Comic Book

As we've mentioned numerous times already,  Bound by Law, takes us through the footsteps of a young filmmaker attempting to create her own documentary about a "day in the life of NYC".  The character Aikiko experiences difficulties which we don't pay too much attention to ourselves, although they do exist in today's culture.  The author takes a creative point of view by writing the story using the visual aid of a "comic book" format to get major points across.  By using the comic book, technically complicated issues such as copyright issues, fair use, and intellectual property, are transformed into somewhat straightforward points.  Complexity is transformed into understandable simplicity.  Although copyright infringements and all sorts of technicalities exist, we are able to analyze where and why we have these issues today.  

One point being made by the comic book, would include proper use of public domain.  Free use is selective for a purpose.  Often overlooked by the public as being "too restrictive", with constant updating and modernizations overtime, it can actually be a good thing.  Ironically if these restrictions exist, they can potentially increase our artistic freedom.  As the book goes on, legal issues such as trademarks and all sorts of examples of permission culture come up.  Several visual metaphors are included to once again simplify the meaning of such a technical world we live in today.  

But how much do these laws truly affect our lives as students?  Honestly, everyone breaks them.  Ripping movies and CDs are only two of the hundreds of ways which the "law" would consider to be illegal.  However in the big picture, on a much larger scale these laws (with recent updates) are in fact saving our culture's originality.  It is interesting to think that the same laws which are broken all the time are in fact, being used to help us evolve our ideas. 

Link:  http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/