James Cameron’s 3D science fiction epic Avatar, which recently won the award for best drama at the Golden Globes, has now surpassed Titanic as the top-grossing film of all time with takings of US$1.859 billion (NT$59.6 billion).
However, finicky moviegoers have made fun of Avatar saying that it is a big copy of other stories. Apart from having a story, characters and names almost the same as those in the World of Noon, or Noon Universe written by Russian fantasy writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, moviegoers have also said that Avatar shares similarities with the animated films Delgo, Pocahontas, Castle in the Sky and the video game World of Warcraft.
Overall, the script of Avatar resembles Pocahontas the most. Both stories involve a white male protagonist who falls in love with an indigenous heroine while his people mine the lands of the indigenous people for minerals and gold. In response to questions about the similarities between his movie and Pocahontas, director James Cameron said that everyone has their own opinions and way of seeing things.
The other film that Avatar shares similarities with is the animated movie Delgo, a film that has not yet been released here in Taiwan. Delgo was released in December 2008 in the US, a whole year earlier than Avatar. Delgo features a heroine with super fighting skills, flying animals and set design that bears a striking resemblance to Avatar. Many Internet users pointed out the similarities between the two films last year when the trailer for Avatar was released. Delgo only managed to gross a mere US$510,000, equivalent to approximately NT$16.32 million, but it gained quite a deal of notoriety as a result of discussion by movie fans on the Internet.
In terms of set layout, Avatar features a mountain range that floats in the sky, which is a direct copy of Castle in the Sky by Japanese filmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Cameron said that he did not refer to Castle in the Sky and that he drew his inspiration from photos that his crew took at Huangshan and Jiuzhaigou in China.
It has also been pointed out that Avatar has borrowed many elements from the video game World of Warcraft. Many of the relationships that exist between animals, hunters and monsters in Avatar are almost exactly the same as those in World of Warcraft, with the lines used by characters in both World of Warcraft and Avatar when they slay animals even being the same. World of Warcraft and Avatar both feature a tree of life. In response to questions about these similarities, Cameron would only say that he had never heard of World of Warcraft.
Cameron has denied borrowing elements from the works of others and has only admitted that he referred to Romeo and Juliet for the love element of his story. The debate over Avatar goes to show that box-office hits can be a source of controversy and discussion.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON)
金球獎最佳劇情片「阿凡達」，以十八億五千九百萬美元（新台幣五百九十六億元）的全球票房，超越「鐵達尼號」， 成為影史最賣座的電影。
愛找碴的影迷卻接踵消遣「阿凡達」乃一大抄，除了與俄羅斯小說「正午，二十二世紀」在故事角色、背景名稱幾乎一樣外，目前「阿凡達」還有「四部像」，包括動畫片「Delgo」、「風中奇緣」、「天空之城」及電玩「魔獸世界」。
整體劇本最像的是「風中奇緣」，都是白人男主角愛上原住民女主角，白人為了挖礦淘金而開墾原住民土地。柯麥隆針對兩片架構的相似度表示：「各人解讀觀點不同。」
另一部神似作品，則是未在台灣上映的動畫片「Delgo」。該片二００八年十二月於美國上映，比「阿凡達」整整早了一年，從女主角設定為武功高強的角色，與片中的飛行鳥獸及場面設計都和「阿凡達」非常像。去年「阿凡達」預告片發表後，就引起很多網友討論兩片相似度。然而，「Delgo」在美國只賣了區區五十一萬美金（約台幣一千六百三十二萬元），反透過網友討論提升知名度。
場景設定上最像的，則是「阿凡達」中飄在半空中的山脈，簡直是宮崎駿「天空之城」的翻版。柯麥隆表示他沒參考「天空之城」，他是以劇組在中國黃山、九寨溝拍的照片為靈感。
「阿凡達」被指涉「引用」別人作品的元素實在太多，電玩「魔獸世界」裡的很多動植物及獵人與野獸間的關係跟「阿凡達」片雷同，連宰殺動物時的台詞也一樣，甚至兩部片都有一樣的生命之樹角色，柯麥隆對此相似處只說：「我不知道『魔獸世界』」。
柯麥隆對引用他人作品元素一概否認，他只承認愛情元素參考「羅密歐與茱莉葉」，足見大賣座電影往往更易引起討論。
（自由時報記者李光爵）
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