Bolter
- Hollywood adaptations
do not acknowledge the original
the content is borrowed, but the medium is not appropriated or quoted
"repurposing"
2 McLuhan
the content of any medium is always another medium (telegraph>print>written word>speech)
more complex than repurposing
- remediation
a defining characteristic of new digital media
present in visual media (paintings incorporating maps etc.)
4 different types of remediation
- an older medium is highlighted and represented in digital form without apparent irony or critique
e.g. pictures being digitalized
the medium wants to be transparent, only to grant access to the older media
- others want to emphasise the difference rather than erase it
the electronic version is seen as an improvement, even if it aims to stay true to the older medium's character (translucent, rather than transparent)
e.g. digital encyclopedias, e-books
- more aggressive: try to refashion the older medium entirely, while still marking its presence
e.g. collages of old television clips being superimposed with techno music
- the new medium can try to fully absorb the older one
the very act of remediation, however, ensures that the new medium remains dependent on the older one
e.g. video games remediating movies
works in both directions (movies and digital graphics seek to appropriate each other)
conceals its relationship to earlier media in the name of transparency
- refashioning which occurs within a single medium
e.g. a painting including a different painting
most common because artists both know and depend most immediately on predecessors in their own medium
mix of homage and rivalry, especially when it takes place within the same medium
Holtzman argues that repurposing has served as a transitional step for new media, but will become obsolete as digital media finds its authentic aesthetic and takes advantage of its special qualities