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Copyright & Fair Use Blog
UGC uses Hollywood archetypes to support Obama
Posted by Alison Hanold on May 5, 2008 at 11:10 AM
This election season has seen a surge of commentary from the User Generated Content community, and Obama supporters have taken to comparing him to Hollywood hero archetypes. Below are some great examples of pieces that rely on the principles of fair use for their commentary in the political sphere.
Here is a video titled “The Empire Strikes Baracky.” This video likens Obama to Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo, and positions Hillary Clinton as what is often considered to be the most evil character in film history, Darth Vader. The video attempts to draw a comparison in the story lines in the Empire Strikes Back to the evolving plot in the Democratic party. “The Empire Strikes Baracky” is largely comprised of footage from the news, but the quick inserts from Star Wars, the photoshopped faces, and the highly recognizable music allows the tone of the political clips to be repositioned as a battle between good and evil.
“Baracky” is a similar satire comparing Obama to Rocky Balboa. The video shows clips where Rocky (with Obama’s face photoshopped onto Rocky’s body) is training to take on the ultimate competitor, a boxer with Hillary Clinton’s face. News footage of the candidates making strategic moves in their campaigns is used to symbolize the ring that Baracky and Clinton are fighting in. The original posting of this video was removed from Youtube due to a copyright claim by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., but the video has since been reposted by a different user.
In our continuing effort to create public knowledge about fair use, we are expanding our research of fair use in online video (as written about in Recut Reframe Recycle) and creating a Best Practices Guide to Fair Use in Online Video - look for it this fall!
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