While Frank Stella spoke abstractly* about the need for continued copyright protection for artists, film director Milos Forman gave a straight-forward keynote that linked the importance of copyright protection to the livelihood of artists.

Mr. Forman reminded the audience of his Czech roots, where under a Communist regime artists had little control and were often persecuted when they exercised creative expression. He then gave a personal example of how he, in the United States, has been able to protect the integrity of his work as a result of copyright law.

In the 1970s, when he directed the infamous “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” NBC wanted to air the movie on television, requesting to make changes to the film that the general TV public might find objectionable. Mr. Forman, however, found some of the requested changes too drastic and felt they would compromise the integrity of the movie.

“I panicked,” he said. “This would be a terrible mutilation of the story. So I asked for a meeting.”

After a brief meeting, where Mr. Forman had a chance to express his objection, the issue was resolved and the movie remained intact.

“But imagine if I didn’t have the right to object. The film could have been bastardized, stripped of its meaning.”

This “right to object” is important for artists as they seek to maintain personal and artistic integrity while building a career. And, yet, this right is being compromised every day.

Mr. Forman referred to these people who seek to deprive artists of their rights as modern day Robin Hoods who view their role as “stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.”

“Doesn’t it occur to them that they are in fact stealing from thousands and thousands of regular, many of them poor, people around the world, who are mostly not even seen on the screen, but who depend, directly or indirectly, on the creative industries for their livelihood?” he asked. “These people badly need their paychecks, the residual payments and their pension and health plans coverage. Stealing from these people is not at all a noble undertaking. It is the most despicable aspect of the situation we are in.”

And this is serious, because by stealing from artists, we stifle the very essence of society: our artistic culture and heritage. Culture is what defines a society and is used to measure nation against nation and determine greatness.

“If we cripple our culture we are crippling the heart and the soul of our society,” said Mr. Forman. “That is why copyright protection for those who create is so important.”

Mr. Forman’s plea resonated with all the creators and consumers of creative works in the audience. After all, if we truly believe that as a nation our greatness is defined by what we produce, then shouldn’t we respect those who are on the ground producing that which gives us pride?

*In case I didn’t make this clear in my post on Stella, I want to emphasize that I think that Frank Stella, in his question and answer session, alluded to the importance of copyright and artist control over reproduction when he talked about the need for integrity. (Do you want your $6 million painting reprinted on $5 t-shirts and sold on the street corner?) He also suggested that a tracking chip should be placed on every work of art in order to give artists control over where their work is located, which demonstrates a desire to not let work be abused or destroyed without the artist’s permission. And, he dismissed the notion that mashups and remixes will ever really play a significant role in the art world by saying that imitation is never really that successful and that innovation is the true driver of the art world.

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 9:53 am by Lucinda M. Dugger and is filed under copyright law, copyright opponents, creators, events, international, piracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.