Retro vintage video

The art of remix

By: Anaya Arsithomene

Remix

Remix in media and writing specifically, is the art of recreating and renewing an original piece of media no matter what the medium is! This can be seen in television shows being adapted from what were originally books, like "The Summer I Turned Pretty" This can also be seen in the remake of certain shows, such as the new Avatar The Last Airbender series. This can also be seen in music, with artists sampling older works, such as The Weeknd's "Out of Time".

So What exactly is remix ?

This show was originally a book. The plot follows a young girl who went through a metamorphasis of sorts. It is a coming of age story of how she learns to avigate her new world due to her changed appearance and because of this changed appearance, she finally draws in the attention of her two childhood crushes. Who happen to be brothers. Now this relates to remix because it was actually a novel as previously stated. There are a couple differences in the story that the series leaves out, but there are also some things that the series decides to leave in. Some of these include the love interests of the main character, Belly who has quite a bit of love interests. Another includes her brother who ends up not moving forward with his love interest despite him doing so in the book. What makes this form of remix so interesting that while both forms of the series are so similar, they are now so different. This is also due to the characters and their design. When casting characters for an adaptation, they will not always look the same, but they are still to resemble them to a certain extent whether it is their personality or looks!

The summer I turned Pretty

Avatar The Last Airbender holds a special place in many people's hearts, including mine, so, of course, I had to feature it in this exhibit! This series has been through a couple of adaptions throughout its time but it is important to note how these adaptions would not have come about without the original series. Taking a look at the first adaption, we have the movie that was created as the original adaption. This movie, although it did not do well amongst its target audience, was a direct remix of the series. Interestingly, in the movie, the characters changed the pronunciation of certain characters. In addition to this, the new and most recent adaptation of the series seems and feels like a completely new show simply because of the difference in pacing along with the characters. This show used what was previously laid out for them and created something new! Although the characters are the "same" there are different actors playing them, there are different methods being used, the production is completely different, especially considering this is not an animated show, and overall this is a new series being brought back to life.

Avatar The Last Airbender

Now, remix also relates to that of the music category. A prime example of this would be with the song titled "Out of Time" by The Weeknd. This song features a sample from the song "Mightnight Pretenders" by Tomoko Aran, which was originally released in 1983. This song has made headwaves around the music industry within its original country, Japan, but also around the world. With The Weeknd sampling this song and making something his own, this is yet another example of a remix. It is also important to note that with this form of remix within the music space, this plays a very significant role in how music is produced along with what type of music is produced. There are countless artists who use sampling, this form of remix, to produce and create new forms of music and would not be able to do so without those that came before them!

OUT OF TIME BY THE WEEKND!!!!

For my project, I decided to cover the topic of Remix. I did this because I realized how influential it is within today’s day and age. Countless artists and creatives use this, and I feel it is something that needs to be spoken about! To begin, I started off the project with a couple of artifacts in mind. This being the case, I decided to settle on “The Summer I Turned Pretty”, “Avatar The Last Airbender”, and “Out of Time By The Weekend” as my three artifacts. With this, I chose to work with them and dissect how they are all valid examples of remix. I actually enjoyed doing this, being that it is greatly in line with what I want to do regarding my career. Furthermore, I worked with to define Remix as the art of recreating and remaking an original piece of work to create something new. To begin, with the first artifact I chose being “The Summer I Turned Pretty”, I used this, because it is something that is currently trending in popular culture as well as it being well received by the vast majority. I also really enjoyed the series and was even inspired to read the book from which it came. With this, I found it interesting as to how it was remixed and turned into something new and different. To continue, with my second artifact being “Avatar The Last Airbender” I decided to use this series because not only does it hold a special place in my heart, it has also had a couple of different adaptations with their own twist. I thought this would be a great example on Remix and how it is currently being displayed in the media. Lastly, with my third artifact being “Out of Time” by The Weeknd, I used this because not only do I enjoy the song, I think it is a great example of how sampling is a form of Remix. In terms of addressing how and why my chosen artifacts connect with remix, throughout my exhibit I explained how these different examples were once something completely different. The first artifact, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” was originally a book, and the second artifact, “Avatar The Last Airbender” was originally an animated series, and if we go far back enough, a comic! Lastly, my third artifact the song titled “Out of Time” by The Weeknd, used a sample from the song “Midnight Pretenders” by Tomoko Aran, which originally came out all the way back in 1983.

Time to reflect

These different artifacts, as detailed in my exhibit, all used different inspirational outlets to recreate their new forms of media that they currently exemplify. Furthermore, within a source of mine titled “Remix Culture” by Jodie Peters, the author states that “The majority of other Hollywood cinema works are typically genre movies that follow strict generic plots. These forms of movies are relatively original and creative, but rather rely on adapting material from previous works or genre formulas, which is a form of remix.” This further explains and details how much of today’s media is remix. Furthermore, almost everything that we see in the media is remix, because everything came from something. Furthermore, my exhibit uses information from my scholarly sources as well as sources used within class to back up and support the rhetorical choices that I made. This is done by detailing how remixing works and why artists and creatives use it. For example, in my source titled “Remix in the age of ubiquitous remix” by Abby S. Waysdorf, the article discusses how remix is truly an art, and how it has been around for years. Furthermore, it also discusses the different ways in which remix can be interpreted and how this plays an important role into how it is actually perceived and received. All in all, I really did enjoy this project and I also learned a lot about what Remix truly is. I enjoyed doing my research on the different artifacts I chose as well as how the different sources spoke about the topic as a whole. Furthermore, as someone who consumes media on a regular day-to-day basis, I never realized the amount of remixing that takes place within our society. I also learned that the art of remixing is something truly intricate, and it is something that takes a lot of time and effort to work with. It is important to note that something must come from something, and with this project I definitely learned about how and why that it.

Still Reflecting

All in all, the art of remix is something that plays a huge role in the world of media whether it is digital or not. A lot of times, this form of media may get overlooked because not many understand or fully grasp the impact that it has on our society. From the creation of people's favorite shows to the the creation and production of hit songs, remix is what makes this all possible. Furthermore, with remix, we are able to create and become inspired. We are able to bring our own twist into the different GENRES that interest us, or we can create new meidums to do the same! Overall, remix plays an important role in the world of production and It will always continue to do so!

Thanks for droppin in!

Ferguson, Kirby. “Everything Is a Remix Part 3 (Original Series, 2011).” YouTube, YouTube, 22 June 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq5D43qAsVg.

Ali, Joe. “Remix Culture.” Creativity, 6 Dec. 2017, www.creativity-innovation.eu/remix-culture/.

Navas, Eduardo. “Chapter One: Remix[ing] sampling.” Remix Theory: The Aesthetics of Sampling, 31 Dec. 2012, pp. 9–32, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783990435007.9.

Waysdorf, Abby S. “Remix in the age of ubiquitous remix.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, vol. 27, no. 4, 3 Mar. 2021, pp. 1129–1144, https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856521994454.

Palmeri, Jason. “Remixing Composition: A History of Multimodal Writing Pedagogy.” Ebook Central, www.researchgate.net/publication/316492626_Remixing_composition_A_history_of_multimodal_writing_pedagogy. Accessed 12 Mar. 2024.

Sources