Textual Poaching

Here's the description for the Textual Poaching assignment:

Each student will choose an existing, mediated representation of the culture, race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, etc. with which he/she identifies. The representation may be in any medium—film, photograph, visual art, poetry, literature, advertisement, news article, song, music video, etc.—but it should be older than the student. Students will remix the representation so that their new creation demonstrates their negotiation of this aspect of their identity and how it has been historically represented in media. Artist statements should include a discussion of the correlations and contradictions between his/her ‘self ’ (perspectives, practices, etc.) and this historical representation of this aspect of his/her identity. 

We've discussed how the complicated process of making meaning of media texts, and the dialectical relationship between media and self. Let's look at a few examples that may help us out further.

L.H.O.O.Q. by Marcel Duchamp

Duchamp's taken Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, drawn a mustache on it and included the caption "L.H.O.O.Q." (which in the French pronunciation resembles a mild sexual innuendo). Now, why would Duchamp do this?

The Grey Album by Danger Mouse

Danger Mouse has taken the Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's Black Album and created a series of sample-based songs called the Grey Album. Why would Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) do this?

Cinderella+++ by Eileen Maxson

Maxson has re-cut scenes from animated Disney classics with dialogue from contemporary film and television shows. Why would she do this?

Rebirth of a Nation by DJ Spooky 

Watch a clip from it here.

DJ Spooky has created an audio-visual remix of D.W. Griffith's (in)famous film Birth of a Nation (1915). Why would he do this?  

So, to clarify, I am going to evaluate your assignment according to the following criteria:

• Did you identify one aspect of your identity to explore in this assignment? Did you select one historical media representation of this aspect of your identity? Did you alter/manipulate this representation in a way that demonstrates your negotiation of how you are being represented in media? 
• Did you consider (as mentioned in the assignment description) the contradictions between your understanding of 'self' and historical media representations of your 'self.'
• Did your creative project reflect thoughtfulness (in regards to form and content) and originality? Did your artist's statement meet the requirements as described in the syllabus, including articulating a clear, unified, critical reflection on your engagement with this assignment?