Ughh... looking for discussions on the movie - and have to dig through 20 discussions which all seem to say the same thing? F-you people... make 1-2 topic discussions on the BR comparison - that's enough to voice your opinion - then let other people post other things so I can find a discussion that is interesting (and yeah - I get that I'm now part of the problem with this new post - but I wanted to vent.)
Many have said this before, but I'm afraid I have to repeat the opinion on the account that a surprising many have decided that The Hunger Games is worth of anything more than 1 star in IMDb. The Hunger Games is a unscrupulous photocopy of the masterpiece Battle Royale, and should be avoided, if not boycotted.
Some will claim that The Hunger Games is a 'tribute' or a 'remake' of the Battle Royale. To them I ask one question: "What kind of filmmakers make remakes of a movie when the original came out two years ago and has been selling DVDs very well internationally?" It seems that this particular brand of American cinema has decided that it is quite content making money off of other people idea for free. And though it is impossible for the original filmmakers to sue the filmmakers of The Hunger Games (on the account that American copyright laws does not allow for such suit), The Hunger Games should be remembered as a true stain on the development of American Cinema.
Because it has photocopied a great movie, The Hunger Games avoids being an absolute terror of a movie. However, this does not excuse Susan Collins and the section of 'Hollywood' that has involved itself in The Hunger Games's production. Because of the blatant plagiarism, and the The Hunger Games's makers absolutely refusing to apologize and reimburse the original filmmakers, I must say The Hunger Games deserves 1 star, if not
The thing that I find the most humorous about all of the Battle Royale discussion, that seems to constantly saturate these boards, is that people seem to think that Takami came up with an original idea himself. In fact, Battle Royale is simply an altered and expanded version of the Battle Royal scene in Ralph Ellison's story "Invisible Man," which was written and published 50 years prior to Takami's novel. I certainly understand the fact that the similarities between The Hunger Games and Battle Royale cannot be completely ignored, but let us not act like Takami came up with the idea himself either.
shareIn fact, Battle Royale is simply an altered and expanded version of the Battle Royal scene in Ralph Ellison's story "Invisible Man," which was written and published 50 years prior to Takami's novel.
Stories don't have to be set in dystopian societies in order to be strikingly similar in their themes. It seems that the argument on these boards are based on Battle Royale and The Hunger Games' use of young men/women who are forced to fight to the death, and my point was simply that this was not a new idea in either case. The most glaring example of this for me was "Invisible Man," but it seems that people are very willing to ignore that these kind of acts were written about in literature well before either of these works were written. If we want to get into a discussion on plagiarism we need to look well beyond Susanne Collins.
shareThey were in 'Knights of the Forty Islands' published in 1990, in the last Quatermass movie starring John Mills. That was made in the 1970's. Children are not forced to kill each other in 'Lord of the Flies', they just do it happily enough all by themselves. The child in Shirley Jackson's story 'The Lottery' published in the 1940's is stoned to death and the village goes on with their lives quite happily. The boys in 'The Long Walk' get killed one by one till the last one is left standing. Why is Suzanne Collins to blame because you are so ignorant of dystopian fiction? BR 2 is a rip off of BR 1 and a stinker of a movie to boot. All the posters on the BR 2 page all say this, you must be the only one in the world who might like the film. I'm not to sure about that because I don't think you have actually seen it. No one who has would ever claim it was a movie anybody would feel inspired to copy. It was dire.
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I am the Queen of Snark, TStopped said so. And I have groupies, Atomic Girl said so.
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It's really getting on my nerves. I want to discuss this film, not Battle Royale 2. If I wanted to talk about BR2, I'd go on the BR2 forum.
I like that, all of a sudden, people think BR2 is good. I got it on DVD years ago and I never thought anyone could enjoy it.
There's another similarity you missed out, rick-586: they both have protagonists with dead fathers. (Shuuya is actually an orphan, iirc, and in the movie he found his dad's body).
You mean they both have dead fathers just like Jim Hawkins in 'Treasure Island'. Wow, how about that. You mean on top of the 'exploding collars' from 'Wedlock, the kids fighting kids like in Knights of the Forty Islands, the tracking transmitters from every spy movie ever made, setting the action on an island like LOTF, BR1 & 2 also copied Robert Louis Stevenson. That's it, when a director starts copying a Scotsman he's gone a step too far.
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I am the Queen of Snark, TStopped said so. And I have groupies, Atomic Girl said so.
How does Collins ripping off one source (Battle Royale) make the Hunger Games more original than Battle Royale, which -- according to your post -- rips off many sources? (Treasure Island, Wedlock, Knights of the Forty Islands, Lord of the Rings/Flies etc, etc, etc.)?
shareIt's simple, she like every one else in the US never heard of Battle Royale. She never heard of the book and no one heard of the film till Tarantino went to Japan and saw it there. You notice he never mentions BR 2. You can't rip off what you never heard of. This is why Takami could use so many of the same Western tropes that Collins did, he knew about them...just like she did.
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I am the Queen of Snark, TStopped said so. And I have groupies, Atomic Girl said so.
"WTF??? The first page is litterally only discussing Battle Royal?"
You can say that again. There is no discussion about Mockingjay. It is just inundated with Battle Royale! Why? They need to give it a rest.
There is a very determined troll who does this. H creates multiple user accounts and posts and posts. Well every little boy needs a hobby.
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I am the Queen of Snark, TStopped said so. And I have groupies, Atomic Girl said so.
Oh is that what it is? I didn't know. Thanks. Well they are very determined.
shareHe/She, singular as in one person. I guess that basement gets lonely.
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I am the Queen of Snark, TStopped said so. And I have groupies, Atomic Girl said so.
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Doubtfull. It's just that for every Hunger Games fan there's about 10 battle royale fans. Not really that surprising when you take into account BR's ten year head-start and its cult status on a worldwide basis ....while THG, in effect, is virtually unknown outside of the States...
shareWell I've never heard about Battle Royale but I'm not going to waste my time here. There's no discussion about THG.
#TeamSteam
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The trolls are so stupid. The way to make a plagiarism accusation is to list parallel passages in the two works. That's it. Chanting "rip-off, remake", etc accomplishes nothing; it's just rhetoric. Repeating the non-charge hundreds of times also accomplishes nothing, it's just spam.
I suspect there's an ulterior motive. Maybe they have investments in Battle Royale II and are trying to promote it by grabbing Mockingjay's coattails.