[jenecis]

E.g. Hunger Games --> Battle Royale (Japanese novel)?

Also: what, in your opinion, makes a 'rip-off'?

NB: I'm not here to debate whether Hunger Games is really a rip-off of Battle Royale etc.. (I'm sure there are already many threads on this on the internet). I'm asking what you feel is a rip-off of another, and why you feel that way.

Not limited to books.

 

[Enkidu]

I see what you're implying...I think.

These aren't really lesser known novels, though.

Dune series by Frank Herbert + random Ursula K. le Guin ideas = Star Wars *shakes head*

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. le Guin = Avatar by James Cameron

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin = 1984 by George Orwell

The Neuromancer by William Gibson + Ghost in the Shell by Kōkaku Kidōtai = The Matrix

 

[dulcinea]

I see what you're implying...I think.

These aren't really lesser known novels, though.

Dune series by Frank Herbert + random Ursula K. le Guin ideas = Star Wars *shakes head*

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. le Guin = Avatar by James Cameron

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin = 1984 by George Orwell

The Neuromancer by William Gibson + Ghost in the Shell by Kōkaku Kidōtai = The Matrix

Interesting list: I think a lot of people will probably see Star Wars as a rehashing of a lot of different stories IMO. I read that it was partially based on "Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell; the idea of the monomyth: recurring archetypes.

I can see how Neuromancer would be a basis for The Matrix

Also the Lion King was a ripoff of Kimba the White Lion....in addition to being basically a rehashing of Hamlet....

That's only one I can think of for now.

 

[sofort99]

Every book ever written after the first five.

 

[geekofalltrades]

Every book ever written with racism in the early United States as a major theme is a ripoff of every other book ever written with the same theme. At least they sure frickin' feel that way after you've been made to read four dozen of them in your public school education. Can't we expand the curriculum to include Dune or something?

 

[Lost Marbles]

Well, Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin somehow became Sherlock Holmes. Some of the stories are identical. But that's not news...

 

[sprinkles]

I don't know.

Rip-off is an extremely negative connotation for me, which I think most of these don't deserve.

Like, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl borrows heavily from a book called Roadside Picnic, but this is more seen as a nod to the original concept rather than a rip-off.

I'd say rip-offs shouldn't be done in the first place and shouldn't be viewed or read. I'm talking stuff like direct plagiarism, or things that have no creative merit and try to ride on a formulaic approach.

It's basically a parody without the intent of parody, like if they tried to pass off Spaceballs as a legitimate sci-fi film and not a parody of Star Wars. It clearly IS a parody of Star Wars but it is for comedic value, which makes it not a direct rip-off.

 

[Sali]

The entire fantasy genre is a rip off of The Illiad, the Odessy and Le Morte D' Arthur.

 

[Abyss Soul]

With all of the zillions of books and movies, it's becoming increasingly more difficult for products to be an original and therefore, more difficult to filter out movies that are indeed "rip-offs", depending on how you define it. (NOTE: The examples I list below will only be movie "rip-offs" as I can not think of any book "rip-offs" at the moment.)

Even so, the intentions behind the productions of certain movies/books are more apparent than others and do seem to borrow many elements from previous movies as an insurance for box-office or sales success. The audience can easily sniff out these "rip-offs" by feeling and noticing the lack of passion and effort invested by the actors, writers, and director. It's too early for me to make a final judgment, but the new flick, "Battleship", seems to be banking on this tactic by mimicking "Transformers" in style and production.

Another cinematic example of a rip-off would be "The Hangover Part II". As the critics mentioned, it really was a carbon-copy of the original and lacked creativity.

 

[koalaroo]

Eragon is a total rip off of Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonridres of Pern" and a few other books.