Dear Friends, I am sending you one of my old articles(1997):
PLAGIARISM IN CARTOON
Dear cartoon friends,
From time to time, we coincide with very similar cartoons that are signed by different people. We see some of them in different places or times and some of them even in the same album. As a result, a question of theft pops up in our minds: “Which one is original, which one is stolen?”, “How should the thief be punished?”
Stealing somebody else’s work and signing it is such a self-humiliating thing for an artist that, I don’t think he/she has to get a punishment beside it. On the other hand, reduplicating a formerly used idea unknowingly can be done easily by any cartoonist. If you approached the same problem with the same method, certainly the cartoons will be the same in the end. In all branches of art, there have been the ones who steal others’ work. In Western languages, it is called “plagiarism”. The Romans used to call the act of stealing someone else’s worker (not work of art) and selling it, “Plagiarius”. That word is supposedly coming from Greek origin “plagios”, which means bent, askew, crooked. There is a slang expression in Turkish which uses the same word, “to make crooked” and it means to do wrong to someone. Each day, thousands of newspapers, magazines and albums are being published all around the world and inside them ten thousands of cartoons… No cartoonist, publisher or jury member is capable of viewing them all. Keeping each of them in mind is completely out of question. Therefore detection of the stolen work is random. People getting excited by finding out a reduplicated cartoon, should be aware that they are being consoled only by a very small percentage. For example in Turkey, subscribing to a few magazines of South Africa and Far East is enough for a corrupted cartoonist to continue his profession (!) with stolen works (At the time this article was published, the Internet was not as common as it is now).
The famous cartoon thief of our time is Peter Kaste of
I consider announcing it as my duty. Peter Kaste is so wild in this plagiarism act that
he doesn’t hesitate to steal the drawing characteristic of the original cartoons as well as their
main idea. Kaste is not contended with less obvious, hard to get caught-theft.
It is found out numerous times that he has stolen from Quino, Serre, Aragones and from
the cartoons that were awarded in the most famous contests. With these works, he has earned
money from the magazines he has worked for and been awarded in contests.
He also confessed that he has done that intentionally and apologized to the cartoon community.
Well, isn’t there a precaution in order to prevent such actions? The below term can be added
to the contest regulations:
“If a cartoon is detected to be stolen, the royalties paid and the prizes given are going to be retrieved; the perpetrator is going to be exposed.” Other than that, for reduplications, prohibitions from the contests or profession can be practiced. Thousands of cartoon friends are capable of doing this determination. In case of disagreement, “The original owner of a cartoon is the one who gets to publish it before.” should be considered as the rule. What should the honest cartoonists, who are afraid of recreating an old cartoon, do?
1- Be proud of this fear of yours, but never allow it to become a reason for inaction.
2- Be skeptic about the ideas that easily pop up in your mind (Probably they had been used already).
3- Invent the way and technique of your own (The airplanes that fly at different altitudes do not crash into each other.)
In addition to those, if you have favorite ideas, draw them and get them published as soon as possible. Somewhere, someone might be drawing the same cartoon. If you think that one of your favorite cartoons resemble a famous cartoon a lot, you can put a note underneath it as reference. For example why not a note like: “Variation on a theme of Turhan Selcuk”? Anyhow if some day you see that you are perceived as a “re-doer”, you can write to the cartoonist that you are not a Kaste supporter, then never publish that work of yours again and that’s it.
As the conclusion, no artist can say “I created my work from zero”. We all, consciously or not, utilize or get influenced by something. But while we sign underneath our work, our judgment about our own values, will stay as the fairest.
Cheers!
Eray Özbek
(Cartoonists Association Ýzmir Office, July 1997 bulletin, “HERAY=Everymonth” Column)
Degerli dostlar, size on bir yil onceki bir yazimi tekrar sunuyorum:
KARIKATURDE “YAMUKCULUK”
Sevgili karikatur dostlari,
Zaman zaman, birbirine cok benzeyen, ama imzalari baska karikaturlere rastliyoruz.
Bir baskasinin yapitini asirip imzalamasi, sanatcinin kendi kendine yaptigi oyle bir asagilamadir ki, ayrica bir ceza verilmesine bence gerek yok. Onceden yapilmis bir espriyi bilmeden tekrarlamak ise, her karikaturcunun basina rahatlikla gelebilir, ayni soruna ayni yontemle yaklasmissaniz, ortaya elbette ayni karikatur cikar. Tarih boyunca, sanatin butun dallarinda, baskasinin yapitini apartanlara rastlanmis. Osmanlica’da “Intihal” denen bu eyleme bati dillerinde “Plagiarism” deniyor. Romalilar, bir baskasinin esirini (eserini degil) calip satana “Plagiarius” derlermis. Bunun da yunanca “plagios”dan geldigi saniliyor: “egik-yamuk” demek. Bizim argo “yamuk yapmak” deyimimizi andiriyor. Her gun dunyada binlerce gazete, dergi ve album ; bunlarda da, onbinlerce karikatur yayinlaniyor.
Hicbir kairikaturcu, yayinci, ya da juri uyesi, bunlarin tumunu izleyemez, hele aklinda hic tutamaz. Dolayisi ile calintilarin saptanmasi, rastlantiya baglidir. ” – Bu karikatur, daha once yapilmisti, gordum, nasil da yakaladim ! ” diye heyecanlananlar da, minik bir yuzde ile avunduklarini bilmeliler. Ornegin Turkiye’de , mezhebi genis bir karikaturcunun yalnizca kopya yapitlarla meslegini (!) surdurebilmesi icin, Guney Amerika ve Uzakdogu’dan birer dergiye abone olmasi yeter. (Yazinin Yayim tarihinde, internet boylesine yayginlasmamisti.)
Gunumuz karikatur hirsizlarinin en unlusu, Alman Peter Kaste’dir. Butun hosgorume ragmen,
odul almis karikaturlerden caldigi, defalarca saptanmistir. Bunlarla, calistigi dergilerden para kazanmis, yarismalardan oduller almistir : Bu alintilari “Kaste’n” yaptigini da itiraf
Sartnamelere soyle bir madde konulabilir :
1 – Bu korkunuzla ovununuz, ama onu eylemsizlik nedeni yapmayiniz.
2 – Akliniza cabucak geliveren esprileri, kusku ile karsilayiniz. (Buyuk ihtimalle onceden kullanilmistir).
3 – Kendi yol ve yonteminizi bulunuz. (Nasil ki, baska baska irtifalarda seyreden ucaklar, asla carpismazlar.)
Ayrica pek begendiginiz fikirleriniz varsa bunlari bekletmeden cizip yayinlatiniz, su anda bir baskasi ciziyor olabilir. Cok begendiginiz bir karikaturunuzun, unlu bir karikature fazlaca benzedigini dusunuyorsaniz, altina bir not yazarak, diger muellife gonderme yapabilirsiniz. Ornegin: “Turhan Selcuk’un bir temasi uzerine cesitleme” neden olmasin ? Yine de gunun birinde, “Tekrarci” durumuna dustugunuzu anlarsaniz, sizden once davranan muellife, “Kaste yanlisi olmadiginizi” yazar, ve karikaturunuzu bir daha kullanmazsiniz, olur biter.
Son soz olarak : Hicbir sanatci: “Ben, yapitimi yoktan var ettim” diyemez. Hepimiz, bilincli-bilincsiz bir yerlerden yararlanir, ya da etkileniriz.
Ama altina imzamizi atarken, kendi degerimiz hakkinda verebilecegimiz yargi ; en adil yargi olarak kalacaktir.
Hoscakalin.
Eray OzbeK