Jonothan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence"

In considering “The Ecstasy of Influence”, Jonathan Lethem argues that although stating someone else’s lines, words, or texts as your own is plagiarism, it is very common and essential. Authors of books, creators of movies, and song-writers use phrases that they have heard before all the time. Although it may seem like it was once original, it more likely than not came from another source. Lethem also shines light on the fact that many of the shows in which we love today would not be as entertaining if they did were not allowed to have some form of plagiarism in them. He bluntly states, “If nostalgic cartoonists had never borrowed from Fritz the Cat, there would be no Ren & Stimpy Show; without the Rankin/Bass and Charlie Brown Christmas specials, there would be no South Park; and without The Flintstones— more or less The Honeymooners in cartoon loincloths—The Simpsons would cease to exist.” Plagiarism is all around us and to criticize and scrutinize it is to be naïve of the fact that nothing is completely, absolutely original. All the examples of plagiarized material at the end of Lethem’s work should be evidence enough of this. Even if a piece of work does not contain a single line used by another author, the main idea and concept was most likely inspired from another source.

Analyzing the A&T Commercial

The AT&T commercial was produced to attract the attention of people from all ages. I believe it was the creator’s intent to include the Hansel and Grettle story so that adults could recognize it and appreciate the fact that it is being retold. The creator also chose to express the commercial in the format of this fairytale because when children see Hansel and Grettle, they find themselves relating to the two characters. This grabs the children’s fascination right away as they see other people just like them. Not to mention, the whole contrast of two old fashioned fairytale characters skipping around in such an overpopulated city as New York is in itself an attention-getter. This marketing plan of fish-baiting the audience was deemed advantageous because it lures in consumers who will enjoy the commercial, and connect their satisfaction to the phone product itself. Such an extremely connecting commercial remains in the citizen’s minds, creating a desire within them to buy the product. In choosing to retell the original story in such an advanced place, the creator wanted to also portray a feeling of ease and comfort within the busy city. Neither Hansel nor Grettle were harmed or frowned upon while skipping happily throughout the day. Even the store clerk who was closing up shop seemed to accept them even though they were extremely out of place. In portraying such a comfortable, loveable and quickly recognizable story in their commercial, the AT&T commercial creators really knew how to sell and advertise their product effectively.

My Confession

So here I am at Hofstra, and I am blogging. Writing online makes me feel extremely exposed, but creates a sense of adventure for me at the same time. Throughout my entire life, I have been very self-conscious about my writing. It has never come easy to me and that may be one of the main reasons why I would like to shield my writing rather than to express it openly. Believeing that I am not a great writer, I would not be the first to create an online website driven by my words and sentences. But since I am creating a blog, I find writing online to be somewhat exciting. It forces me to open up and allow people to enter my thoughts and interpretations through reading my written work. I think it will be very interesting to see what people have to say about my postings. I hope others will be interested in my blog so that they can not only allow me to see different outlooks, but also help me become a better writer.