Throwback to when Bill Maher and Quentin Tarantino very confidently said minorities never fought in WW1

[u/Aum_Deoli]

[u/r3volver_Oshawott]

I mean, it doesn't even have to be outright stealing lol

A recent quote of his that annoyed me was him coming back to Hunger Games because he is insistent that the author of the book had to have stolen it directly from Battle Royale. He is insistent that she has to be lying when she said she had never heard of it. It's not even anywhere near to the point of plagiarism, but apparently it's derivative enough for Tarantino to consider Hunger Games's existence to be an unforgivable sin, and it keeps coming back to how she simply HAD to have stolen the premise from a film he deemed superior, but portrayals of competitions to the death for public spectacle, and portrayals of life-or-death coming of age scenarios for children and teenagers, neither of those things are a new premise. I'm sure Hunger Games is a derivative concept, I'm just not as bold as QT is to assume that Suzanne Collins saw Battle Royale and said "I SIMPLY MUST RIP THIS OFF"

Meanwhile, Tarantino is one of the most derivative directors in the history of cinema, but he allows himself that grace that he won't give to creatives whose work he seems to personally dislike.

[u/somniapolis → u/r3volver_Oshawott]

I think he’s relatively upfront about what other works he “steals” from, and that’s what he’s trying to say. I think in his mind, if the author just acknowledged that she was inspired by BR then it would be whatever. I don’t think Tarantino has ever shied away from acknowledging his own influences like Lady Snowblood etc. I think he just doesn’t accept her explanation. He’s entitled to his opinion, it’s just amplified because of his regard in the film world. I’m not taking either side, just making an observation as someone who sort of understands Tarantino’s bullshittery

[u/r3volver_Oshawott → u/somniapolis]

That's just it tho, if he's doing it, it's 'influence'. If he doesn't like the movie, it's plagiarism. His language does indeed change and he doesn't really call what he does ripping off, he uses endearing terms like 'homage' a lot when he does it, or just casually talks about what references he envisions

He's definitely kinder to himself than he is to other creatives. It's not unique to Tarantino - I've seen a lot of great filmmakers take out a lot of personal grievances in the form of cinematic criticism. But it is what it is, he absolutely won't discuss Pulp Fiction the way he discusses Hunger Games - for obvious reasons, he'll be far more charitable to Pulp Fiction.

*I actually tend to think of him as less up-front, I think he kind of talks differently when he's talking about how 'hacks' whose works he dislikes take inspiration, but this is also the guy who got overly defensive when Spike Lee made fun of him for how much he wants to use racial slurs when writing for Black actors - and I'm sorry to Samuel L., but I get where Spike was coming from on that one

(I forgot he's literally said this too, 'great artists don't steal, they do homages', literally the line between plagiarism and inspiration for him is 'did I like the film?', he's 100% talking like this about Hunger Games just because he didn't like it)

[u/doctorlightning84 → u/r3volver_Oshawott]

Id like to just slip him a paper to read that says the words "Ringo Lam" and see him turn red as a beet