Jonathan Lethem is a well-known American writer whose article, “The ecstasy of Influence: a Plagiarism,” is a passionate defense of plagiarism and a call for a return to a “gift economy” in the arts. A “gift economy” focuses on the circulating and redistributing valuables within the community. But as societies become more complex, “gift economies” dissipate and ideas and values are copyrighted, restricted, banned for use by the individual and general public. Jonathan uses this term in this essay to describe “plagiarism” as actually inhibiting creative inspiration. If Disney’s Mickey is never going to enter into the public domain than how can sub-creations of an original creation ever exist?

A sub-creation, inspired or influenced idea may actually spark even more interest in the original piece of work. I agree that without Pyramus and Thisbe, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet would not have been as successful as it was, and the many “knock-offs” that followed many centuries later like The West Side Story or even the movie Grease to some extent. Lethem states that, “whether the monopolizing beneficiary is a living artist or some artist’s heirs or some corporation’s shareholders, the loser is the community, including living artists who might make splendid use of a healthy public domain.” I completely agree with this excerpt because an individual can utilize a previous idea, artwork, song, to create something else entirely unique and also in most cases, give a “nod” to the original creator. If Andy Warhol had not incorporated Marylin Monroe’s portrait and the Campbell soup can into his artwork, then regardless of their status before his paintings, they would not have reached an even greater audience. The issue with Plagiarism in my opinion, is awareness. How much of it is out there, and then whether or not the awareness has a positive or negative effect on the creator. It’s the ownership and nowadays living in our progressive, but very individualized society that lead us to believe that everything we make is ours and we don’t share it with anyone else (i.e. iphone, imac). It’s the greed that has become a social thing. It is now socially desirable to have your name engraved on your idea, not to better or benefit the society. Unless we can find a middle that actually allows the general public to access to previously-made ideas, then, as Jonathan so eloquently says, “The dream of a perfect systematic remuneration is nonsense.”