Piracy and My Favorite Show: Firefly
POSTED BY: EndangeredMassa
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 02:42
VIEWED: 14042
PAGE 4 of 8
Having just gotten back from a tour in Korea (the veritable headquarters of the pirate DVD ((not counting some other asian countries))) I noticed quite a bit of my fellow airman going downtown and spending 8,000 won (6$) to buy pirated DVDs...I never saw the appeal in owning something somebody recorded (badly, more often than not) in a theater with sometime people getting up in the middle of the movie for whatever reason. The quality was terrible, and the audio even worse. But, there was a large market for it there. I've only downloaded a couple of movies...and those were mostly because I couldn't find them here...(Battle Royale was one of these). It makes me cold to think that someone's first introduction to Serenity and thus to Firefly would be on such a crappy medium.
Cold...
Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."
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I thought about not responding to your troll. But I could resist, you sounding so smart and all! As for the Royalty issue, I posed it as a QUESTION! HA! So, no I was not spreading misinformation, I was asking and you seem to know it all! Thanks.
As for stealing and piracy not being the same, lets educate ourselves. Read below and see the first definition. Now, what is property? (see the second definition below) Well, it can be a physical thing. A movie is a physical thing, right? A file on a computer is a physical thing, right? But have you heard of intellectual property? That is an idea. You know people can steal ideas, right? That is why they also copyright and Trade Mark these things.
Read definition #1.
steal ( P ) Pronunciation Key (stl)
v. stole, (stl) sto·len, (stln) steal·ing, steals
v. tr.
To take (the property of another) without right or permission.
Definiton #2 (for clarity)
prop·er·ty ( P ) Pronunciation Key (prpr-t)
n. pl. prop·er·ties
Something owned; a possession.
Now, I could tell you how stupid you are and how that post makes you look moronic, but, well, you posted it, not me. :)
Instead of trying to make me look like an idiot and educate myself, hit ctrl+alt+delte next time you have a brainstorm like that.
reference: http://www.dictionary.com
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Okay, easy on the personal insults now guys. Let's not make this place like the official board.
Like it or lump it, pirating is illegal and the mass release of the movie on newsgroups/file sharing will damage the box office.
If you don't like the way the movie is presented at the cinema, that doesn't give you the right in any way, shape or form to steal a copy. And yes, it is stealing. Just because copyright isn't a tangible thing like a pen or a satsuma, that doesn't mean it can't be stolen.
However, there are the occasional grey areas: movies not released or out of print, TV shows that are never likely to see an official release too. Essentially properties that the copyright owners are treating as valueless. Something that certainly could not be said for the cinematic release of Serenity.
Just because you could steal candy from a baby and no-one would know, that doesn't make it any the less wrong.
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I can’t believe there is actually a debate surrounding this subject. Piracy is stealing. I can understand those who downloaded something because it wasn’t available to the public, or even burning partial copies of things to entice a future sale…and please note that I said “partial” copies. But mostly what I am reading is several people who are trying to justify the theft of someone else’s hard work. And who cares if the actors do or do not get a portion of the profits. That is totally irrelevant. As an actress myself I know that my place, while most obvious to the public, yes, is only the tip of a very large ice burg. And ultimately it is the people way beneath the surface that determine whether more of said material will be made. And if it good material, they deserve it. Heck, even if it is bad material they deserve it.
Bottom line is people want something for nothing. And that is unreasonable and unethical. You can complain about ticket prices and your “rude audience members”, who I admit, are annoying (I go to horror movies at matinees for precisely that reason), but there are economical AND ethical ways to deal with those problems. And if you care anything at all about what you are watching (and let’s face it, you do or else you wouldn’t waste your time) wouldn’t you want to support that endeavor? Even if it wasn’t great, or the ending really pissed you off (like that of “The Village”), it caught your interest and deserves to be “bought” rather than taken. Everything deserves that. And the idea that Serenity can be stolen or downloaded should anger every browncoat out there, because YOU are part of the reason that it exists to begin with. So in essence, they are stealing from you. And frankly, I care about it too much for it to be taken like that.
Well, I am off…soon to buy another Firefly box set for a friend’s birthday. I think it is my 6th. And I am sure I will pay to see the film several times in September, even though my husband could probably get us in free as manager of the local movie theater. Sorry to get on a rant. I really am a nice person, or so I have been told from time to time.
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Simon Who said:
Quote:
Like it or lump it, pirating is illegal and the mass release of the movie on newsgroups/file sharing will damage the box office.
Actually the legality of file sharing in general is still fluid. But that aside, I have yet to see serious evidence that file sharing damages the box office. There is an economic argument to be made on either side of intellectual property. A copyright has never been the same as physical property. First of, intellectual property is time limited. Items of common culture eventually fall into the public domain, parody can 'infringe' on the ownership of characters, titles, the whole nine. Unlike widgets and houses, which you either have or do not have the use of, intellectual property is not diminished absolutely by use of others. This is not a totally simple issue.
Anecdotally, I don't download films or TV, too much work. But I do download music. Does this mean I don't buy music? Absolutely not. I have bought more (and more varied) music since I began downloading music. Furthermore, I have the right to use music I bought as long as I don't make a profit by diminishing the profit of the rights holder. Unless some one can seriously prove that people are damaged by the exchange of information I would suggest we withhold judgment of each other.
Furthermore, in the realm of intellectual property, every artist or inventor is standing on the shoulders of giant. Should Joss have to pay royalties to the rodenberry or lucas estates? Should Lucas pay Buddah? Or the dynasties of Japanese historians? Should architects pay the descendants of Pythagoras? Should GM pay the cave man who invented the wheel? Obviously not. This hyperbole is illustrative of the concept though. Intellectual property is not absolute. It is collaborative, it is derivative, and it is diffuse. It is certainly not black and white.
Still, from a tactical standpoint, don't copy our BDM, or even firefly, unless you think it will somehow get more people to spend more money on the franchise. If Intellectual property isn't protected well enough then you might see less of what you love, what you paid for. Our BDHs do make money this way and, for better or worse, the studios pay them. If we want the franchise to succeed we should behave in whatever manner we believe will make it more profitable for all involved. In this case right and wrong (morally) don't enter into it.
-Eli
If voting mattered, they'd make it illegal.
www.civil-unrest.com
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D'oh! spastic double post.
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>> Should Joss have to pay royalties to the rodenberry or lucas estates? Should Lucas pay Buddah? Or the dynasties of Japanese historians? Should architects pay the descendants of Pythagoras? Should GM pay the cave man who invented the wheel? Obviously not.
Of course but that is why copyright expires. (Hold on, there's a rant coming.) Or rather copyright would expire if your gutless and corrupt Congress weren't so deeply in the pockets of media companies that they have again extended copyright laws well beyond their designed lifespan.
Copyright should be finite but as long as Disney owns ABC who can broadcast damaging reports about your local representative, Steamboat Willie isn't coming out of copyright any time soon. And what's with giving people who film in cinemas a 5 year prison sentence? If you ran a family over while blind drunk on drugs, you'd get less than that.
As for whether pirating damages the box office, well, I'm not sure. But how many people do you know that have downloaded a movie and gone "Wow, I want to see that at the cinema"?
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I used to pirate music and videos indiscriminately. I gave myself a lot of excuses: I was a poor college student; I wasn't *really* taking anything; no one was suffering because of what I did.
Then I made my first album as an indie musician. (Note that term "independent"--hmm, kind of like a Browncoat.) I put in months of hard work and gambled a thousand of my own dollars, which I got back in ten dollar increments. (BTW, I got off pretty cheap at only a thousand. My next album cost three thousand.) It completely changed my attitude about people who pirate music and videos. I'm pretty sure they go to a special hell.
Sure, it's a little different for big companies like Fox and Universal. But let's face it: Whether we get a second Firefly movie, or even a new series, will depend on the success of the first movie, both at the box office and on DVD. So no matter how you feel about video piracy, it's in the best interest of every Browncoat to avoid any activity that will decrease sales. We should see the movie as often as we can afford and make the DVD our default Christmas gift. (And don't tell me you can't afford it--I'm an indie musician; I know all about being poor.)
So let's make this abundantly clear. Joss and all of our BDH's do the job, and they get paid. And we're the ones who pay them.
Keep flyin',
Cedric
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Nice!
-Eli
If voting mattered, they'd make it illegal.
www.civil-unrest.com
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Quote:
As for whether pirating damages the box office, well, I'm not sure. But how many people do you know that have downloaded a movie and gone "Wow, I want to see that at the cinema"?
Well, I don't know about this personally, again downloading films is too much work, but I know people who have downloaded films, especially big effects films that they had to see in the theatre. In music, I know I personally have bought albums I never would have bought if I had not downloaded a song I liked.
It is not all downside for a film or a song if it is downloaded. For music especially, downloading is free distributed advertising. For movies this can be dangerous because you get a version of the entire product when you download.
But even still... Iknow that even if I downloaded sin city, or star wars or serenity, I would still pay to see it on the big screen, and I would still buy the dvd.
-Eli
If voting mattered, they'd make it illegal.
www.civil-unrest.com
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