Journal 6

My first example of a bare repetition assemblage would be The Nutcracker. Not only is it done the same way every night when it is running at a theater, it is always going to be the same story line and music wherever you see it done. An ethical assemblage would be a production of The Nutcracker set in Nazi Germany with the rat king being portrayed as Hitler. It once again is the same music and storyline but it is now adding an element of history and prior knowledge that audiences already have.

Something this contributes to an audience is seeing the ballet in a new way. Realizing themes and motifs that were not there when the original production was done. This can help an audience to always look for the underlying meaning in something that seems so simple and childlike. This can potentially be a harmful assemblage however, and an audience who feels that way should respond accordingly. It is always good to know where to draw a line when working creatively and if those boundaries are exceeded the creator knows now to step back.

I don't think Fair Use does anything to ensure that assemblages are more than just bare repetition because fair use was created in order to protect the rights of the one being mimicked or copied. It doesn't change the fact that the person could or could not be copying it fully and giving the original artist credit. Say I was making a slideshow about The Great Gatsby. I didn't do anything to change the original story but Fair Use does allow me to use it and talk about it as long as I am crediting Fitzgerald.

I think circulation can affect an assemblages' ethical status because many of the cultural habits we have in America are frowned upon by other cultures or religions. If an assemblage of a woman in a bikini was circulated to a country like Iran, where women are legally obligated to cover their entire bodies except for their face, it would be deemed very offensive to their culture and if they are Muslim, their religion. Distribution and circulation puts the authors' into the public eye. They could become well-known, looked up on the Internet, sought after, because of how easily circulation works in the modern world.