Remix/Remediation

Remediation is to take a part of something, or the entire thing, and to recreate it on a new medium. This new medium is usually something more technologically advanced than the previous form of the piece. Remediation is a very popular text technology. A great example of this is Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", which was adapted as a play from a poem. More modern examples of this is any song that borrows pieces from another song, books that become movies, movies that become books, comics that become movies, etc.

Remediation differs in the ways in which it affects a texts message. Many times, I feel, the original meaning of the text can be lost through remediation, depending of course on what part of the original text is remixed. When movies alter characters and changes to books plot, I believe that it is changing the original meaning that the author had. However, I haven't decided if this is a bad thing or not. I think that being able to improve upon previous work is what keeps our society technologically evolving. While sometimes remediations kill the original authors message, a lot of time it reinforces it, and sometimes makes an original text more accessible to audiences.

Walter Benjamin believed that remixing something made it lose its author. Bolter and Grusin believe the exact opposite. They believe that remix and remediation allow for new art to be created, and that its aura is not only retained but improved upon. They believe that remix is a form of advancement, and that original creators should be flattered rather than mad, as Benjamin would have been.