blog post #4

After looking more closely at “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community” by James Porter, the concept of everything being a remix became more solidified for me. In a way, the video “everything is a remix” is actually just a remix of James porter’s ideas. Porter reflects on how certain pieces of writing reflect on each other or on the ideas that are within it and how those ideas are remixes of each other. People are influenced by everything around them and it's not a surprise that all of these influencing factors keep being repeated or reinterpreted. One thing that I really liked in “intertextuality and the Discourse Community” was the part where Porter said, “The newness of a sentence is a quite unimportant -- and unascertainable -- property and 'creativity' in language lies in the speaker's ability to create new meanings: to realize the potentiality of language for the indefinite extension of its resources to new contexts of situation…”. I think this is so important because if we are all in agreement that yes, everything is indeed a remix, then we are also subsequently agreeing that there is a lack of creativity in a lot of what we do or like. The definition of remix is to produce a different version. While the core idea is the same, the artist makes something completely new with their own spin on it. That “new spin” is their voice, something that no one can really replicate and therefore is something absolutely unique. By Porter acknowledging this key part of his argument, he is giving credit to various works that are remixes. He is not discrediting them for being less original but rather giving them praise almost for being original in their own way. Porter forces us to see things from a new perspective and understand a new angle to what makes something new. Reflecting back on some of my own work, I have always been worried that I may be subconsciously encroaching on another writer’s theme. This reading along with “All Writing is Autobiography” have really opened my eyes to how influential my creative voice is on what I am writing. My voice as a writer is what makes my work unique and how I interpret my emotions and everyday life into my writing is all specifically unique to me.