Remixed Stranger Things

"Never before in the history of copyright law has it regulated so broadly. In my view it makes no sense to regulate this broadly right now. Instead copyright law needs to focus on professional work being copied without being remixed," says Mandiberg. The Netflix original series Stranger Things, recently released on Netflix has caused a huge uproar in our TV series world this past few months. The show captures an 80s nostalgia with a heavy sci-fi background that is derived from previous shows. This show has not only gained a lot of attention but it has started an entire new fan base for sci-fi lovers, especially directed towards this show.

Fans often create fan work based on how much they love the show and the creation of the show. There are different levels of fandom that sometimes can go to the extreme. I believe in the hierarchy of this fandom the base level is just watching the show. While anyone can watch the show and enjoy it or hate it. This is the most simplistic level of interaction. Usually this causes an engagement in conversation with other people that have the same or differing opinions on the show. While the extreme fans create and export new medias that support the show, such as art work, drawings, cos-play and discussion boards. Some fans even take it to the next level of re-creating what was already created and putting there own spin on it. In this case the YouTube famous "Super Fruit" that have over two million subscribers are recreating or commenting on popular media to make fun.

This remix of Stranger Things is clearly only pointed towards people who enjoy the show and its a comical relief that makes fun of the show. It is actually hard to tell if the cast that created this video is a true fan or is just making fun of the show. This is problematic to me. This not only creates massive spoilers for the people who haven't watched the show but it puts a negative impact on those who do watch this before the show. They will then only compare the show to this remix, instead of watching the show for the sake of the show. I would be concerned for the copyright laws and the Duffer Brothers (creator of show) because millions of people are watching this. It not only gives away an entire season of spoilers in a short three minutes but it is also creating satire. As Mandiberg says, "The context will help us distinguish between copies and remixes". I believe that this is definitely a remix and serves its purpose for comical relief to the fans but it serves a negative purpose to the audience that hasn't viewed it and that's what is concerning to me.

Super Fruit is now making money off of this remix and is now just suddenly their own because of a title change. Everyone who watches this know that it isn't there idea so its not problematic that its being copied but it is making money which could be a problem for the creators. "This law needs to change, but so do we. We need to practice respect for this new generation of creators", says Mandiberg. I agree with what he is saying and his idea of how this new economy is based heavily of sharecropping. Everyone's work now and days is built up off of the ideas of other people and it is so easy to take part in because of how easy it is to share ideas on the internet.