What is a Remix?

The video opens with the question, ‘What is a remix?’ and proceeds to illustrate the concept through various examples and artistic interpretations.

First, it showcases edits such as ‘Garfield minus Garfield.’ This is followed by ‘Mashups,’ with clips from a video titled ‘Buffy Vs. Edward: Twilight Remixed,’ featuring characters from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Twilight’ in a high school setting, emphasizing the remix of familiar themes.

The video then presents ‘Annotation,’ and shows how Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mister Fox’ incorporated puppet animation inspired by Willis O’Brien’s work on ‘King Kong.’ The narrator discusses the tactile quality of the animations and the clear visual evidence of the animators’ handiwork.

Transitioning to ‘Collage,’ the video includes clips from ‘McDonald’s Ads VS The Real Thing,’ contrasting idealized advertisements with real-life products.

The final section focuses on ‘Reboots,’ with excerpts from the movie ‘Hercules’ as an example of how reboots reimagine popular characters.

The analysis highlights how “Star Wars” relies on the foundations coming from Joseph Campbell, who popularized the structures of myth in his book “The Hero With A Thousand Faces”. Flash Gordon serials from the 30s and Japanese director Akira Kurosawa played an important part as well.

The video showcases split screens that illustrate how “Star Wars” was an updated version of Flash Gordon and how The Bridges at Toko-Ri played very similarly to the run in the Death Star.

Overall, the video argues that remixing and drawing on existing materials is a fundamental aspect of creativity and popular culture.