An Open Letter to A24 about Backrooms Copyright

The creepypasta operates as such an interesting cultural object: Whilst having an original - often anonymous - author, a creepypasta is often built upon quickly and communally, making it strongly akin to a folk tale that develops at a previously impossible speed.

To be successful, the original generally needs to contain a highly compelling image (linguistic or graphical): the "backrooms" in this instance, the long limbs of Slenderman. I would personally guess that the increased cultural interest in the Wendigo over the past few years is directly related to the "Anansi's Goatman Story" greentext's amazingly sensory description of the smell, which really stayed with me. [1]

These alleged actions from A24 are anathema both to the way these stories develop - communally - and also to the communal, somewhat anti-corporate, "independent" creative values in certain audience demographics that partially contributed to A24's rise in the first place.

I suspect it's just copyright strikes being applied thoughtlessly, in the usual way, without the legal team (or whatever is automating their actions) realising that this is an instance where an exception should be made.

To me personally, even if it's not maliciously intended, it's still gross, or perhaps even grosser.

Incidentally, I thought the film itself - while relatively unfaithful to the source material - was one of the better attempts I've seen at integrating the ugliness, slop, and grotesque aspects of online life into a contemporary film. Usually, the online world is translated much more clumsily.

[1] https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/Anansi%27s_Goatman_Story