Plagiarism or parallel?
There is a saying in showbiz “Good artists borrow, great artists steal”. In the whirlwind of content that is released every year, there are a few that stand out and captures the audience’s attention or better an artist’s attention. Some directors take home something special from these movies or TV shows and try to make it a part of their art or maybe give their own take on it. Filmmakers and showrunners take inspiration from everything music, paintings, other films and books.
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| The opening shot of The Revenant is similar to Russian film Ivan's Childhood. |
Many movies and shows contain parallels from other shows. Is this plagiarism or inspiration is not what I want to debate over but rather discuss these movies and TV shows have been inspired by other works and decide how art inspires art.
Paprika (2006)
Paprika is a Japanese animated sci-fi and adventure film directed by Satoshi Kon which involves a machine that allows a therapist to enter their patient's dreams. This film was remarkable for its ability to blur lines between the dream and the real world. This plot is quite similar to Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010) which uses a similar machine which allows the protagonists to indulge in corporate espionage. The scene that brings out their connection is the iconic "No Gravity" scene from Inception which is clearly inspired by Paprika.
What makes this even better is that Inception has inspired Marvel's Dr. Strange's Mirror Dimension which is a parallel dimension that allows the user to practice their magical abilities and fight their enemies without the public's knowledge.
I guess it's safe to say that art inspires art. Sometimes this can happen quite literally.
Stream Inception on Netflix for one of the best movie endings ever to exist.
Stream Dr. Strange on Disney for one of the greatest bargains in the history of films. Dark (2017-2020)
The German sci-fi, thriller show revolves around a missing child in a small town although this may seem similar to the premise of Stranger Things this show is miles ahead of it. Both Season 1 and Season 2 ended on cliffhangers which drew the audience in even more.
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This is the last shot of Season 2.
 | | Cropped part of Creation Of Adam, By Italian artist Michelangelo
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| Creation Of Adam, By Italian artist Michelangelo |
The show is filled with biblical references and questions regarding the meaning of existence for which the show runner Baran bo Odar uses strong parallels to convey his message and enhancing the quality of the show.
Stream Dark on Netflix to refresh your memory on the laws of time travel and Arthur Schopenhauer' and Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. Memento (2000)
Christopher Nolan's thriller film revolving around Leonord Shelby's and his amenisia was a film that has captured people's attention for it's epic plot twist and non-linear narrative. This film also has it's Bollywood remake "Ghajini" by A.R Ramadoss.
The Bollywood version completely tears away from what makes Nolan's movie unique and special which is Leonard Shelby's grey moral character and instead contains it's Bollywood version of the story. This is not to imply that the Bollywood version is not any good, that would be false. The Hindi version's soundtrack is one that many people hold hear and Aamir Khan and Asin's acting is perfect. But if we were to compare the protagonists of these two films they are very different.
"Leonard Shelby, an insurance investigator, suffers from anterograde amnesia and uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife, which is the last thing he remembers." - Memento
"A tycoon, suffering from acute short-term memory loss, cannot remember anything beyond fifteen minutes. With a bunch of polaroids and tattoos on his body, he sets out to find his lover's killer." - Ghajini
The difference is clear in the choice of the occupation of the protagonist and the presence of the female protagonist in the Bollywood version, whereas in Nolan's version she only appears in the memories of Shelby but in Ramadoss's version we see the interaction between the protagonists in a "rich boy falls for poor girl" love story and in addition to that the respective movie's ending are very different from each other but it does use the same theme of revenge to tell the story.
In conclusion its safe to say that art inspires art in many ways, as does thriller inspire thriller. In the same manner we can ask ourselves "Does life inspire art or does art inspire life" and the answer will never be clear.
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