Belgian choreographer, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, accused Beyonce of copying choreography and aesthetic themes from her ballets "Rosas danst Rosas" and "Achterland." Beyonce denied these accusations saying that she was simply "inspired" by De Keermaeker's works. A couple of weeks ago, Beyonce did edit her music video, replacing the questionable scenes with other footage. However, her original video still remains on Youtube and has now totaled over 1.3 million views. The link above shows a comparison of Beyonce's original video which Keersmaeker's works.
This is Beyonce's second accusation of plagiarism this year. In May, her performance of "Run the World" at the Billboard Music awards appeared to have choreography taken by choreographer Lorella Cuccarini. Beyonce admitted that Cuccarini inspired her.
These accusations remind me of our "Cheating Culture" reading from earlier this semester. What role do you believe Beyonce's plagiarisms, or other forms of cheating by celebrities, play in reinforcing a culture of unethical behavior?
This is Beyonce's second accusation of plagiarism this year. In May, her performance of "Run the World" at the Billboard Music awards appeared to have choreography taken by choreographer Lorella Cuccarini. Beyonce admitted that Cuccarini inspired her.
These accusations remind me of our "Cheating Culture" reading from earlier this semester. What role do you believe Beyonce's plagiarisms, or other forms of cheating by celebrities, play in reinforcing a culture of unethical behavior?
10 comments:
I think in general, celebrities have a decent amount of influence on our culture and behavior. For example, the presence of a celebrity in a commercial could, to a certain extent, affect what we buy. They could also inspire baby names. So it seems somewhat safe to say that celebrities have some influence on our culture. Furthermore, a study on sports celebrity influence mentions that role models can have significant effects on career aspirations and self-views. With such influence, I can't help but think that any form of cheating done by celebrities can also reinforce the "cheating culture."
But I can't help but think that there is also the chance that perhaps any form of cheating done by a celebrity will simply lead to the celebrity losing fans. The idea that celebrities need to cheat to get ahead is somewhat ridiculous seeing as to how they are probably already so much ahead of the rest of society financially. With such, couldn't it simply remind fans of their position in comparison and therefore, because as stated in that one article about people's happiness due to being ahead, lose some respect for the celebrity?
There is no doubt that celebrities affect culture and a cheating culture by them will certainly seep into regular culture, and that is quite ridiculous. However, I think, in align with a cheating culture, they cheat because there are no punishments for them. Many times, people who cheat have already gotten their benefits that easily outweigh the costs of getting caught (Here, paying some royalty if it gets through, or just paying them to shut up). Also, usually the chance of getting caught is so slim that it's ALWAYS worth it to cheat, and copy. So, certainly celebrities affect culture, but culture affects celebrities; Or, in more concrete terms, culture make celebrities what they are. If the people are more responsible in not just shrugging this off, and Beyonce actually suffers for this, maybe this kind of thing won't happen. It's like the logic that, if 100% of criminals get caught, the punishment will be weak to deter. However, if 0.05% gets caught, you have to make the punishment much worse in order to prevent it.
Good artists copy. Great artists steal. -Steve Jobs
Where is the cheating here? Beyonce already admitted she used the choreography and is not passing it off as her original work. I don't think that will instill or is related to peeking at someone else's test.
Isn't imitation a form of flattery? Shouldn't Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker be flattered that Beyonce deems her work great enough to be used in her music video? Stopping Beyonce from using this choreography is like RIAA suing you because you tape yourself singing to Rihanna. Oh wait...
In art, everyone derives their ideas from others' ideas. It's how art and innovation progresses.
I just want to congratulate Beyonce on the amazing news of her pregnancy that came out earlier this year! She has been a shining star ever since Destiny's Child and is an inspiring woman. She, Jay-Z, and that baby will be the perfect family!
Sometimes celebrities cheat or plagiarize without knowing they have. In psychology we talked about how Coldplay "accidentally" stole Joe Satriani, Viva La Vida Joe Satriani melody. Beyonce may have unknowingly copied Cuccarini's work, unaware that these ideas were not her own.
There is only a certain amount of ideas people can have before some of them start sounding the same. I think you could compare a lot of things together to prove them to be plagiarized. Yet, plagiarism is only a problem when people are making money off of it, or a better grade.
This kind of voting requirements should be proposed in a timely manner. How about out of the presidential election range? Did Republicans and those in favor really think that anyone would not figure out that this requirement would be so heavily implying partisanship that they would actually pull such changes off? If the supporters of presenting IDs at polling places really wanted to avert voter fraud, then they should have not included obvious discriminatory effects. Otherwise, I would believe that the ID requirement is a constitutional way to check voter fraud if the circumstances suit the system. Of course, playing devil's advocate, the assumption here is that the ones without present government-issued IDs is not a citizen of the U.S. and their votes don't count. I'd personally like to hear what parts of the Voting Rights Act did South Carolina and Texas find that were unconstitutional, regardless of partisan association.
^^^LOLWUT...
After watching the video, I feel like Beyonce copied almost all of the choreography rather than used it as inspiration. In response to Tim's point, I don't think Keersmaeker would be flattered that Beyonce "imitated" her choreography because Beyonce is making big money off of Keersmaeker's choreography... without permission at that.
I do agree with Zhili's point that celebrities get away more with cheating, but like Ari said, I think the influence of celebrities on unethical behavior in society as a whole is minimal. I feel like celebrities are regarded in a different, more detached light-- they just aren't seen as average people. I feel like this different perspective prevents people from relating to celebrities, and thus also imitating them. That's why when a celebrity gets away with plagiarism, or immoral behavior in general, people don't think "Oh that means I can get away with plagarism too!"
As for whether or not Keersmaeker feels irritated or honored, she stated in an interview, "People asked me if I’m angry or honored.Neither, on the one hand, I am glad that Rosas danst Rosas can perhaps reach a mass audience which such a dance performance could never achieve, despite its popularity in the dance world since 1980s. And, Beyoncé is not the worst copycat, she sings and dances very well, and she has a good taste! On the other hand, there are protocols and consequences to such actions, and I can’t imagine she and her team are not aware of it."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/beyonce-countdown-video-choreographer-reacts-246276
She also believes that Beyonce's interpretation of the movement took away its original meaning stating, "In the 1980s, this was seen as a statement of girl power, based on assuming a feminine stance on sexual expression...Now that I see Beyoncé dancing it, I find it pleasant but I don’t see any edge to it. It’s seductive in an entertaining consumerist way.”
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/beyonce-accused-of-plagiarism-over-video/
I agree with Timothy. Beyonce had told the media that she was "inspired by" a certain choreographers piece. In both cases, she's still giving credit to the choreographer, so I don't see any plagiarism involved here. As for a culture of unethical behavior by many, I believe that it's kind of like one of those things when we were kids and we would say "But our parents did it, so it's okay". But in this case it's the celebrities being the models since many people look up to them, so they think these kind of behaviors are OK.
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