Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a dirty word.

At school, copying merits a big, red ‘F’. Sometimes, it’s the end of your career.

But in the real world, it’s rife. Unavoidable even.

• Clint Eastwood quipped “Plagiarism is always the biggest thing in Hollywood”.

• Inge asked “What is originality? Undetected plagiarism!”

• And Jimi Hendrix maligned “I’ve been imitated so well I’ve heard people copy my mistakes”.

• But Vincent van Gogh summed it up best. Vincent was a master at “translating into another language” the works he admired.

You see Vincent never copied. There’s a difference.

He “translated” in his own palette, style, meaning. And in doing so, added new insight to Millet, Hiroshige, Delacroix, Rembrandt …

Sometimes we struggle with copying.

Ed Sheeran was taken to court by the heirs of Marvin Gaye. They claimed he had infringed copyright of Let’s Get It On.

Ed was acquitted.

He responded: “If the jury had decided this matter the other way, we might as well say goodbye to the creative freedom of songwriters.”

Image: Noon Rest (left, Vincent, 1889; right, Millet 1866)

There’s always something new in old things

The hard truth is: There’s always old things in something new.

Because it’s human to be influenced by things we read, see, hear.

It’s not only possible, but likely, that two people can separately create similar ideas.

I think about this a lot.

Creativity is problem solving.

It’s borrowing the textures of what’s already there to address the particular space you’re in.

The problem that only you see.

Then putting your spin on it.

Noodling, sketching, tweaking.

Crafting something originally yours.

Your take is always unique

You see everything has already been done before.

But your take on the world is always unique.