AniPages Discussion Forum

[GATSU]

Clips and featurettes.

[Balak]

edited to keep it civilized:

i don't think that you can say that looks like a Spirited Away rippof.

[GATSU]

No, but the stories are similar. Or maybe I'm just imagining things...

[Balak]

oh ok... there is maybe some reasonable doubt...

[Leedar]

It's a conspiracy!

[Benjamin Sanders]

You can find similarities of story in most things if you want to, so I don't think it's a brilliant litmus test for originality.

Spirited Away (and indeed most of Miyazaki's work) is hardly original storytelling anyway (little girl going into a fantasy world / has to save her parents hmm where have I read or seen that before?), and Coraline just seems to draw its story ideas from the same fairy tale base as Spirited away does. Gaiman is obviously a fan of Miyazaki so no doubt he was unonciously influenced in the decisions he made as well when he wrote the novella for Coraline.

Those clips and trailers seem to suggest it'll be quite a different film. Whether it'll be a good film or not will be the more interesting question. I already have the feeling I'd want to punch the girls face in by the end of it, but that could just be the annoying voice acting and overly mannered lip sync.

As for Neil Gaiman, a writer ( and not the artist on his works as one of those links suggests), stealing scenes from Howl's Moving Castle for Startdust, that seems a bit strange comment to make as he wrote the Stardust novel before Howl's Moving Castle was even picked up by Ghibli. I haven't seen the film adaptation of Stardust mind but as far as I'm aware he didn't write the script, it was instead adapted by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn from his novel.

[GATSU]

Benjamin: It's true Spirited Away ain't original, but Miyazaki's take of it was unique enough that Gaiman clearly felt threatened-possibly because his lazy English script for Mononoke Hime would be further undermined by Miyazaki's quality directing. Also, the Howl book preceded the Stardust book, and Gaiman only started adapting his version after Miyazaki's film.

[Benjamin Sanders]

I really don't understand what you're getting at to be honest, it all seems a bit spurious, especially when you say Gaiman clearly felt threatened? Gaiman is a fan of Miyazaki's work (and no doubt this has influenced him in some of the choices he's made in some of his later works) but he works in a different field to Miyazaki being an author and not a film director, so why would he feel threatened? Perhaps you have a better insight into the whole situation but it doesn't really seem plausible to me.

As for Miyazaki's quality directing it was sadly lacking in Howl's which is really rather a disappointing film. And yes I realise the Howl's book preceded the Stardust book, but they're not really anything like each other. Regarding the film adaptation again as far as I'm aware Gaiman didn't write the script or direct the film so it seems strange to finger the responsibility of any scenes in the film resembling those in Howl's at him.

I can understand that you don't like Gaiman's work much (at least that's the impression you give), and that's fine I'm not a particular fan either but it seems to me like you're trying to make something out of nothing.

[GATSU]

Benjamin:

[timdrage]

This looks nothing like Spirited Away, and the increasingly popular internet hobby of digging for increasingly tenuous examples of 'plagiarism' over which to nerd-rage is getting really tiresome already.

[Pvrhye]

If to be legitimate you have to be any more dissimilar, we'd better hang up writing all together. It's finished.

[GATSU]

Ok, I'm forced to eat my own words. Gaiman came up with it two years before Spirited Away. Here's a new trailer as an apology.

[pete]

I remember in the Miyazaki documentary during his visit to the US, Gaiman approached him to have a photo taken together. So probably he was also inspired by him in a way.