Probably sometime around last January, my friends at library school and I realized that somehow, somewhere along the line, something fundamental had changed in us. One term at SIM, and probably 10 293 392 repetitions of the word ‘information’ (followed closely by the 234 349 repetitions of the word ‘professional’) and we suddenly couldn’t sit through half an episode of Battlestar Galactica without elbowing each other in the ribs and going ‘eh, eh, records management, eh?’ and chortling wickedly.
So, in the spirit of my tainted worldview, I bring you a piecemeal and scattered representation of all the times I have to stop, turn to whatever poor soul is stuck consuming some vapid bit of entertainment with me, and go, “LOOK! AN INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL!”
First up, 2008’s gloriously misogynist depiction of a deeply flawed and deeply entertaining Robert Downey Jr. as himself, and also, Iron Man. See below:
OBADIAH STANE, gloating: You really think that just because you had an idea it belongs to you?
What’s that, Obie? You’re not into respecting Tony’s copyright on his gold-titanium-alloy superhero costume? An ultra-capitalist war-profiteering bomb-builder like you doesn’t want him - or perhaps, anyone - to have proprietary rights to their own intellectual property? Now, I’m no expert on the subject, but you’d think that a company as heavily into R&D as Stark Industries would have a team of sharp-suited sharks circling the swimming pool, waiting to tear into any other company (Oscorp? Wayne Enterprises?) that so much as smells like an infringement. So it’s funny that you should argue otherwise.
Of course, Stane’s point here is that the good dudes who share their creations - his example being Howard Stark’s, um, involvement with the Manhattan Project - are helping the world out. It’s selfish, he insists, not to.
The whip-snapping irony here, of course, is that good-naturedly sharing an atomic bomb leads mostly to lots of dead people. Ho ho, Marvel, good one. Way to set up your straw man argument. Considering that you’ve been on both sides of the divide here, with various entities like the country of Iraq and the Foo Fighters claiming you stole content from them, while yourself suing other entities like, oh, Disney, and also the creators of the videogame City of Heroes for stealing your content, I’m pretty sure you’re on the side of keeping IP under lock and key.
Still! Wasn’t it nice to hear the argument for creative commons in the form of a premature victory monologue from a treacherous, double-dealing supervillain? Keep it up, pop culture! Let’s always keep librarians relevant in the third act turning points!
Next time: The Venture Bros episode #37, ORB, in which the albino Pete White uses the internet.
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