Democratizing Media

I have seen this Resurrection a few times and I have always thought it was a great, respectable film. It is definitely bizarre to hear Tupac narrate the video himself, and I say bizarre in the sense that it is almost a bit eery but so effective. The fact that this was created by various interviews and sound bites by Tupac himself was brilliant because there is a flow to this film that almost makes you forget that his words weren't intended for this specific documentary. I think this film is a perfect example of how mash-ups and montages can be so productive. After reading the Recut Reframe Recycle article it made me think about all of the mash-up-styled videos or shows I truly enjoy. I never thought about the copyright issue that could arise from this genre of film-making, etc. I believe it is a perfect example of using social media resources to their fullest potential. The book Blogs,Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond by Axel Bruns lays out why "produsage" as he calls it, works so effectively. He examines Currenttv, youtube, and even the Colbert Report among others and discusses why mash-ups are so creatively effective and why they are a positive thing for society in general. You can read excerpts here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=oj2A68UIHpkC&lpg=PA238&ots=z-3_Zi7zLt&dq=current%20tv%20mashups&pg=PA238#v=onepage&q=current%20tv%20mashups&f=false

My favorite tv channel is Current in fact, and the goal of Current was to "democratize the media" and I think it has done a swell

job in doing so. Their shows consist of viewer-created content that are related to each other or have the same idea. The other shows

consist of mash-ups they create themselves. I watch because I learn so much in a short amount of time and no matter what the topic

may be, I am also engaged. I think this style of media they have adopted is very effective and it's definitely not going out of style any

time soon.