redhawk23
Wrestlin'
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As we all know there has been discussion about Avatar's lack of originality ad nauseum. Nearly every single aspect of the film has been accused of being borrowed, cliched or and outright rip-off. That discussion aside (because it seems like every thread on the hype devolved into it in the past month or so) it seems like this is actually very common in all films and all works of fiction really, but i thought it'd be interesting to start a thread about the most blatent ones. By the very nature of this discussion it will be spoiler loaded so read at your own discretion i guesse.
There a couple that come to mind.
Total Recall
Arnold is visited by a representative from Rekal who attempts to inform him that his present situation is merely the side effects of memories being pumped into his head. That the world around him is a delusion and that if he does not stop his own facade he will be lost. The man offers Arnold a RED PILL that is a symbol of his willingness to return to reality.
Fastforward 9 years to The Matrix
Morpheus informs neo that his entire life and all his memories are being fed to him by machines and if he wants to escape to reality he must start between choosing between a blue pill, which will make him stay in the fabricated world, or the RED PILL that will start the process of returning to reality.
There is probably something before Total Recall that uses this plot device but i thought it was interesting that both films had the same colored pill performing the same function
The next deals with simularities between Dracula the book and several film adaptations, and the Harry Potter Franchise, both books and films.
First of all Voldemort in the books and to a lesser extent the films shares many simularities with Dracula
Pale skin, general malevolence, control of animals, long fingernales, corpselike descriptions, red eyes, mind reading etc.
there are also simularities between the relationships between harry and voldemort and between dracula and mina harker.
when voldemort attempts to kill harry part of himself becomes stored in harry creating a kind of psychic link between them, which harry eventually attempts to use to spy on voldemorts movements. This attack also causes a scar on harry's forehead, which burns in voldemorts presense. Later when voldemort regains his body, he does so partially byusing harry's blood.
In Dracula, the vampire forces an exchange of blood on Mina Harker, which also creates a psychic link, which later on, Mina and the others also attempt to use to track Dracula's movements.
Later a communion wafer burns a scar into Mina's forehead.
In Dracula, his persuers must first find caches of dirt from hallowed ground hidden around the area before attacking him for they are a safe haven and any attack would be moot.
The plot of the 7th and to a certain extent the 6th harry potter stories deal with finding a series of horcruxes, caches of parts of voldemorts soul. The must find them before attacking the man himself because the horcruxes would allow him to live on.
In what can surely beconsidered a blatant ripoff on Rowlings part is the way the harry potter series ended in relation to the conclusion of Dracula.
In Dracula, almost immediately after Dracula's defeat, the narative jumps ahead several years and the Harkers are reminiscing and telling their son of his namsake, in that he is named after Quincy Morris, their friend who died in quest to kill Dracula.
In Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows, imediately after the end of the final battle and the defeat of Voldemort, the narative jumps ahead almost 20 years to Harry informing his son, Albus Severus Potter, that he named after Dumbledor and Snape, who both gave their lives for the defeat of Voldemort.
seriously the scenes are nearly identical and i'm shocked that no one has ever called Rowling out on it.
There a couple that come to mind.
Total Recall
Arnold is visited by a representative from Rekal who attempts to inform him that his present situation is merely the side effects of memories being pumped into his head. That the world around him is a delusion and that if he does not stop his own facade he will be lost. The man offers Arnold a RED PILL that is a symbol of his willingness to return to reality.
Fastforward 9 years to The Matrix
Morpheus informs neo that his entire life and all his memories are being fed to him by machines and if he wants to escape to reality he must start between choosing between a blue pill, which will make him stay in the fabricated world, or the RED PILL that will start the process of returning to reality.
There is probably something before Total Recall that uses this plot device but i thought it was interesting that both films had the same colored pill performing the same function
The next deals with simularities between Dracula the book and several film adaptations, and the Harry Potter Franchise, both books and films.
First of all Voldemort in the books and to a lesser extent the films shares many simularities with Dracula
Pale skin, general malevolence, control of animals, long fingernales, corpselike descriptions, red eyes, mind reading etc.
there are also simularities between the relationships between harry and voldemort and between dracula and mina harker.
when voldemort attempts to kill harry part of himself becomes stored in harry creating a kind of psychic link between them, which harry eventually attempts to use to spy on voldemorts movements. This attack also causes a scar on harry's forehead, which burns in voldemorts presense. Later when voldemort regains his body, he does so partially byusing harry's blood.
In Dracula, the vampire forces an exchange of blood on Mina Harker, which also creates a psychic link, which later on, Mina and the others also attempt to use to track Dracula's movements.
Later a communion wafer burns a scar into Mina's forehead.
In Dracula, his persuers must first find caches of dirt from hallowed ground hidden around the area before attacking him for they are a safe haven and any attack would be moot.
The plot of the 7th and to a certain extent the 6th harry potter stories deal with finding a series of horcruxes, caches of parts of voldemorts soul. The must find them before attacking the man himself because the horcruxes would allow him to live on.
In what can surely beconsidered a blatant ripoff on Rowlings part is the way the harry potter series ended in relation to the conclusion of Dracula.
In Dracula, almost immediately after Dracula's defeat, the narative jumps ahead several years and the Harkers are reminiscing and telling their son of his namsake, in that he is named after Quincy Morris, their friend who died in quest to kill Dracula.
In Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows, imediately after the end of the final battle and the defeat of Voldemort, the narative jumps ahead almost 20 years to Harry informing his son, Albus Severus Potter, that he named after Dumbledor and Snape, who both gave their lives for the defeat of Voldemort.
seriously the scenes are nearly identical and i'm shocked that no one has ever called Rowling out on it.
