Opinion – Ronaldo Lemos: 2023 public domain is spectacular

In this troubled beginning of the year, it is very good to be able to enjoy one of the few constancies of Western life: every January 1st, works whose copyrights expired are promoted to the so-called “public domain”. Like the Gregorian chant that is chanted by the monks every day of the week at 6 pm in the São Bento monastery, the public domain does not fail. Every beginning of the year is there to comfort us

When a work is promoted to the public domain it can then be freely used. It can be turned into movies, adapted, translated, re-recorded and its characters can appear in new stories and universes. It is a powerful invitation to collective creativity. And in the year 2023 the public domain is especially good in the context of the US, which is the most important jurisdiction. A true gift to humanity in this moment of uncertainty.

In the field of books, the harvest is vigorous. Starting with the seminal “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf, published in May 2027 and considered a landmark of modernism. For mystery fans, Sherlock Holmes is also coming into the public domain. The book “Case-book of Sherlock Holmes”, compiled from stories published by Arthur Conan-Doyle between 1921 and 1927 is also from all of us. Hemingway also presents us with his tales collected in the book “Homens Sem Mulheres”. It also has “Steppen Wolf” by Herman Hesse, “Time Rediscovered” by Proust, Faulkner and much more.

If the selection of books is breathtaking, in cinema there are heavyweights. Nothing less than Fritz Lang’s film “Metropolis” has entered the public domain. The film —spectacular even today— is the forerunner of an entire cinematographic line that goes through Blade Runner and the science fiction films of Dennis Villeneuve. There’s also the long-lost John Ford movie called “Upstream.” A copy of it was found in cellulose nitrate in New Zealand in 2009.

The first talking feature film in history also ascends to the public domain, the film “The Jazz Singer”, of inestimable historical value and which ended the ephemeral romanticism of silent films. Out of curiosity, the first spoken sentence of the cinema was: “wait a minute, a minute, you still haven’t heard anything.” At the time, capable of causing astonishment in the audience (and still impressive today).

And there’s more. In music a lot of good things. Starting with the songs “Funny Face” and “´S Wonderful” by Ira and George Gerswhin. The latter continues as a soundtrack for lovers and was recreated in a killer version by João Gilberto that opens the 1977 album Amoroso. It also has “Back Water Blues” by Bessie Smith. And the influential “The Best Things in Life Are Free” by George Gard De Sylva.

The public domain is an invitation for everyone: for the public to rediscover these works, now easily accessible on the internet. For archives and libraries, who can collaboratively preserve them. Including avoiding its disappearance, as almost happened with John Ford’s film. And also for producers and creators. In the same way that João Gilberto recreated Gershwin, other artists can do the same with this inexhaustible source when the work finally reaches the domain of all of us.

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