Down the Rabbit Hole of Creativity

Anything that the human race can think up has already been thought of. That was the basis of the arguement in today's video. The human race has been reduced from a society that is constantly creating and imagining new futures has been reduced to zombies without an original thought floating through their thick skulls as they use their "infernal devices". As society has evolved and changed with each generation, their forms of entertainment and ways of spending time are criticized. This generation has apparently turned from a RW (reading-writing) generation to a RO (reading-only) generation. This current wave of Millenials is being called out for taking works that have already been created and stealing them, therefore making every YouTube video, AMV, and Gif on Tumblr subject to crippling copyright laws. But the arguement stands as thus: how far can originality be stretched out before it is considered stolen?

Let's take for example, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. People all around the world have enjoyed the truly unique characters and witty whimsy of this book, from the smile of the Cheshire Cat to the Red Queen's famous one-liner, "Off with their heads!". This classic story has been taken and recreated so many times it can make one's head spin just thinking of all the different possibilities this one story has produced. There have been multiple movie renditions, both live action and animated. There have been many books taking the base characters of Alice, the Mad Hatter, etc. and thrusting them into different worlds (such as the book Alice in Zombieland, where Alice fights zombies to save her friends). From video games to fan-made art and jewelry, this simple children's novel conceived in 1865 has reached across two millennia to still affect readers today. Becuase of the originality of Lewis Carroll, copious amounts of works and artwork has come out of the patchwork of creativity in the world. If these copyright laws were to be taken seriously, then every single one of these forms of media would be violating Carroll's work and could be seen as unoriginal. 

When it comes to things such as this, it should not be seen as an act of stealing his work for the artists own selfish purposes. If anything, it should be an extension of the work that Carroll has thought of and should be appreciated. If one thinks about it, it is simply just another adventure for Alice and her whimsical friends. It should not be seen as something to be abhorred or something unprofessional. We as a society are capable of creating so much more if we do not limit ourselves. If Alice has to get back home in one rendition, who says that she does not have to save that same home from zombies in another rendition? We have become an RO generation becuase of these laws trying to limit our creativity. But by using what we have been given and extending those ideas, we are reaching past the limits of what we thought we could dream up.