gonna post the general ideas and what I found inspirational and interesting in Lyon’s work from his editing technique to the way he posts content under fair use and the juxtaposition narrative.
First of all he uses some of the already known techniques of famous Political Remix videos like Obama singing a popular song but as well incorporates a technique of juxtaposition in which content repetition allows for a new way of thinking or critique as well as narrative response is also important.
For example, in the Mexico VS Trump video the constant repetition allows to actually think about, in my particular case as Mexican living abroad at the moment, on the many times Trump relies on immigrant speech reduced to the well known video “Mexicans are rapists” it makes me understand in a way why everyone when they hear I’m Mexican (at least here in the UK) they laugh and immediately ask me what I think about dumb Trump and the wall.
On the other hand, in a way and when taken out of context it empowers to hear so many times the world Mexico repeated over and over in an obsessive way, to create an illusion of importance on the supposed “fact” that whatever Mexico does impacts USA “Mexico is killin’ us” (a very poor statement but one that when positioned backwards as whatever USA does impacts Mexico, we as Mexicans sometimes take for granted)
The other part to take in consideration is how this video may impact differently on: Mexicans born in USA (already a conflict as there are people that recognize themselves as American with a Mexican background on culture they share thanks to their traditions and language passed on by their parents but there is also Mexicans that regardless of living in USA they still recognize themselves as Mexicans not only being part of the culture but also of the country as sometimes their families are still back in Mexico while they work) with a Mexican background and Mexicans born in Mexico moving to the USA in hopes of finding a better way of life and Mexicans that won’t go abroad or would go elsewhere but are now addressed as immigrant due to the discourse). In a way funny because I have an uncle which I saw briefly a few months ago who is working in the USA but his family is in Mexico and while talking about VISA and how the government is paying them to go and work there, I forgot to even ask him his opinion on Trump, but true to be told the Trump issue felt different in Mexico, at least to me, it seemed less important like I couldn’t care less, we all just had a laugh and watch the funny videos rather than critically discuss it. Then again we tend to do that a lot so now you get why in Happy Feet when they talk about rough times they show how the little pinguins are rather partying with a particular accent, hint, in Spanish language they are Cuban XD
In contrast, there might also be a different reaction on the video regarding other Latinos looking for a better way of life in USA, are they mad/glad/couldn’t care less that they are being ignored or taken as being the same as Mexicans in the Trump discourse? And there is also the question on how others addressed or attacked by Trump discourse feel like when watching this or others outside of the Trump attack sphere looking to amuse themselves with the times Trump contradicts himself which has become quite a trend on funny videos recently
I think i went to far with my choro mareador so let me go back to the actual editing of the video and my ideas on how it could be implemented on the Mexican Politics, I was thinking on looking for the most recent speech on Peña Nieto since as far as I remember he has gone around recently claiming to care on Human Rights whereas the Ayotzinapa case and violence elsewhere is still happening so a reconstruction on how many times he actually talks or mention the word Human Rights in contrast with images portraying the actual state of Mexico might have an impact on the line of discourse in juxtaposition to the situations Mexico is facing at the moment
P.S. I also want to address the way in which Mexicans perceive Peña´s eternal European tour as a way to evade actually being in the country and facing the problems that seem to increase by day, it might be interesting to have something similar to the 10 Beatles Songs Explain Donald Trump but with Peña traveling around the world recently stopping because he now seems to get addressed by outsiders as well on Human Rights topics (News in Spanish) or something similar to the strong video above that coercively allows the President to speak aloud of a specific topic (Peña’s visit one year later to Ayotzinapa disocurse)
It’s also important to see how Lyons frames and cites his work in the description box:
He usually has a title, credits to who edited or where the idea came from, explanation of the remix idea and then ***FAIR USE*** 17 US Code § 107 followed by a list of all the content used in order of appearance
- EXAMPLE
Description Box:
This political remix video samples footage from 35 Hollywood productions to further consider Pastor Jeremiah Wright’s 2003 sermon “Confusing God and Government.” The visual content and sound materials are combined, recontextualized, and juxtaposed here to create a critical third meaning. According to Code 6 in Center For Social Media’s Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video (http://ift.tt/1Wnk0Mg;), where the use of a single song is used to ground a collage of clips and images, they hold that “this kind of activity is covered by fair use to the extent that the reuse of copyrighted works creates new meaning by juxtaposition. Combining the speeches by two politicians and a love song, for example, as in ‘Bush Blair Endless Love’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtEH6w…) changes the meaning of all three pieces of copyrighted material.” As such, this work constitutes a FAIR USE, US Code § 107.
Sources in Order of Appearance:
Bill Moyers interviews the Reverend Jeremiah Wright (PBS)
House of Cards (Season 1, Episode 9)
Jesus of Nazareth
Imperium: Augustus
Risen
Agora
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
The Patriot
The Four Feathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Lord of War
Pearl Harbor
Back to 1942
Inglourious Basterds
John Adams
Dances with Wolves
Come See the Paradise
12 Years a Slave
Django Unchained
The Great Debaters
The Help
Requiem for a Dream
Back to the Future
A Time to Kill
1992 State of the Union Address
Narcos
American History X
Hustle and Flow
John Wayne & Celebrity Ensemble: God Bless America
Olympus Has Fallen
Fruitvale Station
Selma
Do The Right Thing
Fahrenheit 911
Green Zone
Obama Victory Speech 2008 (MSNBC)
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Finally, some other ideas going on in my head include the women rights march making me thing on the difference it has just walking in public space contrasting Mexico City Centre to Brighton City Centre a topic that arise from the exposure I had to the pictures of the march in D.F and the Morras video coinciding with footage I took of walking alone here in Brighton
I also have some ideas regarding Peña’s discourse used in Spanish popular songs and Mad Max Mexico (idea from El Pulso de la República)
But for now I’ll just go back to my proposal and actually making sense of how I will aim to explore Remix Culture…soon!
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Digital Media/Remix Culture & PhD Stuff by @VI0LE7A 