MovieChat Forums > The Hunger Games (2012) Discussion > The argument that any film sucks because...

The argument that any film sucks because it ripped off another is retard

posted 9 years ago by Fuzzyfoot
18 replies | jump to latest

What matters is the story at hand. Not the inspiration/rip-off/better idea/worse concept or whatever you want to call it. I love when people use the argument that a film sucks because it's ripping off another movie...ROFL!

Sure The Hunger Games = The Condemned = Battle Royale = The Most Dangerous Game

But don't forget...

A Fistful of Dollars = Yojimbo
For a Few Dollars More = Sanjuro
A Bug's Life = The Magnificent Seven = The Seven Samurai
Avatar = Dances With Wolves = Fern Gully = Pocahontas
Mission Impossible II = Notorious
Disturbia = Rear Window
Raiders of the Lost Ark = Secret of the Incas

The list goes on and on...at the end of the day, you can't hate a movie for repeating a story YOU have already seen. There were plenty version of your favorite story before yours and there will be plenty more to come. If you hate a movie...by default you have to hate every iteration of the film's story.

[–] clirby 9 years ago

Yeah but there's difference between ripping off and uncredited cloning, just as there;s a difference between remakes and ripoffs...

[–] summeriris 9 years ago

And you have no idea which is which.

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I am the Queen of Snark, TStopped said so.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 9 years ago

No one said that this film sucks because it's a ripoff, but that Suzanne Collins is a hack and doesn't deserve the acclaim she's received, nor does her series deserve the amount of praise that's been lavished on it. That's all.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] CharlesTheBold 9 years ago

The thing here is that she tried to claim the idea for herself.
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No she didn't. She credited the 60s novel THE KING MUST DIE, about Theseus joining the teenaged tributes to Crete, training them to survive in the arena, and becoming a favorite of the decadent Cretan audience. I read it in high school.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] linn406 9 years ago

Were these arena battles in THE KING MUST DIE battle royales (all against all) or one-on-one?

Collins listed reality t.v. programming as one of her inspirations for The Hunger Games — the "all against all" aspect so often mentioned could easily have been inspired by Survivor (though the method of elimination has been suitably escalated), as could the temporary alliances formed by some of the tributes, and the fact the some of them were simply hoping to outlast the others rather than engage in direct confrontation.

She also mentioned footage of the war in Afghanistan, where it just so happens that U.S. planes were air dropping aid to civilians on the ground. Such air drops often result in mad scrambles by the recipients to grab their share before it's all gone — another possible source for the "all against all" competition, and one which also seems remarkably similar to the initial bloodbath scene where tributes are scrambling for weapons and supplies. Hmm...

Of course those who are convinced that Collins is lying will simply ignore these possibilities and insist that it could only have been stolen from Takami ... *sigh*

[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 9 years ago

Of course those who are convinced that Collins is lying will simply ignore these possibilities and insist that it could only have been stolen from Takami ... *sigh*

How does claiming inspiration for a work magically excuse someone from having plagiarized parts of it from another work? What does one have to do with the other? That doesn't even make any sense.

If I write a story that follows Cinderella exactly (right down to the fairy godmother part and the losing the glass slipper), does claiming that I was inspired by the TV show, the Bachelor, mean that I didn't copy it? Does claiming that I was inspired by how my best friend met her husband mean that I didn't rip off Cinderella?

Again, what does one have to do with the other?

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[–] linn406 9 years ago

It has nothing to do with glass slippers or fairy godmothers, or whatever else you threw into your intentional deflection. I was referring to a specific element of the story that the previous poster inquired about. As it happens, I found the free-for-all nature of the combat to be the most unique and intriguing feature of The Hunger Games. If I were looking to build a case against Collins, that's the feature I would have focused on.

[–] Mahmood-Buttrumps 8 years ago

I don't think it's much of a stretch at all to say that movies based on the YA book genre is growing pretty stale. After Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games, it feels like the studios rushed to snap up as many book rights as they could (whether or not they were actually any good) and then instantly create a franchise with a part 1 and 2 final movie.

Then movies like "The Fifth Wave" and the "Divergent" series get made and shocker - they're crap. Maybe they could have been done well at some point, but it's clear that they rushed these out in an obvious cash grab and it was only a matter of time until bombs started happening.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] Mahmood-Buttrumps 8 years ago

The first time I ever heard of The Hunger Games back in 2008 I thought it sounded a lot like BR. Having read the first Hunger Games novel and seen the film now, I still say there are more basic tonal and quantitative similarities than differences (for example, the writer here doesn't include the fact the male and female heroine who team up in BR are also mentored by a veteran survivor of a past game. That both films/novels include alpha "contestants" who become objects of fear to the "good guy" contestants (BR differs in that it features a female character character in this role as well as a male whereas neither Clove nor Glimmer really qualify in HG, leaving just Cato).

As a fan of BR going back nearly 10 years (films, novel and the manga version), I approached HG with an open mind (both film and book). And in my opinion HG - at least the first book, and the movie - are excellent. And yes I agree with the writer that there are major differences. But even if Collins didn't rip off Takami (and I don't have any reason to think she did), the two stories are cut from the same cloth and the one or two occasions I've seen where Battle Royale has been called the rip off - it needs to be said which came first.

Having said all that, until I read this post I hadn't even thought of Hunger Games being a retread of The Blade Runner. Food for thought.

[–] nogodlover 8 years ago

It sucks because it sucks. For lack of a better term it was bland. Idk, maybe that's called a weak plot. Just not very good at all.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] Mahmood-Buttrumps 8 years ago

America is the only country where the Battle Royale 2 craze of the early 2000s never caught on, (it was heavilyly censored due to its anti-capitalist stance and the whole Colombine era thing) so it stands to reason that the US was behind the rest of world in this "cultural" regard.

[–] summerinertia 8 years ago

Agree. Hunger Games sucks simply because it sucks as a BR/BR2 rip.

[–] Mahmood-Buttrumps 8 years ago

Hollywood did it again: took one of our beloved movies from the 80s and destroyed it. Aside from Lawrence looking almost exactly like a Caucasian Mitsuko, this movie fell flat on its face. All the members seemed to share a forced chemistry in all the scenes. And somewhere along the way, they turned this into a comedy. Just horrible. If you liked the original, steer clear of this abomination.

[–] 8 years ago

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