Image of Shia LeBeouf from GQ.com
Shia LaBeouf is getting quite hot under the collar lately due to a ton of negative press. In May of 2012, Shia LeBeouf presented his short film at the Cannes Film Festival titled “Howard Cantour”. Once the short film became available online, many critics began citing how similar the film was to “Justin M. Damiano” by Daniel Clowes. At first LaBeouf pleaded that he had only been inspired by Mr. Clowes. On December 16th, Mr. LaBeouf tweeted using his handle @thecampaignbook “Copying isn't particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else's idea to produce something new and different IS creative work.” Shortly after, many began voicing that the stories were so similar and the script was written word –for- word exactly like Mr. Clowes’s book. Then Mr. LaBeouf began copying quotes from other famous people for his apologies including Lars von Trier, Mark Zuckerberg, and UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
Clowes’ editor, Eric Reynolds stated “I presumed that LaBeouf would be smart enough to change everything just enough to make it his own thing and shield himself from any legal liability, even if it didn’t excuse him from being a weasel.” This leads me to my next issue- what is inspiration and what is plagiarism? I believe that if you take someone else’s idea, you’re copying that person. There’s many different ways to be inspired, but it usually involves a style or over all feeling. If a person has to word something differently or use a different color to keep from getting in trouble, that person is probably plagiarizing. There’s many times that I have seen something that inspired me or a new technique that I’ve never thought of trying, but I always try to give credit to the artist, even if it’s just a link to the original work.
Images of Miranda's thievery provided by You thought we didn't notice
An interesting site to view plagiarism is You thought we wouldn’t notice…but we did. If a person spots plagiarism they post it side by side with the original. The backlash from artists is so strong that it usually forces the plagiarist to apologize and remove the fake art. One story that strongly shows the line between true art and plagiarism is the story of Josafat Miranda. Mr. Miranda was making and selling paintings of other artists’ photography without giving them credit. Although Miranda was truly painting these pieces, he was using copyrighted photographs (Shown Left) as a guide. Once You thought we wouldn’t notice got in touch with the Gallery owner that had been selling Miranda’s art, it was all taken down and removed. The sad part is Josafat Miranda truly believed that he didn’t need to give credit because the artwork was ‘a tribute’. However, even when you are making 'a tribute' it's always wise to cite the original artist. I highly doubt that someone would take you seriously if you said you were the original artist of the Mona Lisa.
When you absolutely love someone's art, the smart thing to do would be to copy that art to learn the technique. This DOES NOT mean that you can then pass off your copy as an original. If you become famous by copying others' work, won't you always be worrying about being caught? That guilt alone should spur you in the opposite direction. A true artist can appreciate beauty without copying. Whip out your own camera and take your own photos. There are numerous tutorials you can find online if you need any help. After all, new techniques and technology are being thought up every day to help expand your creativity and vision. Learn everything you can, always strive to improve, but make sure to give credit where credit is due.