Less than a week after the start of the new series “1899” on the Netflix platform, their creators – the authors of the already sensational German hit “Darkness” Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese – were accused of plagiarism! Brazilian artist Mari Kagnin made such a loud statement the other day.
In her Twitter post, she admitted that she was “in shock.” According to the artist, the footage in the TV series “1899” repeats one to one her comic book “Black Silence”, which was released in 2016. She mentions such elements as the pyramid, the ship, the crew of the ship, which consists of representatives of different nationalities.
Marie Kagnin did not hide her emotions, saying that she had always dreamed of recognition at the international level, and what had happened only brought tears to her. In 2017, her work was presented at an international exhibition in Sweden, but did not receive wide publicity. A Brazilian artist complains that it is difficult to achieve recognition in her country. She writes about countless cases where the work of her Brazilian colleagues was simply copied. Kagnin refers to the film “Life of Pi”, the plot of which was “taken” from a book by a Brazilian author. Canadian writer Yann Martel and author of the novel Life of Pi admitted that he was inspired by the work of a colleague from Brazil.
Baran Bo Odar and Jantje Friese, the creators of the new series “1899”, believe that accusations of plagiarism in their direction are absolutely unfair. They declared that they did not know either the artist herself or her works and that they would never allow themselves to rob another artist, because they themselves are people of creativity. The accusation of plagiarism is now dealt with by their lawyers.
Stories with allegations of plagiarism
Stories of allegations of stealing ideas from the film industry are nothing new. The successful Stranger Things series is in many ways reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s The Goonies and ET or Stephen King’s Stand By Me drama. But neither Spielberg nor King expressed their dissatisfaction with series directors Matt and Ross Duffer.
But accusations of plagiarism were made by little-known producer Charlie Kessler, who in his short film “Montauk” tells about a boy who disappeared without a trace from a small town, and about paranormal phenomena that occur in this area, located near a mystical military facility. Kessler said he talked about his idea to the Duffer twins at the New York Film Festival, but this conversation did not continue. Two years later, in 2016, the first season of Stranger Things is released on Netflix, which tells about the fictional town of Hawkins and the very strange “things” that take place in it. And only when the series won success, Charlie Kessler presented his accusations of plagiarism, voicing them to the general public. The Duffer Brothers took the case to their lawyer and said that the lawsuit filed against them was nothing more than an attempt to cash in on the creativity and work of others.
Another incident happened very recently. Director Quentin Tarantino said on one of the evening shows on American TV this summer that he considers The Hunger Games to be a copy of the Japanese feature film Battle Royale. The Hunger Games author Susan Collins heard nothing new in this statement. Throughout her career, she has repeatedly faced accusations of plagiarism. For example, she was accused of having spied on the plot in the book of the American horror king Stephen King, whose story had already been filmed in the late 80s in the movie Running Man starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. And in The Hunger Games, and in the Royal Battle, and in the Running Man – a story about survival.
Let’s take another relevant example – the series from South Korea “The Squid Game”. South Korean director Hwang Dong-hyuk has been accused of spying on his story in the Japanese film The Terrible Will of the Gods. Indeed, according to the plot in both films, people play children’s games, and real death awaits the losers. However, these are two different stories. In The Squid Game, adults risk their lives to win billions. In the movie “The Terrible Will of the Gods”, the Daruma doll, a deity, encourages high school students to participate in a game where everyone will pay for the loss with their lives.
Who owns the idea?
South Korean director Hwang Dong Hyuk of The Squid Game is hard to blame for stealing the idea. Back in 2008, he tried to sell his story, although a buyer was found much later. They became Netflix. The Japanese film “The Terrible Will of the Gods” was released in 2014.
Allegations of plagiarism are complex. In many cases, it is practically impossible or very difficult to prove the fact of stealing the idea of a film, the melody of a composition, the plot of a book, or one’s own authorship. And, to be completely honest, there is a chance that two creative people out of the eight billion people living on the planet today will come up with a very similar story. The chances of winning a plagiarism case are pretty slim. As a rule, a whole team works on the script of the film. And it includes lawyers who specialize in plagiarism.
On the Web, the creators of the new series “1899” and the already successful horror “Darkness” were attacked by malicious comments from fans and fans of the Brazilian artist. They never tire of listing and giving examples of scenes that were “stolen” from the comics. Baran Bo Odar, who has already received personal threats, made it clear that he thinks about this campaign. “The Internet has become a strange place,” said the director.
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