Derivative logic prices and trades assets’ attributes without ownership, applied to texts

Evidence

“The central, universal characteristic of derivatives,” according to Dick Bryan and Michael Rafferty, “is their capacity to ‘dismantle’ or ‘unbundle’ any asset into constituent attributes and trade those attributes without trading the asset itself.” Neither possession nor ownership of the underlying asset is required to configure its attributes into universally recognizable and thus tradable elements. The derivative dismantles or unbundles any asset into individual attributes and trades them without trading the asset itself; this operating logic finds its way into the cultural text when the fluid conversion between assets is exploited by conglomerates with holdings in a variety of intellectual property. To think of textual reference in such a manner would be to price the constitutive elements of a “mosaic of quotations,” to dismantle and unbundle its textual assets. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 169

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Defines the derivative’s core mechanism — unbundling assets into tradable attributes — and extends it to textual reference.
• XREF: The mosaic of quotations echoes Barthes and Kristeva’s intertextuality; connects to how conglomerates monetize IP across silos.

Related

• Financial derivatives unbundle assets into tradable attributes without ownership transfer. (similarity 0.95)
• Textual intertextuality and commercial branding are two poles of one derivative logic (similarity 0.84)
• Derivative logic of flexible asset conversion shapes digital cultural texts (similarity 0.84)
• The derivative’s convertibility logic naturally suits diversified media conglomerates (similarity 0.83)
• Financial asset strategy and corporate textual form reinforce each other. (similarity 0.83)
• Derivatives let investors trade an asset’s attributes without the asset itself (similarity 0.81)
• Financialization now shapes the internal form of cultural texts, not just their ownership (similarity 0.81)
• Intertextuality operates on both textual-reference and commercial-influence axes. (similarity 0.81)
• Hollywood’s derivative output makes intertextuality reliably bankable (similarity 0.81)
• Derivatives function by binding future prices to the present and blending forms of capital. (similarity 0.80)
• Financial economics and textual form reinforce each other in media production (similarity 0.80)
• Paid brand relationships have replaced literary quotations as intertextuality’s sources (similarity 0.80)
• Intertextuality operates as securitization, diverting value from text and author (similarity 0.80)
• Cultural texts are designed to be securitized through their intertextual relationships (similarity 0.79)
• A derivative dismantles an asset into tradeable attributes without trading the asset itself (similarity 0.79)