Taking Is Not Always Stealing

Considering the mass distribution of films, exactly how authentic and original is each film in its content?

When watching a film how often does intertextual referencing take place; where certain scenes, lines or even decor arrangements notates specific aspects of either well known or not as widely known . Taking into account the certain inspirational filmmakers each filmmaker has, not to mention non-filmic inspirations, it is important to see the cross-referencing that takes place within every filmmakers profession.

The act of ‘’referencing’ is sometimes viewed as stealing rather than a passive collecting and even hoarding of the millions of potentially inspirational footage that bombards all available screens. The French New Wave director, Jean-Luc Godard fully understood and utilized this act of theft-with-integrity and substantiated his ‘crimes’ by claiming that “It’s not where you take things from-it’s where you take them to.”