Mashup Schmashup

In many ways I like the term "mashup". It's playful, easy to say and not tied down to a particular practice (although it has its origins in music remixing so that other forms are usually prefaced e.g. Video Mashup).

However, I really hate that it implies a lack of finesse... a sort of trivial abandon which restricts it to being entertainment for passive consumption at best. It really does a disservice to a great deal of truly incredible remixing (of all kinds) that exists out there. Of course, there are plenty haphazard "mashups" but, then again, the existence of sloppy notebook doodles does not invalidate Van Gough so why should the same be true here? The term mashup was never intended to have a value judgement attached to it, just like "fan works" wasn't... but that doesn't change some perceptions.

To me, it's the same kind of cultural/generational snobbery that denounced Rock 'n' Roll. Andrew Keen's Cult of the Amateur is just one example of this mistaken assumption - the assumption that radical new and decentralised art has little or nothing to offer. Most surprising to me is how this is exactly the same argument made of so many artforms over the years. Court poetry that isn't in Latin, inconceivable! A player writing plays, outrageous! Moving pictures? Nothing but silly watering-hose jokes. Well, if history really is repeating itself then I hope it's time for a decentralised digital renaissance.