DJ Spooky

I first heard about DJ Spooky (aka Paul Miller) when he came to the Festival of Sydney a few years ago to perform his 'remix' of the infamous American film Birth of a Nation. Also known as The Clansmen (which might give you some clues about its politics), Birth of a Nation dramatised the history of the American Civil War. When it was released in 1915, US President Woodrow Wilson described the film as being 'like history written with lightning' - it is widely regarded as one of the first films to realise the potential of film as a medium for dramatising history. The film is notorious because it pretty much depicts the Ke Klux Klan as the saviours of American democracy, and the African American characters as either depicted as imbeciles or bestial, would-be rapists, played by white actors in blackface. DJ Spooky remixed the film (with a new score) to give the film's iconic images new meaning in a contemporary context - you can see an extract from the film here . Miller's remix uses the film against itself, repeating visual motifs and juxtaposing images in a new and (obviously) unintended ways. While the remix pulls the film apart and gives it new meaning, Miller commented that 'in a certain sense, what I'm doing is portraying the film as [Griffith] intended it', with its racism exposed through the re-presentation of the film its remixed form. 

On DJ Spooky's website, you can read his commentary on Rebirth of a Nation and also see his remix of the trailer of a fantastic seventies concert film, Wattstax. The trailer remix is a kind of history 'wink' from Miller to those who can read and understand the cues and signs (and especially sounds) he is offering to us. While his work is certainly not conventional documentary, it relies on the power of juxtaposition and a degree of audience familiarity with the material being presented - and isn't this a plausible description for a lot of 'media history'?