The Cult of Originality
Dec. 12th, 2003 12:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thepeopleseasonFollowing this week's airing of Ron Moore's revamp of Battlestar Galactica, Slashdot had an article asking for their readers' impressions. While most of the 960+ comments are positive, I did encounter a number of criticisms where people were upset with the unoriginality of the plot or concepts (One guy even goes so far as to call the plotline a "Matrix/Terminator ripoff that never needed to happen," grossly unaware of the irony of his own statement).
I did get into a bit of a verbal tussle with a fellow who had this to say about the production--which begs the question: Why are people so tied to this concept of Originality? What is it about a retelling or a remake that so irks some people?
I recall a few years ago on alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer, one of the regulars, David Sueme, had taken enormous exception to Buffy on the basis that it was just Anime's Devil Hunter Yohko retold. Assuming that Buffy is a "ripoff" of Yohko (an idea which, not having seen Yohko, I don't necessarily adhere to), how does it detract from the show? In what way is The Magnificent Seven less of an admirable work because it's based, almost plot point for plot point, on Seven Samurai? If we do dismiss all derivative works and retellings, wouldn't that toss out Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, as well?
As someone who writes occasional fanfic, I think I've come to terms with the idea that I don't pick my plots/situations out from some ethereal void, formed like Gaea and Tartarus from Chaos. I am on the receiving end of influences at all times from television, comic books, film, and real life situations. Are fanfic authors (or perhaps writers in general) better reconciled with the notion that, consciously or unconsciously, originality (especially plot originality) is a difficult, and sometimes impossible, goal?
I did get into a bit of a verbal tussle with a fellow who had this to say about the production--which begs the question: Why are people so tied to this concept of Originality? What is it about a retelling or a remake that so irks some people?
I recall a few years ago on alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer, one of the regulars, David Sueme, had taken enormous exception to Buffy on the basis that it was just Anime's Devil Hunter Yohko retold. Assuming that Buffy is a "ripoff" of Yohko (an idea which, not having seen Yohko, I don't necessarily adhere to), how does it detract from the show? In what way is The Magnificent Seven less of an admirable work because it's based, almost plot point for plot point, on Seven Samurai? If we do dismiss all derivative works and retellings, wouldn't that toss out Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, as well?
As someone who writes occasional fanfic, I think I've come to terms with the idea that I don't pick my plots/situations out from some ethereal void, formed like Gaea and Tartarus from Chaos. I am on the receiving end of influences at all times from television, comic books, film, and real life situations. Are fanfic authors (or perhaps writers in general) better reconciled with the notion that, consciously or unconsciously, originality (especially plot originality) is a difficult, and sometimes impossible, goal?
