Bunny Thespians: A Reply

This is kind of an opinion piece, so I hope it counts for the checkpoint.

I’d like to reply to Chelsea’s blogpost in which she questions whether or not

the 30 second bunny theatre can count as electronic literature.

 

I think discounting videos such as the 30 Second Bunny ones based on their

derivative content isn’t quite valid. Considering that we’re moving more and more

into a remix culture and away from a read-only culture, we have to appreciate

that works are going to draw inspiration from pieces that have come before.

 

It’s not like you can accuse the bunnies of plagiarizing, either; their work is original

with a clear intent to parody and entertain. The goal of the creative commons code

is to enrich the public domain, which the Angry Aliens Production company seems

to take to heart. I really don’t believe their aim is to convince anyone that a

half-minute production of Brokeback Mountain is somehow the genuine Brokeback

Mountain. By the way, that movie just so happens to be derivative of a book and

don’t we consider it part of the ‘literature’/canon when it comes to theater? Is it

somehow less  ‘real’ because it’s derived from a book?

 

Think of all those awesome movies that are coming out that are based on books, or

books that have been written that are based on movies. I’m not saying that they’re

‘literature’ in the stereotype sense that they’re read by old men with beards in

leather chairs while wearing smoking jackets (the men, not the books). I mean,

they’re text. They’re literature. They count.

 

I’m not even saying that I truly love the bunnies and will fight to the death to

protect them. I’m just saying, don’t discount them. I’ve actually seen a few of their

videos and they’re pretty funny. Nothing to write home about, but not worth

forcibly ejecting from the electronic literary canon either. 30 seconds or not,

derivative or not, they still count.

 

If you’re curious why I have such a strong opinion about this (and a moderately

informed one), you can blame Neil Gaiman. I tend to blame him for

lots of things. Go read his essay on protecting ‘icky’ literature. He doesn’t mention

thing about protecting ‘derivative’ literature in that essay, but he does sort of touch

on copyright and fanfiction and such things elsewhere.  He’s a cool dude. In fact,

some of the coolest stuff that I’ve seen produce in relation to his work has been

fanmade and entirely derivative. And if Neil says it’s cool, it’s probably cool.

Enjoy.