There has been a lot of debate on the number of original ideas that exist in the world. Right off the bat, I must confess that my definition of an idea is as abstract as what I refer to as original. But ideas manifest themselves in different ways; given how much information is available on the planet, ideas aren’t limited by any means either. That being said, I doubt if there are any more original ideas left in the world.
It is a much-quoted maxim that there are only seven stories in fiction and that all others are based on them. And theoretically speaking, any form of music that is produced is based on various manipulations of the twelve basic notes. In that case, what really constitutes plagiarism?
In the recent past, there have been cases of popular artistes being accused of plagiarism — regionally and nationally. The most recent one is that of popular television comedian, Kapil Sharma, who was accused of stealing a joke from another stand-up comedian whose joke was available on YouTube. Before conclusions are drawn, was the joke really plagiarised? Or was it just a case where two comedians had similar things to say about the same topic?
In this case, the benefit of the doubt can be given to the YouTube comedian because his joke was released on YouTube only a few days before the Kapil Sharma television episode was aired. Therefore, it’s highly likely that Kapil or a writer of the show watched the video and probably forgot about it and then came up with the joke themselves — a classic case of cryptomnesia.
Did the writer or Kapil really intend on reproducing an already existing joke or was it a coincidence, or was it just a case of cryptomnesia, where an artist forgets that the work that they have produced was based on something they consumed earlier and they genuinely have no memory of the event. The television show’s loyal fanbase came out in defense of questioning everyone accusing Kapil of plagiarism — “So, what if he did steal the joke? He performed it better.”
I am borrowing from these very well-thought out arguments for this week’s column (read: sarcasm), and yes, before you ask, the irony to steal to write about stealing has been noted; what if plagiarism was the norm and it was okay to steal?
Let’s call our world ‘stealing thunder’. The people of ‘stealing thunder’ aren’t bound by any moral absolutes; to them, stealing is an activity, not a sin. In the land of stealing thunder, success isn’t defined by how well you can create but rather, how well you can protect. So, an artiste who creates an amazing work will be hailed a genius, but an artiste who steals a genius’ body of work will be put on a higher pedestal because the imitation was better than the original.
In the land of ‘stealing thunder’, amateur artists imitate and mature artists steal is taken quite literally. And a case of unconscious plagiarism or cryptomnesia does not strike in three days.
(When he isn’t writing, the creative producer with The Rascalas watches a lot of ‘cat videos’ on YouTube)
Bhargav Prasad @CFLlightsabers