1. The author of this article gives a his prospective on the relationship between plagiarism and influence. In “the ecstasy of influence”, Johnathan Lethem uses examples from different creative sources to demonstrate how influence can be a subconscious form of plagiarism. He questions the originality of well respected works of art from celebrated artists in literature, music, and visual arts. He conducts investigations only to discover trails of plagiarism in the works of some of his own favorite artist. “It becomes apparent that appropriation, mimicry, quotation, allusion, and sublimated collaboration consist of a kind of sine qua non of the creative act, cutting across all forms and genres in the realm of cultural production.” in this statement Johnathan realizes the importance of influence in the creative process, he sheds light on our tradition to reuse material. He also scrutinizes the hypocracy of large corporations like Walt Disney corporation, who built an empire on cultural sampling and yet take legal action against artists who use the likeness of any Disney-related-images. According to Johnathan, the objective of copyright is to assures authors the right to their original expression, band encourage others to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work. Johnathan finishes his article revealing that, most of his statements were quotes from other authors literature. After reading this article I agree with the authors thesis that plagiarism in any form is necessary to move the culture forward.

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