Is Originality Dead?

[Sandi]

What has happened to creativity in the world of TV & movies? It's getting really sad to me to see what they've been churning out these days. Re-make with a twist is becoming the axiom and the twists are all too predictable. Sex reversals on Battlestar Gallactica, racial changes in Wild Wild West and now Kojac. Why can't we have an original show with strong female characters or Black heroes? They did try it on Star Trek Deep Space Nine, I guess but that too was a show derived from another. Are all the ideas in the universe used up? Is there truly nothing new under the sun?

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

It seems like so many big budget movies are just re-hashes of old movies or tv series, novels, comic books, or are just plain stupid. But there are some truly original movies that come out. The Matrix had a mind blowing original idea, and was a really intelligent film. The sequels though... they were vastly inferior story-wise. The smaller films seem to fare better with originality because they're not writing it just to please the audience. Its weird though, so many movies generalize and adds 'what the audience wants' yet the audience complains later because its a silly story line or too many effects and not enough character building. Don't the movie makers get the point?? SPEND MORE TIME ON STORY!!! Thankfully there are still some out there who come out with something original and smart, like Million Dollar Baby.

[Anareth]

Point: "Million Dollar Baby" is based on a short story from a book, and IIRC it's semi-autobiographical. So it's not strictly an original idea, either.

Question: CAN there be an original idea? Or just old ideas, original trappings? And what about when the familiar works? Is it good to have something new, just for the sake of being innovative?

[NeouofPern]

This goes back to Carl Jung's theory on archetypes and the human mind. He theorized that the human mind made the exact same archetypes, so there were no truly orginal ideas.

[Ian]

I've heard it said several times & by several people (including a couple of my lecturers at uni) that there are only 6 or 7 stories in the world, & everything ever written or filmed can be linked to one or more of those. I do agree though that remakes seem to be getting out of hand.

[Wolfegar]

I've heard it said several times & by several people (including a couple of my lecturers at uni) that there are only 6 or 7 stories in the world, & everything ever written or filmed can be linked to one or more of those. I do agree though that remakes seem to be getting out of hand.
I was going to say basically the same thing about the 6 or 7 stories, Ian. Although when I originally heard it the number was 5. I always thought that 5 was a bit too low though.

[TamTam]

I was going to say basically the same thing about the 6 or 7 stories, Ian. Although when I originally heard it the number was 5. I always thought that 5 was a bit too low though.
Yes, I've heard that, too. The number seems to vary between 5 and 35.

I am frustrated by the lack of originality in Hollywood movies. At the last movie I went to, I counted the coming attractions. Out of five, two were sequals, one was a remake, and one was based on a book. One original idea out of five. Blech.

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

Point: "Million Dollar Baby" is based on a short story from a book, and IIRC it's semi-autobiographical. So it's not strictly an original idea, either.
Oh ok, thanx for the tip. I didn't realize that.