S
sputnikgirl
Guest
Because of the discussion going on in the troll thread, I decided to ask this question. If you realize that JK Rowling has perhaps "borrowed" from other authors and television shows, does that diminish your enjoyment of the Harry Potter series? If you like Quentin Tarantino films, does it diminish your opinion of them to learn that he consistently "borrows" from foreign films?
Is this a justifiable practice? There are people that claim everything has been said in one form or another, and what constitutes artistic merit is finding new and better ways to re-tell the same stories. However, if this is your opinion, then where is the line between re-telling and outright plagiarism?
I'm of the opinion that there is a definite line between using someone else's ideas as the basis for your art, and straight out stealing the ideas from them - it's a line that shouldn't be crossed. I remember a couple years ago that author James Frey was outed for fabricating the majority of his nonfiction memoir. In my opinion, if we're going to hold some people accountable, then why aren't we taking other people as seriously, and holding them accountable? It seems to me that most people think if you can copy from a sufficiently obscure source, there's nothing wrong with it, because you won't get caught.
What makes me really sick is that some publishing companies and film companies will go to extreme lengths just to protect their profits. If they buy the rights to a certain text or film, and then basically make it impossible for people to find, that's just really twisted. To sacrifice a person's art in the name of another's (that will make you more $$) really isn't justifiable in my opinion.
Is this a justifiable practice? There are people that claim everything has been said in one form or another, and what constitutes artistic merit is finding new and better ways to re-tell the same stories. However, if this is your opinion, then where is the line between re-telling and outright plagiarism?
I'm of the opinion that there is a definite line between using someone else's ideas as the basis for your art, and straight out stealing the ideas from them - it's a line that shouldn't be crossed. I remember a couple years ago that author James Frey was outed for fabricating the majority of his nonfiction memoir. In my opinion, if we're going to hold some people accountable, then why aren't we taking other people as seriously, and holding them accountable? It seems to me that most people think if you can copy from a sufficiently obscure source, there's nothing wrong with it, because you won't get caught.
What makes me really sick is that some publishing companies and film companies will go to extreme lengths just to protect their profits. If they buy the rights to a certain text or film, and then basically make it impossible for people to find, that's just really twisted. To sacrifice a person's art in the name of another's (that will make you more $$) really isn't justifiable in my opinion.
