Message to Loco Bozo Oh-No-No: Era of silent films ended a long time ago

If a printed work had quoted the words "and no religion too" and commented about them, no one would question that the quotation is fair use. However, the words were quoted in a movie, and movies have soundtracks. Playing the segment of the song was appropriate for the medium. The era of silent films quickly ended after the 1927 release of Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer." Yoko Ono's suit is an outrage.

Also, though I have been following this copyright infringement case for a long time, I have just learned that the movie actually makes a verbal commentary about the song -- previously I thought that all of the commentary was nonverbal and symbolic. The On The Cover Songs blog reported,
.

In the documentary Stein says: “Dr. Myers would like you to think that he’s being original but he’s merely lifting a page out of John Lennon’s songbook.” This is followed by an audio clip of Lennon’s song “Imagine,” specifically, the lyrics “Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too.”

This verbal commentary greatly strengthens the claim of fair use -- the movie expressly critiqued the song. Bozo Oh-No-No is going to have a hard time explaining how this criticism in a movie is fundamentally different from criticism in print. Personally, though, I think that this comment about John Lennon and Sleazy PZ Myers is inane, and I think that it would be much better to allow the viewers to decide for themselves the significance of the song's words in relation to the accompanying scenes in the movie.

Of course, the scumbag Darwinists think that the harm to "Expelled" would be well worth the harm to the fair use principle if Yoko Ono wins her suit.

Anyway, I hope that Yoko Ono is taught that she can't always get her way just because she is rich and famous.
.