爱尔兰Media作业：受众群体的实证研究An empirical study of audience group

1. Introduction介绍

二次创作，又称再创作、衍生作品，产生的作品又称第二次创作（或再创作、衍生作品）。第二创作是指在同一文化背景下的模仿和再创作，但由于在著作权法的概念中并不常用。其实质性覆盖范围难以确定。有人认为它还包括翻译、改编等现存的农作物文本、图像、电影、音乐，这与著作权法的衍生作品类似。

第二种创作包括模仿、改编、借鉴和演奏等创作方式。第二个创造不是把别人的作品当作自己的作品来剽窃；相反，第二个创造显然是在一个作品/项目/角色中作为适应、模仿或发展的关键。它指的是，变化的意思很明显。

但是，第二次著作权法创作仍然可能侵犯他人的著作权，无论有关法律是否合理，或者原作者、著作权人或者著作权管理机构有不同意见，仍有争议。

在现代信息爆炸的基础上，导致了过去信息系统的解体。在这种情况下，对商业作品或人的、个人的作品都有贡献的，都是二次创作。二次创作的媒介可以是动画、戏剧、戏剧、角色扮演、电影、电视节目、小说或许多其他不同的媒介。在这篇文章中，我们将讨论“互联网文章23”在香港网络YouTube的重新创作剪辑（觉醒配音，2015）。也影响了社交网站YouTube。

Secondary creation, also known as re-creation, derivative works, produced works known as the second creation (or re-creation, derivative works). The second creation often refers to parody and re-creation in the same culture, but because it is not commonly used in the concept of copyright law. Its substantive coverage is difficult to determine. Some people think it also includes translation, adaptation and other existing crops Text, images, films, music, and this is similar to the derivative works on copyright law.

The second creation includes imitation, adaptation, reference and play, such as creative mode. The second creation is not to plagiarize someone else's work as their own work; the contrary, the second creation is clearly in a work / project / role as the key to adapt, imitate or be developed. It refers to and change means obviously.

However, the second creation in the law still may infringe the copyright of others, whether the relevant laws are reasonable, or the original author and copyright holders or copyright management agencies have different views which are still in dispute.

Based on the explosion of information in this modern age, which result in the disintegration of the past information, system. And which contributed to both the commercial works, or human, personal works, are full of secondary creation in this situation. Secondary creation of the media can be animation, drama, drama, Cosplay, movies, television programs, novels or many other different media. In this article, we will discuss “Internet Article 23” re-creation clip in YOUTUBE for the Hong Kong network (Awakening Dubbing, 2015). But also the impact of social networking site YOUTUBE.

2. Context: resistance to the cyber law in Hong Kong

Corresponding to the quickly changed network technology, Hong Kong Special District Government (HKSAR) submitted copyright amendment bill that put forward to stipulate “rights of communication”, so as to replace the old “broadcast and cable transmission rights” . Because it happened to be the time of HKSAR Chief Executive Election, after the spread by politicians and medias, the discussion was focused on “parody work” and risks it bears under the law, and further linked to issues such as freedom of speech, the political crackdown, and so on. Parodies come out from original work, which is not the concept under copyright law, but parody works, satire, and other types of work named by media and public. Hitler Rants is a generic term of many parodies work which used the footage of movie Downfall (2004) by net users; it is also used to wreak the dissatisfaction with some phenomena or characters. Since the Downfall was released, there were more than 15,000 parodies videos of Hitler Rants in Youtube. 

Other materials used as the original work to parody the Hitler Rants are documentary “Triumph of the Will” (1935), Valkyrie (2007) and other movies. Clips of lots of films are used as these kinds of materials, such as Dear Friend Hitler, Hitler: The Last Ten Days and Inglourious Basterds. Some other films or other footage, which have nothing to do with Downfall, or whose subject has little connection with the subject matter of Downfall, are also juxtaposed for fun. Besides, the characters, settings, as well as other films actors who have starred in, are also juxtaposed for humorous effect. Parody work makes use of special effects of films, or is along with computer-generated imagery, starts to become popular among fans, net users, and attracts attentions of ordinary public. There are different ways to make parody work, it can be superimposing the characters’ heads on footage of other films, or rotoscoping scenes of this film into different backgrounds of other films. 

According to incomplete statistics, since the Downfall has released, so far there are more than 15,000 various versions of this footage. The original plot setting is that: Hitler howled because being defeated in the battlefield. Internet Article 23 of Hong Kong is a parody work of footage of Downfall, which has expressed the net users’ dissatisfaction with the law against parody work. 

3. Video in YouTube: Hitler Rants Parodies

In the classic movie Downfall, the most famous footage parodied by net users is Hitler Rants, which was endowed with new connotation. Hitler Rants is also one of the most classic parody works on the Internet in China. In fact, many net users have even forgotten the original footage, and thought the parodies Hitler Rants was the original version, and the original version was a parody work. In this part, the article is going to analyze Internet Article 23 of Hong Kong, which is also Hitler Rants Parodies of Downfall, through which to critically evaluate the parody work.

3.1 Nature of the video

Downfall is well known among net users because of various inspirations for “Downfall parodies”. The famous footage in this film is that Hitler launches into a furious tirade when he finally realized the war was lost; and this footage becomes an inspiration of internet videos.  These parodies retained the original German audio, but added new subtitles and new background music. Therefore Hitler, as well as his subordinates, seems to be reacting to some other phenomena instead of the military defeats. These phenomena normally refer to some setbacks, including present-day politics, popular culture, sports, or daily life. Net users also parodied other scenes from various footage of this film in a same way. For example, the scenes that Hitler discusses a counterattack with his generals against advancing Soviet forces are notable. 

Internet Article 23 of Hong Kong, one of the parody works of Hitler Rants is a three minutes and 47 seconds’ video, which comes out from footage of Downfall (starting from about 38 minutes and 56 seconds of the film). In this segment, expressive force of Hitler is quite strong, either expressing opinions, or the effect of raising the response of audiences are quite good. The parody video added new Chinese subtitles, using popular vocabulary and cyber-words, expressing net users’ real attitudes and opinions of Internet Article 23 of Hong Kong.

Essentially speaking, Parodies are the subculture of network transmission, which embodies a rebellious spirits of the society. Parodies subvert classic, deconstruct traditions, show off individuality, and mocks the society, and so on.  Parody work normally has strong grassroots nature and color of civilians. To summarize, parody is a kind of disassembling, which deconstructs the former significance, provides a new perspective, and makes people re-examine the event itself. 

3.2 Audience group of the video

Why can parodies become a fashion? In today’s society the popularity of parodies is closely related to the various social audience psychologies. For these reasons, parody phenomena of films and televisions usher emergence and development. In contemporary society, public’s desires and needs to entertainment are the social psychological reasons for the popularity of parodies work. A lot of empirical researches are launched to study the impact of parodies on Youtube. Internet Article 23 of Hong Kong is a parody work of footage of Downfall, also a kind of way to present people’s true feelings and attitudes to the copyright amendment bill. 

To investigate audience group and audience psychologies of Hitler Rants Parodies of the Internet Article 23 of Hong Kong, this essay adopts a research method of individual interview, collecting research information and interviewing the respondents individually. The interviewees are five schoolmates, who can fully understand the interview is anonymous and the purpose is for academic use. Based on current study and literature reviews, this study have designed an outline which includes three questions. The aims of individual interviews are to find out audience group’s attitude and true feelings about Hitler Rants Parodies of the Internet Article 23 of Hong Kong. Key points of these interviews can be summarized in the following.#p#分页标题#e#

1) Are you for or against  parodies work?

The interviewees are all for parodies work to some extent. They thought the contents of parodies work are funny and thought-provoking, which can always attract audiences’ attention. Currently, parodies work is mainly based on original films and television programs, but from a totally different perspective, which is creative and innovative in contents. 

2) Have you watched Hitler Rants Parodies of the Internet Article 23 of Hong Kong? What’s your feelings?

Among the five interviewees, four of them have watched Hitler Rants Parodies of the Internet Article 23 of Hong Kong, only one of them didn’t watch the parodies work but have already known the Article. The four interviewees thought the footage of Hitler Rants is a good way to make people understand the advantages and disadvantages of the Article. Without this parodies work, people may not have so much thinking about the Article. 

3) Do you have any concern about copyright?

All individual employees admitted it is easy to infringe the copyright of films and television programs when creating parodies work. However they thought if the purpose of creating parodies work is to meet audiences’ needs instead of making profits, it cannot be identified as a real infringement. This essay also holds a similar view.

3.3 Influence of YouTube

This footage is about 4 minutes, which is full of dramatic performance of Hitler. In 2007, it is the first time in Youtube the footage has become the subject of parody. Basically, these parodies makers are not the users of German language. They tend to retain the German voice, but adding with different subtitles, in order to realize dramatic effects. At beginning the subject of these parodies is mainly scientific and entertainment events. Then it has also extended to social and political events, or it is simply made for fun. 

Under the market economy principles, the media demands of “attention economy”, namely the media interests are another reason why parody work is so popular in Youtube and other websites. In the era of “attention economy”, the market drivers make the media consistently pursue of “eyeball”, reflecting in media management it is the circulation of newspapers, in radio and television it is audience rating, in website it is the click rate, these data become a barometer of medium efficiency, because they are the most important reference coefficient of advertisers. Therefore, the network media such as Youtube will inevitably choose that information that is able to attract "eyeball" and further spread because they can improve web hits. The parodies culture by its unique funny and humorous irony has a vast audience in the internet. Undoubtedly it has great appeal to the websites. The appearance of parodies culture, the constantly emerging of parodies work, and the heated discussion on parodies culture, all subsequently provide a good topic agenda to the clicks for the network, and are greatly favored by the network media. 

3.4 Artistic and social value of the video

Parody phenomena in films and televisions spread widely so quick, mainly originated from the idea and funny, from its powerful creative recreation utility, and from the attitudes of people pursuing happiness. Global economic and cultural integration make the younger generation tend to grow in the entertainment. The nifty discourse of young generation is different from the older generation who are restricted by traditional norms of serious discourse. And external pressure of young generation also forces them to find out one of the most convenient ways, which are also different from the traditional discourse, to release them. Most of these young people are in a very healthy, no malicious manner to create parody work, and their works are full of wisdom and innovation. This kind of relaxed and humorous manner can make people relax and release exhaustion accumulated in the real life, reflecting the young generation’s peculiar way of discourse and their own values. Therefore, highlight entertainment and release pressure are the direct purposes in the parody works of films and televisions. The entertainment of parodies culture does not mean the entertainment information occupies high ratio in the media, but means that in the specific information dissemination, the entertaining factors and the ways of expressing recreational entertainments increase greatly. As a kind of mass media, film and television works have the characteristics of spreading widely which maximized the entertainment function of mass media. A media user in Youtube named “Harry Note Block Studio” posted a comment which has the same feeling about this clip 10 months ago. He said, “Really cried out, I feel the same in this clip. The Hong Kong government has said that they want to support the creative industries, while they still need us to have good results in the TSA and DSE, and to suppress our creativity. It is very good that if he will not kill our creativity and help the so-called “non-intellectual” and a group of people who do creative industries have to ‘劏房還神’ (A term in Hong Kong of thanksgiving, thank the God for blessing them).”

4. Core elements of the debate referring to parody work

4.1 Negative impact of parody work

In an open environment that is full of freedom, the generation called “eyeball thinking generation” is easily to accept new things. In order to seek new stimulus, this generation uses non-mainstream, unorthodox and non-professional works to replace mainstream, orthodox and professional ones. The style of amusing laughter makes the deconstruction and irony have become the characteristics of parodies culture. The films and television works have become a stage of young generation to show their abilities and wisdom. The popularity of films and televisions and the spread of technology make the figures and non-public figures always face the fate of being parodied. However, some people seems to be not satisfied with the pursuit of pure entertainment, and targeting social mainstream culture and sensitive areas of affairs, especially the parodies of ideology which almost make the creation of works lose the bottom line.   

Good works covers text, images and sound, using a variety of technical means to realize the deconstruction and entertainment. Good parodies are creative however the bad ones are evil. Therefore, attention should be taken seriously and be attached on the negative impact of parody work 

4.2 Prospect of parody work

In essence, parodies culture is a kind of self-entertainment spirit stimulated in the network era, which embodies the individuality liberation, the pursuit of freedom, and the awakening of modern consciousness. Most of parody works are not malicious, which just want to make people laugh. However, there are also some parody works really bad. To this issue, we must review the parody work from two aspects. For sure parody must have the bottom line; parody work cannot go beyond the bottom line of morality and law. Fandom of parody works cannot hurt someone else just for fun and humor. It is acceptable that parody work with general and entertaining characteristics. If parodies go beyond this limitation, it cannot be allowed at all. 

There are some common and universal principles in all kinds of cultures, such as the respect of human dignity and justice, the yearning for happiness and peace, the pursuit of beauty and the longing for love, the hero worship, and the protection of traditional cultures, and so on. All of them need us to protect jointly. In short, with regard to the parody phenomena in film and television works, we should not only treat it rational and non-arbitrary, especially we should prevent the negative effects of parody work from influencing on people’s spiritual world. 

5. Conclusion

Most of the original writers who have been re-created and knew that their works have been re-created, have adopted a default attitude, and some are absolutely prohibited from any secondary creation. Some of the original authors have listed some clauses of these creations; some authors with more positive attitude would think that the second creation is a tribute. As long as the image does not harm the work which is a kind of propaganda. “…propaganda is good or bad depends upon the merit of the cause urged, and the correctness of the information published.” (2005)  

 

Reference

1. Aaron Schwabach. (2012) Reclaiming copyright from the outside in: what the downfall Hitler meme means for transformative works, fair use, and parody. Social Science Electronic Publishing. 

2. Awakening Dubbing: “覺醒配音:《希特拉都反網絡23條》”. YouTube. N.p., 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

3. “BBC News - The Rise, Rise And Rise Of The Downfall Hitler Parody”. News.bbc.co.uk. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

4. Bernays, Edward L and Mark Crispin Miller. Propaganda. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Ig Pub., 2005. Print. 

5. “Copyright Crackdown”. HK Magazine. N.p., 2011. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

6. Erickson, K. (2013). Evaluating the impact of parody on the exploitation of copyright works: an empirical study of music video content on youtube. Intellectual Property Office Uk.#p#分页标题#e#

7. “Hitler Rants Parodies”. YouTube. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.