Richard Prince Plagiarism Essay

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PARODY/PLAGIARISM/APPROPRIATION
How close does parody have to be to the original to be considered plagiarism? Or is parody always safe territory? According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary plagiarism is the act of copying another person’s work and labeling it as your own. Also, according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a parody imitates the style of someone or something in an amusing way for comic effect or to ridicule. The difference between the two ideas is that in plagiarism the artist takes the work of another artist and writes his own name on it implying that it is his own work. In a parody, the artist creates the work based on another artist’s work but changes the style by adding humor or ridicule. Furthermore, it uses trivialization …show more content…

The photographers that took the pictures do not get a cent for their involuntary contributions, but Richard Prince has made millions from using the works of others. He is being disrespectful to the photographer as an artist. Richard Prince has attained wealth and fame through his appropriation of art. Prince creates these reproductions just to make money which is unfair to the artists who have original ideas and works of art and are not making any money. Prince’s goal it seems for these appropriations was to create a presence and name for himself in the art world. He has become a wannabe famous artist. People are paying for these enlarged Instagram photos not because they sincerely want them but because they are paying for Prince’s name.
At what point does appropriation become plagiarism? It seems that appropriation of art raises questions of authenticity and originality. I think that Richard Prince’s re-photographing of an already-existing photograph appears like plagiarism. Even though he modified the original works, it still is misuse of someone else’s art. I believe that plagiarism of artworks is different than plagiarism of papers or articles. Plagiarism of written works is more clear cut and easier to identify. Plagiarism of art and graphic designs appears to be much more complicated and harder to

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