Remediation

As I looked through Bolton and Grusin’s text, several differing ideas of what “remediation” is come to mind. Prior to reading (and even after), I have always perceived remediation as a necessary human function; most prevalent in the entertainment industries. What I mean by this is that when I hear the term, I almost instantly think to the music industry; and its clever re-incorporation of old tunes that were once very popular. By doing this, the remediator (or the one that is incorporating the older tune in their new song) retains and strengthens the roots of the original tune, whilst feeding off of the popularity already associated with the tune for their own personal gain.

However, this made thought makes me question whether the process of remediation can also harm the reputation of the original work? (Is there such thing as an original work?) And it makes me question whether or not a “remix” (as it is referred to in the music industry) should actually be labeled as “mediation?” The idea of remediation also arises (very often) in the movie / film industry. Isn’t a producer’s film interpretation of a book (i.e. Harry Potter, 50 Shades of Grey, etc.) essentially just a remediation of another work? This makes me question… when lacking the context of the text, work, song, movie, etc.; how is an audience to determine whether or not a piece is a remediation?