"Détournement, the reuse of preexisting artistic elements in a new ensemble, has been a constantly present tendency of the contemporary avant-garde.."
I agree and disagree with what is said here. First of all, in an artistic sense, ideas are recycled and themes are rehashed and tweaked in an attempt to appear original. That is artistic license. I do believe, though, that there ARE original ideas amongst the endless stream of "art" and media in our daily lives. We could say that the media is a classic example of detournement, as well as contemporary literature. With the media, it is creating an uneccesary want and trying to fill it, whereas in literature, I really don't know if anything is entirely original. Writers often recycle other storylines and characters in a regurgitation of what they know as reality. I think the reason as to why Harry Potter became such a sensation was because it was, in a way, original. Had anyone before thought of an alternate magical universe coexisting amongst the normal world? I really don't know. But I do agree with the article's message that these days it is a bit hard to be original in the art world.