The Battle Royale idea has been ripped off indeed, and not only by authors like Suzanne Collins, but also by many online games, including the latest one H1Z1 by Sony (toxic fog), or Arma 3 (blue circle). But the point is 'the idea' was ripped off, as everyone executed their own take on it.
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She actually spoke of two reasons as to what inspired her to write the books.
The first one was when she was flipping through channels and thought how messed up it was how you could watch stuff about the War on Terror on one channel, and then flip to another and see a harmless game show or something else going on.
The second explanation was that she was inspired by the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in ancient Greek mythology. She said in the myth that there was a Greek city-state that was being terrorized by the Minoan king on Crete, and once a year, the city had to choose a number of youths to be sent to be sacrificed to the Minotaur in the labyrinth so that their city would not be razed to the ground. All of that changed when Theseus set out to slay the Minotaur.
I'm afraid the situation is like many when it comes to Japanese films. For one thing, not every knew about Battle Royale outside of Japan. I had never heard of it before someone mentioned it. I doubt it was in wide circulation, particularly among those who don't speak Japanese, and it's rated R for good reason.
I suspect it was a case of parallel story creation. Someone writes a book, having no idea someone else in another country already did it, but nobody outside of that nation knew about it before they came yelling and complaining about this new unknown author "stealing" their ideas.
Horseshit... -.-
shareHow can you be sure it's horseshit? Did "Battle Royale" get a wide theatrical release in the US? Or even a DVD release? Is Collins known for a long-term interest in Japanese pop culture?
Because while an interest in Japanese pop culture is moderately common among young nerds, it's actually pretty rare in the general population. and so few foreign-language films get a wide release in the US that most Americans know diddly-squat about films from non-English-speaking countries. I mean I watch the odd Japanese film unlike most people, and I never heard of "Battle Royale" until "Hunger Games" got famous.
So it's not like this is a question that can ever be answered, but it seems odd to be certain one way or another.
Come on, I'm not even so deep into Japanese culture and I knew what Battle Royale was at like 10 years old (haven't seen it until I turned 18 though). I call total billshit that she was not aware at all about the concept and didn't take inspiration from it. Keep living in your imaginary world if it suits you but I'd rather look at things with open eyes.
shareWell I never heard of the movie until "Hunger Games" came out, and I make more of an effort to keep up with Japanese films than the vast majority of my contemporaries (that is, I see most of the Studio Ghibli films). Very few Americans of my generation keep up with foreign films, or teen films for that matter. Like I said, an interest in Anime or Asian pop culture is much more common among people younger than Collins and myself.
So I'm not saying that Collins never heard of "Battle Royale", I'm just saying it's entirely possible that she hadn't.
I agree. I never heard of Battle Royale until posters kept coming on the Hunger Games moviechat to complain it was a rip-off.
shareI had never heard of it until after Hunger Games came out. I've been a heavy SF fan since I was 8 (which was in 1965). I've been attending SF conventions, including the World SF Convention since 1981 and had never seen a book, dvd, vhs tape or anything else mentioning it.
That's not to say that there weren't people who did know about it. But it would be a very small proportion of people. Some studies have shown that large percentages of the American population have never heard of a popular character like Superman, let alone a foreign book/film.
"ome studies have shown that large percentages of the American population have never heard of a popular character like Superman, let alone a foreign book/film."
They spent their whole lives in some cave, right?
I know you don't believe it. But it is accurate. I've met people who haven't heard of other popular and well known characters. Just because something has a devoted fan base doesn't mean anyone else notices or cares.
As I said, I had never heard of it. I've been attending SF conventions since 1981. I've been reading it since 1963. I had never talked to anyone who had ever heard of it. I have no doubt that there was a devoted fan group in the US. That doesn't prove, or even imply, that Suzanne Collins had ever heard of it.
And this doesn't even get into the discussion that there was nothing new in Battle Royale.
I also don’t know much about Japanese movies, only that they have some sick cult horror movies that were often remade by Hollywood.
I first watched Battle Royale in 2004 when it was showing on tv in UK, think it was on Channel 4.
It was showing quite late, so not exactly a prime time that so many people would see it.
But still, it was on tv, so I guess more general population could see it, not just Japanese culture nerds.
I assume if it was showing on UK tv, probably it also did in some other countries.
I hadn't heard of Battle Royale until about five minutes ago.
shareYou cant rip off "fight to the death" the concept is too simple, and as old as time.
In Futurama , star trek episode:
Bender asks Melllvar where he got the idea to pitch everyone in a fight to the death from and he says "Episodes 19, 46, 56 and 77" of Star Trek to which Fry replies "You forgot episode 66!".
I'd never heard of it until The Hunger Games either...And while there are similarities there are also differences. It's easy to see many similar ideas in stories as most things are just the same things over and over with a different perspective.
Some people might say Battle Royale is a rip off of The Long Walk and The Running Man from Stephen King.
I'd say Hunger Games is a rip off of Breaking Bad, because both have a guy named Gale in them.