Reel
Deal SXSW 2013 review
TPB
AKA (The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard)
director:
Simon Klose (Sweden)
Troubling
film about the most successful creative work piracy website (
the Pirate Bay) based in Sweden. The US government pressured
the Swedish Government to prosecute the stealing of and distribution
of copyright work and profiting from it.. What is troubling is the
the film makes heroes of the three founders and sees them as bravely
fighting to keep the Internet free from government control by
censorship and protection of copyright The downloading of creative
work owned by an artist is quite different I believe from
downloading a diplomatic cable, a corporations cover up game plan or
posting a video that shows a government or an agency or corporation
or an individual is lying or breaking the law. Not one frame that I
can remember dealth with the ethical question of if you you think you
have the right to download without compensating the creative work of
anyone be they a Hollywood studio or an individual poet or indie rock
musician, how is the creator to be economically compensated for their
creative labor?
TPB
AFK is well crafted and structured with the rhythm of an action
film shot by a smart slacker complete with a sound track that would
also work for a classy horror film.
TBK
AKF is a necessary, must-see film to understand how non-creative
people (computer geeks are essentially scientific technicians.
Science geeks even when gifted with genius are not, in my view,
artists.) feel they can profit ( usually by sex industry adverts)
from the "free" distribution of an artist's creative work
be it film, writing or music or visual art without the artist's
permission because their tech skills create a pathway. The
conflating of what many artist call “thief” with freedom of
expression and unregulated Internet is the the core and nexis of the
ethical problem. I fear what will ultimately happen is the
diminishing of artistic authenticity and originality because of the
lack of economic protection and incentive and the devaluing of
artistic and creative labor.
This
kind of disconnect will fundamentally diminished both the incentive
to create and the quality of creative work if the common ethic is
it is OK to "steal" or upload anything on the Internet
without respect for copyright. There is no discussion of revamping
of copyright a la Creative Commons in the film except for a
one sentence throw away line.
What
is documented in TPB AFK is how the arrogant academic driven
definition of free is practiced in real time, not theory, by 21st
century creative work thieves.
In
the post screening Q&A (attached) the director lays out why he
spent 5 years following this story. When asked how were artists to
survive, the best he could say was; " I don't know. A new
distribution steam needs to be developed that answers that question,
" He did say from day one he has made his film available for
free on the Internet (YouTube etc) . His producer who paid for the
work and the theatrical distributor both present in the audience did
not participate in the Q&;A .
(cc)
jim fouratt March 9, 2013
