The Inevitable Pirate

In Ramon Lobato's piece Shadows of Cinema, in the chapter "Six Faces of Piracy," he makes the point that the legal doctrine on copyright considers it to be "a compromise between producers and consumers" (71). This has remained the standard understanding towards copyright for so long, it may be causing the majority of the problems we see these days concerning copyright laws. Since copyright terms have been increasing over time and producers are trying to get a stronger grip on their creations, the compromise is beginning to stretch past each side's desired limit. What I mean by this is that as time passes, the different views of the compromise are becoming more skewed and complicated by the desires of the producers and the consumers.


A big reason for the compromise becoming so complicated is that consumers are no longer just that, they have now become producers as well. With the power and ease now provided by the internet, production has become more horizontal. Another factor that I believe muddles the matter is that our lives are inter-textual. Creativity often stems from inspiration, and inspiration can come from anywhere, including a copyrighted piece of work.

from the 1968 Romeo and Juliet

As a costume designer, I gather my inspiration from the play as well as themes I want to follow, feelings I wish to express, and ideas from other productions. Many times, I will gather together a collage of images to help focus my ideas, and on those collages can often be found other peoples' art or designs themselves. These images I then use as a guide for the actual costume I design myself.



Does this make my inspiration piracy? Does that mean that the costume I make based off of another person's idea belong to that person? I believe that it does not because we all must share our creativity. From the point of view of someone who wished to exist in the business of selling and creating, copyright can get pretty tricky, but I do strongly believe that creativity should never be sacrificed for the sake of any law.

Costume Design by Sophie Hernando Kofman (Juliet Act 1)

Collage for Juliet Act 1