Comments on: John Carter as Star Wars Rip-Off?

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:02:25 +0000

I might go a step further and suggest that this seen-it-before problem exists almost exclusively on screen, because my experience with pop-lit classics — like Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo, Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels, or Robert E. Howard's Conan stories — is that they're so much better than the derivative works that you're left thinking, So this is what everyone else is palely imitating!

By: Charlie

Charlie — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 18:17:29 +0000

Especially so with films. You see a movie where something was done first (camera shots in Citizen Kane, jump shots in Breathless) and, if you don't know the history, you see only the use of a standard technique not done as well as you are used to it.

By: Doctor Pat

Doctor Pat — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 03:04:33 +0000

This is a problem with any classic work. I found this watching 2001: A Space Odyssey, Apocalypse Now and Casablanca. You've heard all the good lines before, you've seen all the good scenes in a dozen other (later) movies, and the bits that are new are the boring bits that weren't worth stealing. Or there is the description of Shakespeare as a series of cliches strung together to retell some well known stories.