Same plot as Hunger Games
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BertramWilberforceWooster — 13 years ago(March 13, 2013 01:37 AM)
Me thinks you're a wee bit biased.
You claim THG ripped of BG but don't bother to mention that BG ripped off TRM and The Long Walk. When i read TGH, my first thought was of a combination between The Lottery and TRM. That, however, did not stop me from enjoying the booksespecially the final one which moves completely out of the arena.
Once upon a time, we had a love affair with fire.
http://athinkersblog.com/ -
everydayboredom1980 — 13 years ago(April 03, 2013 01:22 PM)
People are too caught up in this Battle Royale "rip off" thing. It just gets mentioned all the time because it's more recent and the people in the competition are kids, or people don't know enough about how many times this basic premise/story has been done before.
Look at how many times the premise and themes have been done before.
Turkey Shoot- totalitarian government, prisoners are prey and hunters try to kill them in the jungle.
Mobile Fighter G Gundam- animated series from the 90s about colonies fighting each other every 4 years to see who gets to rule.
Theseus and the Minotaur- Greek Mythology tale about how Athens periodically had to send seven youths and seven maidens to Crete, where they were thrown in the Labyrinth and devoured by Minotaur.
Deadly Game- 1991 TV movie about a few people sent to an island owned by Osirus. They must reach a boat on the opposite side of the island before Osirus and his hunters track them down and kill them.
Ender's Game- 1977 Short-Story later written into a novel and adapted into film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game_(short_story)
The Running Man- totalitarian government, a popular sadistic game show in which the contestants must kill for survival. The movie is less bleak and dark than the book.
The Long Walk- Totalitarian government, a popular "sport" in which 100 teenagers race each other on a walk. Only one walker is supposed to survive.
Battle Royale- kids are sent to an island to kill each other off in a sick game. Only one person is supposed to survive.
Lord of the Flies- more about human nature, but it still has kids on an island who eventually become violent for survival. This book is from the 50s.
Death Race 2000- totalitarian government, the popular sport is a race where you kill pedestrians with your car.
Series 7- six people are randomly selected to play in a game show where they must kill each other off.
Rollerball- totalitarian government, a popular violent sport created to show the government's control over the people and to kill individualism.
The 10th Victim- a very popular game with hunters trying to catch and kill their victims.
They Shoot Horses Don't They- another sadistic game, this time a dance marathon for poor, desperate people who need money and food. Some contestants go crazy or die. The promoters even try to stage a marriage to attract viewers and sponsors. The movie came out in the 60s and the book in the 30s.
The Lottery- a person is randomly selected to be stoned to death.
The Prize of Peril- a guy goes on a bunch of TV game shows which can result in death. Eventually he plays in one where he is stalked by trained murderers. A couple movies were based on this.
The themes of violent/dangerous competitions, often done for the amusement of a sick audience, and dystopias, have been done many times in works of fiction, well before Hunger Games or Battle Royale, etc..
But people just get caught up and act like B.R. was the blueprint for stories like this. They've been done numerous times, it's often just tweaked a bit. -
BertramWilberforceWooster — 13 years ago(April 03, 2013 01:41 PM)
Never mind just books, look at history. Rome used the Coliseum to the same effect that most of those stories did. Even the names in THG pay homage to this (Seneca and Ceasar come immediately to mind).
Once upon a time, we had a love affair with fire.
http://athinkersblog.com/ -
everydayboredom1980 — 13 years ago(April 03, 2013 04:17 PM)
Never mind just books, look at history. Rome used the Coliseum to the same effect that most of those stories did. Even the names in THG pay homage to this (Seneca and Ceasar come immediately to mind).
Yeah, it's kinda dumb how Battle Royale gets all the "credit".
No it isn't Roman history. No it isn't all those numerous books and movies that came out before the Manga.
Why yes, it's ALL Battle Royale. -
RobertLThorpe — 12 years ago(June 30, 2013 10:26 PM)
Please dont think that LOTF is a movie where kids are stranded on an island and CHOOSE to kill each other. It is much more than that. Its about Survival of the fittest, its about only the Strong survive and how at our core, we are still animals. The movie is horrible, although some shocking scenes, read the book. Its much more than just killing each other.
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Starcraft_90 — 13 years ago(October 10, 2012 02:40 PM)
The way the OP was worded made it seem like the Original Poster was wondering if this movie had similarities to 'The Hunger Games' how it should have been worded was "Are there similarities from The Hunger Games to The Running Man
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x_offender_79 — 13 years ago(September 28, 2012 03:48 PM)
I bought The Hunger Games book because my mate said it was a bit like Battle Royale, which is one of my favourite books (awful film though). But when I read it, it reminded a lot more of The Running Man book.
I'm watching TRM film for the first time right now, I'm about half way through and it's a lot different from the book! But yeah, still very similar with the whole 'celebrating death as a game show' theme, (which is obviously the main theme of both films). I can imagine the crowds in the Capitol in THG reacting much the same as in TRM.
But I don't think that THG has ripped off TRM, I mean it's not like TRM was the first to use this idea, and when films share a basic premise, there are always going to be similarities. Other genres seem to get away with it, like the basic rom-com plot that is used to death, or the slasher film premise- a madman stalks and kills a bunch of kids, how often have we seen that? Yet no-one accused Friday 13th of ripping off Halloween!
The problem with the 'death game show' genre is that it's so specific; the similarities, by the constraints of the premise, are quite obvious. Also, there aren't that many of them, so I guess it's easier to be reminded of a specific film to compare it to rather than the genre as a whole.
For example, as I'm watching this, it's reminding me a lot of Death Race 2000, but I don't think it ripped it off.