Free Culture

After reading the Intro and first chapter of Lessig, L. (2004). "Free Culture.", I have been trying to understnad exactly what "free culture" means. I can't quite grasp what it is that makes a cultural item susceptible to be revised, re-mixed, and reused. While I wait for additional light on this, this book reminded me of two things: first, Día de muertos and, second, Taylor Swift. 

Back in 2013, Disney tried to trademark the Mexican cultural holiday popularly knows as Día de muertos. Lalo Alcaraz, an American cartoonist from San Diego, CA, responded to Disney's attempt with "Muerto Mouse." The Latino community joined to protest Disney's attempt, and Disney backed out. This led Disney to hire cultural consultants and the result was the movie Coco.

Then, Taylor Swift. She came to mind as an example of how big companies are often trying to protect their own interests and gains, not necesarily the artists'. Taylor started re-recording her old albums in an effort to regain control of her songs. Before she re-recorded these albums, the only possessed the rights to her lyrics and music, but not to the recordings. By doing this, re regained creative and economic control of her art.