YouTube an Art Form?

Artistic innovation has taken a new shape in the 21st century; long gone are the days of sprawling frescoes, chiseled sculptures, and intricately detailed paintings. Art has evolved from its traditional forms; and has arisen, like a phoenix, in revitalized form.

It is no longer clear where to draw the distinction between art and non-art. As myriad new media have sprung from the internet, the boundaries between art and non-art grow increasingly blurred. To witness this phenomenon, we need look no further than the YouTube phenomenon. Aufderheide and Jaszi's article, "Recut, Reframe, Recycle" discusses the types of media to be found within the media source, YouTube.

The article interestingly presents the types of videos, dealing with each type as a legitimate art form, and avoiding condescending judgments. Interestingly, the value of satire and parody was emphasized. It is hard to escape the number of parodic and satirical videos that saturate channels such as YouTube. But all too often, they are simply disregarded; their message left astray, with viewers extracting little value from what is being posited. Reading this article has enabled me to approach viewing videos from a more critical and analytical lens; possibly searching for meaning, regardless of whether or not meaning is blatantly apparent.

What was disappointing, however, was the realization that Aufderheide and Jaszi do not contend with the shrinking force of fair use, despite devoting a fair amount of analysis to fair use. Sure, they recognize that fair use can at times be ambiguous---they can be quoted as, "In the attempt to address unauthorized copying, content providers and online video platform providers have established guidelines that articulate how platform providers can accommodate content providers' piracy concerns through filtering of content. These provisions acknowledge but leave vague how to address or assess fair use" (4).

Yes, there is a great deal of ambiguity with regard to fair use. However, the greatest tension that is manifested in fair use is the deliberate and calculated suppression of fair use. Fair use has been so consistently been condemned---even by legal authorities---that it can barely strive to hold its own. In fact, it can scarcely be considered a viable legal argument. While some of the demise of fair use may be attributed to an uneducated legal populace that prefers to side with copyright owners because they lack awareness, much of the problems of fair use diminishment can be solved by exposure to the issue. Sadly, when articles and publications do not emphasize and underscore the importance of fair use, and the detriment of its disintegration, little can be done to remedy the issue of metastasizing ownership in the face of waning civil liberties.