Dead Or Domaine Public?

What is going on in France? Just an errant thought of mine-

First, they let the Lupin the 3rd royalties slip through their fingers without even a homegrown round-nosed equivalent. Then came the expansion of the public domain, with Victor Hugo's heirs losing their exclusive right to produce sequels of Les Miserables. The Count of Monte Cristo may have suffered an even worse fate than either one, with dozens upon dozens of reimaginings and sequels from countries all across the world.

Of course, this is the death of media. It is dying! It is dead! Liberté, égalité, exclusivité. That's how we are supposed to feel, of course. Unless the franchise has been sold, in which case being bent to the whims of capitalism is surely the exclusive wishes of the authors...

Sailor Moon too is dead! What shall we do? Without some common harp to strum, we're left playing the same old songs - and we all know unless art is living, breathing, playing and pausing, inevitable and inextricable from a colourpop collab. And of course, unless revenue is flowing, the art is dead; art and the franchise, of course, are one.

When do we tire of the same old rhetoric? Are the kids being born cynical now? When will we turn? We cannot remain in the sunshine of our lives forever...

Last modified: July 29, 2026