Raul Martinez answers “Why did Suzanne Collins rip off the idea...”

Jason asked this question about Battle Royale:

Why did Suzanne Collins rip off the idea from this book and pretend she didn't?

Raul Martinez If we only had two movies about an oppressive government that sends teenagers to a remote place to fight to the death in a game only one can survive s…moreIf we only had two movies about an oppressive government that sends teenagers to a remote place to fight to the death in a game only one can survive sure that I can believe that it was possibly not a copy. But when you add that the games are a punishment for a rebellion, that the teenagers have tracking devices they cannot remove, that the players are given bags with supplies and random weapons, that the arena and the players are controlled from a command center, that there are danger zones that change with the time of the day, that the name of the kids who die are periodically announced to everybody, that there is a group of techies that figure out the way out of the game, that the game includes past winners who end up helping the main characters, that there is a female character with a high pitched voice and cheery attitude that explains the game and congratulates the players for taking part in it and is oblivious to the brutality of the game, that the only survivors are a boy and a girl who are in love with each other then it's way harder to believe that plot lines were not lifted from Battle Royale. And there are other similarities beyond the ones I mentioned. To me it is the similarities in so many details that make me believe there was plagiarism.

Some comments mention the Running man as the source of the main idea in the plot of Battle Royale. Running man is a movie about an oppressive government that sends criminals to fight to the death in a game where only one can survive as a show for a desensitized society. However, we don't need to look very far to know where that really comes from. The basic premise of all these movies, i.e. a game to the death in which only one survives as a show to a desensitized society is based on the Roman circus which has influenced many stories written for a very long time. No need to look for plagiarism there. Again if that was the only similarity then I would say that it is possible for Hunger Games to have come up with a twist on the Roman circus theme using teenagers independently from Battle Royale but when you find so many details that are the same then it becomes harder to believe that it was an independent creation.
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Jay Croker Totally agree with everything you wrote here, there are just too many similarities for it to merely be that she came up with an idea that so closely f ...more
Mar 25, 2020 08:55AM · flag

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