Plagiarism on Film

So it seems there is quite the debate going on, on a variety of sf web sites (including the source, IO9) about whether or not James Cameron has (once again) ripped off someone else’s work and is refusing to acknowledge the fact. In this case, it’s not Cameron verses Ellison over the Terminator debacle, but whether Cameron took defined elements of Poul Anderson’s novella, Call Me Joe (as published way back in the 1957 April edition of Astounding Science Fiction) in creating his new movie, Avatar.

The problem is proving plagiarism to begin with when any number of writers and creative types come up with similar basic ideas. It’s one of the reasons Hollyweird has people sign a consent form prior to submitting a screenplay to be read, on the basis the production company might read something similar from another writer, and or, might come up with the idea, independently, and that said writer has to sign away his rights, because Production Companies are not always on the up and up.

Let’s face it this isn’t the first time something like this has come to light, and it certainly won’t be the last time either, copyright law or no copyright law.

One thing about this whole debate, though, it’s made me want to go root around in my attic and look through my old classic paperback collection and have a re-read of some of them. Problem is, my attic is back in the UK and I live in Canada.