Categories of Remix

Awhile back, Dr. Burton mentioned in class that too many remixes were just spoofs. Then, today someone asked a question about whether literature to film adaptation counted as remix culture. Dr. Burton said he didn't think so, but I disagree on both points. I think that both spoofs and film adaptations are simply different levels or categories of remix. With that in mind, I came up with a few classifications of remix. I am choosing to call them "classifications" rather than "levels" since the latter has connotations of varying, er, levels of value. I think that each of these classifications have both a place and value in the digital world. My categories are spoof, homage, borrowing, and adaptation.

Spoof

Rough Definition: A production that makes fun of or has fun with the original work. 

Quick Example: Warning: Both videos have dance moves that are somewhat NSFW, but only mildy. Both are kind of ridiculous, but Grant Imahara spoofs this video (the original)

with his own work here (the spoof):

Grant does not really add anything new, just does pretty much the same thing in a different environment.

Homage

Rough Definition: A reference to another work, large or small, embedded in something new.

Quick Example: Borderlands 2 pays homage to Minecraft. For those not into gaming, Borderlands is a popular FPS whose sequel was released today. Minecraft is an indie game that gained a large following and is hugely popular in the gaming world.

Borrowing

Rough Definition: Taking elements of one work and incorporating them into another but no so much that the new work could be called a straight adaptation.

Quick Example: Alfred Hitchcock seems to have borrowed elements from Hamlet when making his Movie North by Northwest, such as the idea of a play within a play. However, no one is going to argue that North by Northwest is a straight up adaptation of Hamlet; there is too much missing. According to Professor Dennis Perry, North By Northwest then went on to  inspire many elements in other films, becoming a borrowed from source itself.

Adaptation

Rough Definition: Taking an original work and adapting it to a different audience. This could be taking a book and making it for a film audience to taking a story written for a 19th century audience and changing it with a 21st century audience in mind.

Quick Example: Turning J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit into a three movies. Not only is Peter Jackson adapting this story for a film audience, he is adapting it for an audience who has become accustomed to epic movies with giant budgets and massive amounts of CGI. On top of that, he is adapting it for an audience that is becoming used to having their books adapted into multiple movies (see Harry Potter 7 parts One and Two, as well as Breaking Dawn parts 1 and 2).


These are just four categories that I came up with (quickly) off the top of my head. I'd love it if someone or several someones would critique these, suggest others, provide more diverse examples, etc.