Text 9, 138 rader
Skriven 2004-10-02 00:03:44 av KAY SHAPERO (1:123/140)
Ärende: (2/2) JMS  xpost from rastb5m
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Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 15:34:33 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: attn jms: Star Wars DVDs - Your opinion on who "owns" a story
From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated


>So my purely abstract question to you is - do the fans or consumers of a 
>story (in any media) ever really have a right to complain about stuff like 
>this?

Unfortunately, this is a whole bunch of questions in one...and the answer
to
just about all of them is yes-and-no.

Do fans have a right to complain?  Absolutely.  I get buckets of it...some
of
it quite well founded, some of it arguable, but I only tend to argue on
points
of fact and logic, NOT taste...because you can't argue taste.  If somebody
just
doesn't like a book or show of mine, that's their right.  Lots of folks
like
anime...it just leaves me cold for reasons I probably could never qualify.
Different strokes and like that.

The larger question is, once something enters the public consciousness, who
"owns" it, and what comes of changing it?

Ultimately, the creator of a given work owns it, in some cases outright
legally, in other cases morally and ethically.  WB *owns* B5...but it's
*my*
show.  Fans of a given form can purchase that work, can give their opinions
and
reactions to it, but they do not *own* it any more than the audience in a
symphony owns Ode to Joy.

Then there is the side-issue of what happens when you cange something after
it
enters the collective consciousness.  In the B5 situation, I re-did The
Gathering...some people liked the new version better than the original,
some
preferred the first one.  (In most cases, it was what people saw the first
time.  Somebody once said, "Patriotism is at its core the love of the food
you
ate as a child.")

It's your right as a creator to make those changes...and the right of the
audience to pink you if they don't work...though again "work" is
subejctive.  I
think the re-edited Gathering works better...your mileage may vary, as it
should.

In the case of Star Wars...it's George Lucas' baby.  He owns it, morally,
ethically and to a large extent legally.  He can re-edit it to his heart's
content, that's his right.  Some will like it better, some worse, but
that's
just the way it goes.

Subjectively, I prefer the original Star Wars over the re-done one because
there's something about the pacing in the special edition that
feels...slower
to me, less dynamic, less involving.  But is it *really* that way, or is it
that way only in comparison to the way it *used to be* and the way part of
my
brain *expects it to be*?

George says this is the film the way he wanted it to be, but couldn't do it
originally, and for me that's the end of the discussion.  It's his baby,
and he
has to be happy with it.  I may or may not like its latest haircut, but
then it
ain't my kid.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd., 
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine 
and don't send me story ideas)
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Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 15:34:43 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: Err... (gulps) Ahh... JMS, I hope I didn't open a "can of
worms"
From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated


>I applaud Jan and Derek for speaking their minds.
>

As do I.

Because that's how it is in here...it's really no big thing to do that. 
Nor
should it be.


 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd., 
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine 
and don't send me story ideas)
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Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:29:25 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: So, I'm thinking about buying a lap-top
From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated


Re: mac-bashing...here's the thing of it.

Just about everyone I've ever known who has had a mac -- I'm talking
friends
here or co-workers -- has had problems with them.  They seem to spend an
inordinate amount of time sending their systems in to be fixed, usually
after
downloading an upgrade that suddenly disables half their system.

Of the five I know currently who have macs, including the most recent
powerbooks, EVERY ONE of them has had to send their system in to be worked
on,
or had the system glitch badly after updating.  Every.  One.

Bashing hell...it's the truth.

 jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd., 
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine 
and don't send me story ideas)
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