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TFA light saber battle: not so original?

WarpFactorZ

WarpFactorZ

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I've always liked the final light saber battle on Starkiller base. The contrast of the snow, the dusk lighting, and the saber glows is awesome cinematography. It was a new and original venue for this Star Wars tradition.

Anyway, my daughter rented the movie "Mirror Mirror" the other day. I suppose you could call it a reboot of Snow White. The film came out in 2012, and I personally don't recall ever hearing about it. It was a fun watch.

Toward the end of the film, there is a sword battle between Snow White and Prince Charming that.. um.. looked somewhat familiar. Methinks JJ rented this for his kids too before TFA production started...

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The Wormhole said:
Swordplay in a snowy forest is not a concept that was invented in this movie.
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It's not just the premise, but the camera work and stunts. It's very evocative of TFA. Check out Snow White's roll at 0:10 as she runs from the Prince. Rey does exactly the same thing from almost the same camera angle. He disarms her and the camera shows her sword embedded in the snow next to a tree. I just rewatched the TFA scene where Finn is disarmed. Again, almost identical.

Both my wife and daughter agreed that it looked surprisingly similar, so much so that we even started humming Rey's theme to the action. I think it's probably much more than a coincidence.

fireproof78 said:
Yeah, that's like saying that the sword fight from Princess Bridge also inspired the film.
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That's ridiculous and you know it. The comparison isn't about fighting with swords. Why don't I say Sulu's shirtless drunken romp with an epee down the Enterprise corridor is like TFA. Jesus. :brickwall:
 
WarpFactorZ said:
It's not just the premise, but the camera work and stunts. It's very evocative of TFA. Check out Snow White's roll at 0:10 as she runs from the Prince. Rey does exactly the same thing from almost the same camera angle. He disarms her and the camera shows her sword embedded in the snow next to a tree. I just rewatched the TFA scene where Finn is disarmed. Again, almost identical.

Both my wife and daughter agreed that it looked surprisingly similar, so much so that we even started humming Rey's theme to the action. I think it's probably much more than a coincidence.



That's ridiculous and you know it. The comparison isn't the sword fight.
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Yes, only the music, the tone and the overall theme of the work set a different feel.

And, it's not ridiculous to note that while there are some similarities there are also important differences.

WarpFactorZ said:
Why don't I say Sulu's shirtless drunken romp with an epee down the Enterprise corridor is like TFA. Jesus. :brickwall:
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Because one involved a disarming technique and scrambling and running away. The other didn't.
 
WarpFactorZ said:
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The music is playful in Mirror Mirror's scene. Is it in TFA?
Snow White loses her sword several times in the fight. Does Rey?
Prince Charming fights backwards for a moment. Does Kylo Ren?
Snow White ends up in Prince Charming's arms. Does Rey end up in Kylo's arms?
There's earthquakes in TFA. Are there in Mirror Mirror?

Its a sword fight in snow. The girl does a sommersault. The shots, particularly the one with said sommersault, are not even remotely at the same angle. The tone is wildly different. Sorry, I just don't see it.
 
ANH was also derivative. The attack on the Death Star was copied from an old movie about the Dam Busters during WW2. Even some of the dialogue between the pilots is the same.

The TIE Fighter attack on the Falcon I believe was also copied.
 
We all know Star Wars has always been derivative. This is not news. Still doesn't make Rey and Kylo's fight in TFA a copy of the fight in the OP.
 
Actually I think that the lightsaber concept was came up with years before SW by some classic SF writer. Williamson, Anderson, Leinster, someone like that. Too lazy to dig for it now.
 
The 1977 original film was based on "The Hidden Fortress" and other films from other genres. The differences are trying tropes and tones in different genres while not altering the genre (e.g. more drama in sci-fi without turning it into a generic standard soap opera with sci-fi poorly grafted on)... TFA is largely a bland remake of 1977, but the personal lightsaber battles do feel more original - maybe influenced by other shows from other genres, but TFA did - amazingly - do something rather different with the scene in question. TFA had to at some point, a lot of it is so derivative but the lightsaber fights were the more memorable scenes.

Derivative may be more inevitable nowadays but it also depends on how much one has seen in the past... and how much is changed between the prior movie/show/format and the new one.
 
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

Lightsaber battles are actually copies of SWORD battles which have been depicted on film for over a century.

Lucas.... what copycat hack.
 
Jedi_Master said:
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

Lightsaber battles are actually copies of SWORD battles which have been depicted on film for over a century.

Lucas.... what copycat hack.
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JP5ajJ4.gif
 
Sooooo...let me get this straight: We're saying that a thing in a Star Wars movie has (possibly) been inspired by something in another movie...and we're just noticing this now?

It's a good thing nobody else but George Lucas ever watch an Akira Kurosawa sengoku-jidai movie, or a John Ford western, or saw any old Flash Gordon serials, or read the works of John Campbell before now or else the jig would have been up years ago!

In other news: I'm starting to suspect this scene in 'Chasing Amy' was lifted from 'Lethal Weapon 3'.
*suddenly suffers an uncontrollable coughing fit*
Excuse me. I have no idea what brought that on....
 
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