The great myths and legends that have lost their original authors, or passed into the public sphere of intellectual property (who really owns Herecles and Zues's face?), so these all exist now as public property, and their names, and histories are available to any author who'd like to use them. Yet, critical backlash over such poorly made films as Clash of The Titans 2010 show that the public still has very strong expectations of the handling of such properties, even if they have no owner. While I could take this concept into Star Wars territoriy, I think I'll bring it back to a purely text example, and so we now look at the example of Sherlock Holmes. The killing-off of Holmes by his creator led to such a fervent public outcry of property mismanagement (and subsequent boycotting of Doyles books) that Doyle would later resume the series with a new Holmes adventure that retconned, and resurrected Holmes. This does at the very least demonstrate that public discourse has a certain democratic effect that can force authors to behave responsibly, or face the scorn and mistrust of their public (see George Lucas). Similar examples can be found in the comic book industry, were modern day myths and legends have often been mishandled in both print and film, leading to constant retconns, reboots, and have refined the comic film industry to the point that Marvel has taken back its creative control from the irresponsible film studios, and led to their latest string of successes.
So what effect does public discourse really have on itellectual property? Well, I certainly would disagree if someone were to suggest that the public has the right to dictate terms to author, or that authors have no need to even consider the public's opinion when dealing with their own intellectual property, but I would agree with authors like Stuart Glover who said: "Public discourse can be a powerful agent in controlling others and in shaping knowledge. The public voice is one we conspire to privilege, sometimes forgetting to question its right to speak authoritatively." (18)
P.S, forgive any spelling errors, if any, I am very tired, and very sick, and forgot to do a spell check.
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