Lee 1 Gary T.

Lee ENG3080J Matthew Vetter May 30, 2013

Project #1: Questioning a Writing Construct on Originality In American culture, we always perceive originality as writing an article, book or essay with your own ideas without borrowing other authors ideas. It seems like we have a dogmatic view of what originality is and anytime we borrow other peoples ideas, we could be accused of stealing others authors ideas and thus accused of plagiarism. However, an article from James E. Porter argues that it might not be plagiarism (Wardle & Downs, 2011). He argues that it is a concept called intertextuality, which is borrowing ideas from someone else and making an original argument or article (Wardle & Downs, 2011). This essay project will argue that

borrowing ideas from someone else is not called plagiarism but it is called intertextuality. Different authors like Deborah Tannen, Voicu Simandan, Celia Thompson, Roland Barthes and Julie Kristeva have also come up with similar arguments that reflect the same opinion as of Porters argument. The essay will also include examples from pop culture and technology culture to have a better understanding of the meaning of intertextuality. A good example of intertextuality is the Family Guy Star Wars Saga satire. The Family Guy characters play the roles of the original characters from the Star Wars film series. We see Peter playing the role of Han Solo, Stewie playing the role of Darth Vader, Lois playing the role of Princess Leia, Chris playing the role of Luke Skywalker, Quagmire playing the role of C3PO and Carter Pewterschmidt playing the role of the Emperor. The first episode was called Blue Harvest (Polcino, 2007), the second one was called, Something, Something, Something, Dark

Lee 2 Side (Polcino, 2010), and the third was called, Its A Trap! (Shin, 2011). The film series added some elements from Family Guy to add to the humor of the series. Although the idea was an original idea from Seth MacFarlane, this is an example of intertextuality, which is borrowing another person or authors idea and creating is as your own. Another example of intertextuality is the Fox hit TV series called Glee. Although the TV show was an original idea from Ryan Murphy, many of the shows elements are borrowed from other sources to make it an original idea. Example, the songs that are played in the show are not original. The songs were borrowed from various artists like Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Grease, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Katy Perry and many more (Murphy, 2009). The idea that Murphy came up with was to present a TV show about a few social misfits from McKinley High School who joined the schools Glee Club formed by one of its teachers, Will Schuester. Mr. Schuester formed the Glee Club of that school to make the social misfits realize their fullest potential not just by their singing abilities but to realize their fullest potential in everything that they choose to do (Murphy, 2009). The show also highlights social issues that American are struggling with such as LGBT rights, educational struggles, teen pregnancy, same-sex relationships, dyslexia and prospects about the future. The TV show in fact made references in American society which we are most aware of (Murphy, 2009). intertextuality. Many of us think that George Lucas Star Wars Saga is an original idea from scratch. Surprisingly, the Star Wars Saga is also a form of intertextuality. If you take a closer look, many of Darth Vaders physical features were inspired by Marvel Comics villain Dr. Doom who is the arch nemesis of the Fantastic Four. The black helmet Vader wore is also similar to the design of the German military helmet wore by German soldiers during World War II. Even the black suit This can be a case of

Lee 3 Vader wore is similar to the Japanese Samurai suit. The black color of Vaders outfit is also in reference to the color used by the Nazi Partys SS, in which black is the color of exclusive loyalty to Hitler. If you look at the uniforms of the Imperial officers; they are very similar to old military uniforms of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, also known as the Hapsburg Empire. Also, the Emperor also called Darth Sidious has behavioral features that clearly depict brutal dictators like Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte. The Emperors cruelty also reflects Adolf Hitlers personality (Lucas, 1983). Another interesting case of intertextuality is James Wans horror movie Insidious. If we watched the movie closely, the lipstick demon which is main villain of the movie is clearly a reference to a Star Wars character, Darth Maul. And if you look at the title of the movie itself Insidious, it also is in references to Darth Mauls Sith Master, Darth Sidious who would be later Emperor of the Galactic Empire. You can say that Wan has turned a science fiction movie into a horror movie (Wan, 2011). Gullivers Travels has also been a subject of intertextuality. In the 2010 movie directed by Rob Letterman starring Jack Black, it makes a clear reference to Jonathan Swifts novel, Gullivers Travels. It tells a story about Gulliver who had been stranded on an island called Lilliput, which is an island kingdom inhabited by small people. Gulliver later bonds a

connection with the little people. However, in the 2010 movie, they recreated the idea from Swifts novel and applied the story in a modern day context. The movie also added elements of modern day American juvenile humor and sarcasm (Letterman, 2010). Intertextuality has also been applied in the comedy series we know as Austin Powers which was supposed to be the satire of the James Bond movie series. If we take a close look at

Lee 4 the characters, Austin Powers is supposed to be the nerdy version of James Bond and just like the original James Bond, Austin Powers is also a womanizer. And Austin Powers arch nemesis, Dr. Evil is in reference to a James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The Austin Powers series also had borrowed ideas from various popular movies like the Star Wars Saga (Roach, 1997). Another example of intertextuality which can be applied to our everyday use of electronics which is the cell phones from Samsung known as the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4. These Samsung cell phones are very similar to Apples I-Phone in the way it functions and operates. Just like the I-Phone, the Galaxy S3 and S4 have similar features but the graphics are unique. The exception is that the Galaxy S3 is able to take screenshots with the swipe of your hand which the I-Phone does not. The Galaxy S3 also has more useful widgets than the I-Phone. The Galaxy S3 was very similar to the I-Phone in every way which led to a lawsuit by Apple against Samsung. In my opinion, I see the Galaxy S3 and S4 as a form of intertextuality, not plagiarism as Apple alleges ("Apple wins lawsuit," 2012). Intertextuality even back dates from the days the United States became independent from the British. In James E. Porters article on intertextuality, Porter argues that the writer, Thomas Jefferson was not so much of a genius of write an original document but took the ideas from other historical documents in order to write the Declaration of Independence. In his article, he argues that the idea was borrowed from several original documents that were written before the Declaration of Independence. These articles include Massachusetts Council Declaration, First Continental Congress resolution, George Masons Declaration of Rights for Virginia and even the English Bill of Rights of 1689. Porter argues that Jefferson was no so much of a genius of original writing but rather a master of borrowing traces from others and making it his own original work (Wardle & Downs, 2011).

Lee 5 After comparing another article from Deborah Tannen, it seems like Tannen came up with similar arguments that Porter mentioned. But for this article, she mentions that

intertextuality is like recycling an article. What she probably means is that when we borrow ideas from someones work and make it our own, it means we are reusing another persons idea but it becomes a whole new idea. She also noted that intertextuality is reframing and rekeying another persons text. In her article she added something interesting that intertextuality can be used to resolve escalating conflicts and restoring family harmony (Tannen). Another interesting article from Celia Thompson is about intertextuality and plagiarism. Thompson argues that many scholars and academic professors often confuse intertextuality and plagiarism. She argues that the definition of plagiarism is very vague and that it is difficult to define. She added in her article that such matters to define plagiarism and intertextuality should be looked into urgently to ensure that students are not wrongfully accused of plagiarism (Thompson, 2006). In the article titled Julie Kristevas concepts of intertextuality by Voicu Mihnea Simandan also mentions about intertextuality. In her article Kristeva argues that intertextuality coincides with the rise of modernism. She argues that many of the great writers of the 20th Century also have borrowed ideas from other peoples work which breaks the old convention and challenging the norms we usually think of as plagiarism. She also argues that words are never original and that we always instinctively borrow another persons idea to come up with our original idea. Kristeva also ads that texts do not present a clear and stable meaning. What she means is that intertextuality deals with a texts existence within society and history. Kristeva also added that authors do not create texts in the own mind but rather authors would compile them from existing texts others have already wrote (Simandan, 2010).

Lee 6 In another article from Voicu Mihnea Simandan, she talks about how intertextuality is interpreted by Ronald Barthes. In his argument, Barthes argues that the text is the material inscription of the work but the work is the material which offers the meaning behind the text. He also argues that the text is considered the act of writing. Barthes makes his theory clear by stating that do not confuse the text and the work: The work is held in the hand, the text in language. Barthes also argues that there are two types of readers which are the consumers who read the work of stable meaning, and readers who are productive in their reading which Barthes calls writers of the text. Barthes also states that readers who engage in the second kind of reading are doing textual analysis rather than the traditional criticism (Simandan, 2011). From my experience with intertextuality throughout my life writing papers and articles, it seems that intertextuality should not be concluded as plagiarism. Intertextuality is indeed

reframing another persons idea and making your own original idea. In fact, intertextuality in my opinion is how we human beings learn how to be creative when writing articles, papers books, magazine article or even when making movies and making music. When we have no idea about what we are going to write about, it would be a great idea to borrow it from others in order to jumpstart a creation of a masterpiece of your own. Intertextuality is an important part of everyday culture. If intertextuality does not exist, we will be difficult to come up with creative and original ideas. From the research, the conclusion that we can draw to is that intertextuality is something that authors cannot avoid and that no text can be considered original. Intertextuality has also been applied in popular culture and these creators have made the own original idea. Other authors besides James E. Porter have also argued that intertextuality is reframing or recreating an original idea that already exists.

Lee 7 References:

Apple wins lawsuit against samsung, as jury awards $1b for patent infringement. (2012, August 24). Fox News. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/08/24/jury-reachesverdict-in-apple-vs-samsung-case/ Letterman, R. (Director) (2010). Gulliver's travels [DVD]. Lucas, G. (Director) (1983). Star wars episode 6: Return of the jedi [DVD]. Murphy, R. (Writer) (2009). In Murphy, R. (Executive Producer), Glee. Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox. Polcino, D. (Director) (2007). Blue harvest [Television series episode]. In MacFarlane, S. (Executive Producer), Family Guy. Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox. Polcino, D. (Director) (2010). Something, something, something, dark side [Television series episode]. In MacFarlane, S. (Executive Producer), Family Guy. Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox. Roach, J. (Director) (1997). Austin powers: International man of mystery [DVD]. Simandan, V. (2010, December 29). Julia kristevas concepts of intertextuality. Retrieved from http://www.simandan.com/?p=2067 Simandan, V. (2011, February 18). Barthess elements of intertextuality. Retrieved from Simandan, V. (2011). Barthess elements of intertextuality. Retrieved from http://www.simandan.com/?p=2153 Shin, P. (Director) (2011). It's a trap [Television series episode]. In MacFarlane, S. (Executive Producer), Family Guy. Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox. Tannen, D. (n.d.). Intertextuality in interaction: Reframing family arguments in public and private. Retrieved from http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/tannend/TANNEN ARTICLES/scans of Tannen Articles/intertextuality in interaction- reframing family arguments.pdf Thompson, C. (2006). Plagiarism or intertextuality? A study of the politics of knowledge, identity and textual ownership in undergraduate student writing. Retrieved from http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/research/bitstream/handle/10453/20014/01front.pdf?sequence =1 Wan, J. (Director) (2011). Insidious [DVD]. Wardle, E., & Downs, D. (2011). Writing about writing. (1st ed., pp. 86-100). Boston: Bedford /

Lee 8 St.Martin's.