@brandonluc01
In the media today there has been much discussion and debate about what deems a video, song, painting etc. in infringement of copyright laws. George Lucas’ films from the Star Wars saga have had many parodies stemmed from the movies’ plots and ideas and many of them could arguably be infringing upon George Lucas’ copyright of the movies. In the youtube video “Star Wars Fan Film: Essence of the Force” the creator replicates many ideas used on George Lucas’ films such as light sabers, characters like Darth Maul, and the force. I think this film infringes on the copyrights of George Lucas’ saga because the characters names, the use of lightsabers, and the use of the force are ideas not different enough to be qualified as original. George Lucas could argue that his ideas were replicated in this youtube video because the nature of the video, discussed in the U.S. copyright laws, is to sponsor the product Mountain Dew. Videos are not in fair use if “used upon the potential market…”
But on the other hand youtube videos like “Star Wars Saga (Remix Montage)” where they actually use scenes from George Lucas’ films are less likely to infringe the copyright laws of George Lucas’ saga because their nature is to show admiration. The youtube video also includes its own soundtrack so it does not replicate the copyrighted music of George Lucas’ film. Copyrights and fair use for works of art is a controversial topic because it is tough to decide what is original and what is plagiarized because so many ideas are similar or have been used in some other art form.