Launch or Be Lunch, Day 18 – Originality is SO Original, Part 1: Been There, Done That, Got the Franchise

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Okay, today we're going to spend the next couple of days talking about originality…and why it doesn't count.  Yup, you heard me.

What, you thought you always had to be original?  That anyone going for something that isn't original is dull and just copying?  I'm sure that you've heard the old maxim that there are only five/seven/twelve different stories (or if you haven't, read Tamara's outstanding article from earlier in the week) or that Joseph Campbell only thinks there's just one – albeit with a thousand variations.  And of course, the old saying that "there's nothing new under the sun."

So there you have it: originality doesn't count.  Still don't believe me?  Well, I guess the words – or rather the images – speak for themselves.

 




 

Okay, name which one of the anime in there was the first to do it in their opening (first to run, first to have birds, etc.)?  Don't know?  Can't do it?  Does it even matter?

Let me tell you a little saying we have over here at Megami, one that we take to heart: it's not that originality matters; it's how original you are with the unoriginiality.  And I'll go straight into that by mentioning our series.  It's about a team of "professionals" (read: mercenaries/conmen/crooks/etc.)…

wait, aren't you copying stuff like Ocean's Eleven, then?  Or The Expendables?

…who use their talents to go up against corrupt governments and corporations and teach them a lesson…

Okay, so it's like Leverage?  Or Robin Hood and His Merry Men?

…in a futuristic, trans-human world…

Bubblegum Crisis!  Blade Runner!  Just about every series Masamune Shirow ever made!

…in space…

Oh, c'mon!  Cowboy Bebop!  Outlaw Star!  Firefly!

…causing lots of damage in the process.

 Dirty Pair…especially the Adam Warren version!

The main characters include a jaded former special forces operative and cat burglar, a sniper whose life changes when a cute teenage ninja girl enters it, and Chinese twin girls, one of whom is the team businesswoman, the other the ship pilot and resident greasemonkey, and both skilled assassins.

In short, you could take my series – or any of the series above – and run it through TVTropes in about five minutes and find a billion different things, all of which are the same.  Based on the desciption above, it seems very derivative and nothing anyone would want to read; at worst, a few lawsuit-happy people and companies might want to pull the trigger to loose their lawyers.  But…wouldn't that be the way for a lot of other works?

Where would Star Wars be if The Hidden Fortress hadn't existed?  Where would The Magnificent Seven be if Akira Kurosawa never created The Seven Samurai?  For that matter, where would Kurosawa's film Ran be if he'd never read William Shakespeare's King Lear?  

Hell, as Ayne is fond of pointing out, the oldest known piece of literature is a real person slash fic.

Name a book, film, anime, comic, videogame, play, even music – and somewhere there's an antecedent.  Human culture is all about finding the unoriginality and making it original.  It's in our blood – all you are, genetically speaking, is a remix of your parents' genes; and they in turn a remix of theirs; and so on and so forth.

And that, in itself, is the key.  Be original in your unoriginality.  Remember, bad artists copy – good artists steal.

Of course, I'll show you what I mean by that, tomorrow.

TOMORROW: Day 17, Originality is SO Original, Part 2: Composition is Not a Crime

Rob Barba (54 Posts)


  • http://profile.typepad.com/6p0120a5823410970b www.genjipress.com

    I’m going to go out on a limb (again) and suggest something else on top of this: that the way something is made original in its recombination comes largely from what you as an individual, with your own experience and understanding, have to bring to it.
    Every ingredient you bring to the mix should be invested with something only you know — something you’ve seen, something you’ve experienced. This requires a degree of self-knowledge that can take time and effort to uncork and flow freely.
    I’ve been in more than a few situations with creators where they presented me with something that was manifestly unoriginal, something that was so clearly swiped from other elements and which had nothing of its own that spoke for itself. Then I’d get those same people talking about a subject totally unrelated to the work, and they’d have no end of funny, insightful, fascinating things to talk about — none of which was making it into their work. When I pointed this out, I usually got a slightly stupefied look: “What’s all that got to do with my story?” The idea that one could map directly onto the other, or enrich it, seemed totally alien to them.
    I think that’s a huge mistake, and I think it’s one of the mistakes most people make early on in their creative career. They’re hung up on what to take from and how to do it that they forget the one person they should be most consulting for creative advice is themselves. And if your eyes and ears are open, you already have a lot more material than you’d give yourself credit for.

  • http://www.megamstudios.com Rob Barba

    That’s a good point. A lot of stuff play
    By the numbers”: too many people study others’ voices to the point that they forget their own.
    It’s the stuff of Star Wars vs. Battle Beyond the Stars. The former took things from various sources to create something new and unique. The latter was a paint-by-the-numbers, “get it out there to capitalize on Star Wars” disaster.
    The fact there’s a franchise out there that talks about that (Comic Party – the “extended universe” manga and anime series, not the original H-game it was based on) pretty much says it all.