If the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists has its way, we may soon see the demise of critical satirical videos, parodies and mash-ups on YouTube and other media platforms.
In a news release expressing its disappointment with the federal budget last month, ACTRA called on the Canadian government to sign and ratify the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances. The treaty gives these performers – actors, musicians, dancers and others – not only economic rights, but “moral rights.” The moral rights provision gives performers the right to stop any work that mutilates or distorts their image. If performers view a work as morally distasteful, they would be able to sue.
The treaty was adopted at the 2012 World Intellectual Property Organization Diplomatic Conference where actress Meryl Streep hailed its arrival, saying, “Digital technology creates a wealth of new opportunities for performers, but it also significantly increases the risk of performers losing control over their very own work product, through the unauthorised manipulation of their image or performances.”
Canada has neither signed the treaty, nor ratified it, and with good reason. The Beijing Treaty gives actors a monopoly on deciding how their audiovisual performances can be used. It could restrict clips from movies or TV series from being used in other works and it could prevent satirical critiques of artists’ work. In other words, it would stifle critical and creative expression.
Consider the hundreds of thousands of parodies circulating the web. They have been created with the intent of ridiculing another, usually well-known work, and in doing so they take something from the original to incorporate into their own.
James Franco and Seth Rogen, for example, parodied Kanye West’s Bound 2 music video, with a shot-by-shot imitation. (Franco played Kanye and Rogen was Kim Kardashian on the motorbike shots). It was done with precision; even the majestic white horses from the original video appeared against the epic mountainous backdrop. Accompanied by a warning about the explicit nature of the video, The Toronto Star called the recreation of the Kanye West video “the best thing of the day.”
The parody, with over four million hits, caused viewers to pay attention to, respond to, and critique what Kanye West had produced, in light of his body of work that preceded it. Many thought the rapper could do better, could remain truer to his art.
Not only celebrities create parodies, ordinary citizens also use them to have their say. Last summer, two Halifax women were intent on countering Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines video because they felt the lyrics glorified sexual assault. They produced their own provocative parody of the hit, sending what they felt was a more responsible message, in a lighthearted, creative way. The parody, posted online and covered by the media, resisted Thicke’s degradation of women and instead sent a message of empowerment.
Through parody, people can be critical about mass media, they can “talk back” to it. The success of it lies in the fact that it uses an original work to make a statement that has social, cultural or entertainment value. It leverages the meaning in the original work, to create an alternate, sometimes opposing and unforgettable one. It doesn’t tell something new, it shows it. The commentary is often transformative.
The Beijing Treaty has not yet come into force – it must first be ratified by 30 countries or intergovernmental organizations. To date, the only two countries to have ratified it are Syria and Botswana, hardly pop-culture powerhouses whose artists are in need of protection. Perhaps there is method to this madness, as in Syria, parody has long been used as a form of political dissent.
Signing the treaty is tantamount to muzzling freedom of expression. By refusing to sign it, Canada – a country that has promised rights and freedoms to its citizens – is standing true to its word.