James Cameron, the award-winning director, has rarely failed to deliver gold with his films. Some of his major films include The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2 Judgment Day (1991), Aliens (1986), and Titanic (1997). Amongst his work, Titanic was the most impressive yet, winning a record holding 11 Oscars and named the highest grossing film of all time. Moreover, great successes in the arts and film are often plagued with accusations of plagiarism and Cameron’s career was no exception. He once lost a lawsuit filed by Harlan Ellison, a writer, for plagiarism involving The Terminator (1997) and now newer prints of the film acknowledge Ellison. Apparently, Ellison had more problems afterwards with people trying to steal his ideas and told the New York Times on May 11, 2009, “If you put your hand in my pocket, you’ll drag back six inches of bloody stump”.
All the while compiling his impressive list of resume and going through some speed bumps, Cameron married one of his producers and two of his actresses, divorced four times then took a 12-year break before releasing his latest work, Avatar in 2009. When Avatar was released in late 2009 with much hype, it did meet and surpass all expectations and replaced the highest grossing film of all time.
The new 3-D technology and the CGI involved rendered the movie into something that had never been, albeit criticisms of a banal and cliché plot. For me, while watching the film, I could not stop thinking that the plot was so close to the story of Pocahontas. As a matter of fact, some criticisms have accused Cameron of plagiarism again, this time from Japanese Director Hayao Miyazaki’s works. In response to these claims, Cameron admitted that he was a big fan of Miyazaki and he pays homage to Miyazaki’s works in Avatar. However, the Japanese fans and bloggers do not seem to be very pleased with this at all!
There is another accusation that I read about where a science fiction writer named Zhou Shaomou filed a lawsuit, claiming that 80% of “Avatar”’s key elements and plot are the same as his novel, “Tale of the Blue Crows.”
I know that one of the problems with saying that a work is an infringement is that there is no set amount of how much of one person’s work another can use to still be considered fair use, but if 80% is accurate… that’s a lot!
here’s that article, incase you’re interested:
http://www.examiner.com/x-19663-LA-Legal-Examiner~y2010m3d7-Chinese-writer-files-copyright-lawsuit-over-Avatar
A lot of times I feel like these accusations are bogus. There is only so much you can do with a plot. And in the case of Pocahontas and Avatar, they’re both pretty much based on historical/current events. It’s hard to say that because history is repeating itself, contemporary works are infringing on older material. And similarities are inevitable when you are deal with archetypes and far-reaching “themes.”
Certainly stories and plots comparable to Avatar’s have been told many times throughout history, which was a large complaint of the film. Cameron’s ability to draw off other works, in my opinion, is the exact nature of what copyright was intended to do, further creativity. While the plot, story, and themes may not be revolutionary and groundbreaking, it is an important film in the area of technology and certainly a creative work.
I find it ridiculous. The history of storytelling lies deep in the roots of retelling stories in order to pass long the ideologies that the society at the present time of the story’s creation hopes to pass down from generation to generation. Anthony raises a great point that the plot of Avatar is a plot has come up again and again, not just in popular culture, but all over history. Hasn’t anyone heard the phrase, “history repeats itself”? And honestly, isn’t that the point? Again, we want to create and all the gibberish is ruining the creative flow.