Thursday 27 August 2009

Korean Plagiarism

I've complained about plagiarism in Korea, or more specifically among my students, before. The Grand Narrative has a recent post on how Korean advertising companies plagiarise. "Korea has a deserved reputation for plagiarism," writes the blogger at The Grand Narrative.

But looking at the two pictures, I have to wonder if this is plagiarism or a tribute to Louis Vuitton's Sean Connory add? It is not that easy to label the artistic recycling of a piece of art as plagiarism. Artistic recycling is part and parcel of Postmodern art. Some authorities on Postmodernism are adamant that there is nothing new; all new artisitc creations are merely reworkings of previous art -- echoes. Now we have to wonder if this Korean add should be considered art or not -- can advertising be a piece of art? I would think so. Advertising use all the same methods employed by the visual arts.

Plagiarism or tribute; what do you think?

1 comment:

Lindi said...

well academics like you will probably see this as plagiarism.....I think its "fake" ..i was reading the book on Korean now and Korea then.......time allow i reccommend it....