Reuse, Misuse, Abuse

The Ethics of Audiovisual Appropriation in the Digital Era

Jaimie Baron

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780813599267, 9780813599274
• eBook ISBN: 9780813599281
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Art Theory & Criticism
• Index: Social Sciences

In contemporary culture, existing audiovisual recordings are constantly reused and repurposed for various ends, raising questions regarding the ethics of such appropriations, particularly when the recording depicts actual people and events. Every reuse of a preexisting recording is, on some level, a misuse in that it was not intended or at least anticipated by the original maker, but not all misuses are necessarily unethical. In fact, there are many instances of productive misuse that seem justified. At the same time, there are other instances in which the misuse shades into abuse. Documentary scholars have long engaged with the question of the ethical responsibility of documentary makers in relation to their subjects. But what happens when this responsibility is set at a remove, when the recording already exists for the taking and repurposing? Reuse, Misuse and Abuse surveys a range of contemporary films and videos that appropriate preexisting footage and attempts to theorize their ethical implications.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: Theorizing Misuse
• 1. (Re)exposing Intimate Traces
• 2. Speaking through Others
• 3. Dislocating the Hegemonic Gaze
• 4. Reframing the Perpetrator’s Gaze
• 5. Abusing Images
• Filmography
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author