Mimi & Eunice’s character designs evolved (barely) from this Copying Is Not Theft animation:
You’ll notice it starts off with the nose-stealing gag. I saw a similar gag over a decade ago in a brilliant Sam Henderson comic, the Magic Whistle, which made me laugh and laugh. Since Sam has made about a zillion such comics, I can’t find that one, but I did find this amusing one that relates to one of my favorite subjects, the First Amendment:
Eunice prices Mimi’s nose at $220,000. That was the bargain-basement low-budget-indie-film rate I was quoted to clear the songs I used in Sita Sings the Blues. Like Mimi’s nose, those songs were stolen – from the Public Domain. Although these comics are so simple they can mean anything to anyone – I like that about them – to me this one is about Intellectual Pooperty monopolists stealing our culture from us and then selling it back at ridiculous prices. And yes, Poopertists claim that nothing has value if it’s Free, a topic Mimi & Eunice have also touched on.
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This is a syndicated post, which originally appeared at Mimi and Eunice » IP. View original post.
Nina Paley is a creative artist and anti-copyright innovator. She is the creator of the animated musical, Sita Sings the Blues, and of the Mimi and Eunice webcomic.
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