3 ms·

The Disney Renaissance, for example, was built on the back of works in the public domain (Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, etc.)

bdw5204 3y ago
Disney itself was built on the back on works in the public domain. Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book and Robin Hood were all based on public domain works.
tptacek 3y ago
Those works remain in the public domain.
- thebooktocome 3y ago
  The question was, “What renaissance would occur if copyright didn’t exist?” Here’s one that happened because the source works weren’t indefinitely protected (ironically, what Disney wanted for their own derived works.)
  - tptacek 3y ago
    Why would any renaissance occur if copyright didn't exist? You'd be eliminating financial incentive to produce interesting new work. If those financial incentives weren't required, we'd already have those works today.
    - thebooktocome 3y ago
      Here’s another example: during the Victorian era, Alfred, Lord Tennyson revived interest in The Matter of Britain (King Arthur, Lancelot, etc.) by publishing, over several decades, what would become The Idylls of the King. Thence T. H. White, thence Mary Stewart, thence Marion Bradley (an otherwise wretched person), thence that terrible Sam Neill vehicle, thence. . . All of this to say there’s a flaw in your logic: financial incentives are not the only reason people create new things. Financial incentives in fact destroy other artistic incentives, and so we already lack the works that would have been created in their absence. The proof of this is the graveyard of Netflix series canceled in the second season. (P.S.: Ah, here, in the acknowledgements to _The Mists of Avalon_: "Finally, I must express loving gratitude to my husband, Walter Breen, who said, at a crucial moment in my career, that it was time to stop playing it safe by writing potboilers, and provided financial support so that I could do so. . ." A potboiler is a book written to cater to the popular taste, so that the writer might earn a living.)
      - tptacek 3y ago
        If you don't want the financial incentive, you can forego it. That's what fanfic is.

bdw5204 3y ago

Disney itself was built on the back on works in the public domain. Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book and Robin Hood were all based on public domain works.

tptacek 3y ago

Those works remain in the public domain.

thebooktocome 3y ago
The question was, “What renaissance would occur if copyright didn’t exist?” Here’s one that happened because the source works weren’t indefinitely protected (ironically, what Disney wanted for their own derived works.)
- tptacek 3y ago
  Why would any renaissance occur if copyright didn't exist? You'd be eliminating financial incentive to produce interesting new work. If those financial incentives weren't required, we'd already have those works today.
  - thebooktocome 3y ago
    Here’s another example: during the Victorian era, Alfred, Lord Tennyson revived interest in The Matter of Britain (King Arthur, Lancelot, etc.) by publishing, over several decades, what would become The Idylls of the King. Thence T. H. White, thence Mary Stewart, thence Marion Bradley (an otherwise wretched person), thence that terrible Sam Neill vehicle, thence. . . All of this to say there’s a flaw in your logic: financial incentives are not the only reason people create new things. Financial incentives in fact destroy other artistic incentives, and so we already lack the works that would have been created in their absence. The proof of this is the graveyard of Netflix series canceled in the second season. (P.S.: Ah, here, in the acknowledgements to _The Mists of Avalon_: "Finally, I must express loving gratitude to my husband, Walter Breen, who said, at a crucial moment in my career, that it was time to stop playing it safe by writing potboilers, and provided financial support so that I could do so. . ." A potboiler is a book written to cater to the popular taste, so that the writer might earn a living.)
    - tptacek 3y ago
      If you don't want the financial incentive, you can forego it. That's what fanfic is.