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）
Street lights are often taken for granted until a power outage plunges the world into darkness. When that happens, the value of these lighting installations becomes evident as the world turns into a more dangerous place for pedestrians and motorists alike. The Chinese could claim to be the first to have constructed a crude type of street light. Around 500 BC, residents of Beijing employed a type of street lamp that used hollow bamboo pipes and natural gas vents to create burning torches. Later, ancient Romans adopted lamps fueled by vegetable oil, which relied on slaves to light and
A: Who else is on Billboard’s list: “The 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st Century?” B: No. 15 to 6 are: Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Usher, Adele, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Britney Spears. A: I can’t believe that Adele’s only at No. 10. B: No. 5 to 1 are: Lady Gaga, Drake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Beyonce. A: Well, they surely deserve the honor. A: 《告示牌》雜誌的「21世紀最偉大的25位流行歌手」，還有誰上榜啊？ B: 第15至6名是：麥莉希拉、大賈斯汀、妮姬米娜、阿姆、亞瑟小子、愛黛兒、亞莉安娜、小賈斯汀、肯伊威斯特、小甜甜布蘭妮。 A: 真不敢相信愛黛兒只排第10名。 B: 第5至1名是：女神卡卡、德瑞克、蕾哈娜、泰勒絲、碧昂絲。 A: 這幾位真是實至名歸！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
A: The 21st Century is now entering its 25th year. B: So Billboard has released a list: “The 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st Century.” A: Who are the greatest pop singers? B: No. 25 to 16 are: Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Bad Bunny, One Direction, Lil Wayne, Bruno Mars, BTS, The Weeknd, Shakira and Jay-Z. A: Wow, my favorite K-pop supergroup BTS has made it to the list. A: 21世紀正在邁入第25個年頭了。 B: 《告示牌》雜誌特別公布：「21世紀最偉大的25位流行歌手」。 A: 最偉大的歌手有哪些？ B: 第25至16名是：凱蒂佩芮、紅髮艾德、壞痞兔、1世代、小韋恩、火星人布魯諾、防彈少年團（BTS）、威肯、夏奇拉、Jay-Z。 A: 哇，我最愛的韓流天團BTS也上榜了！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
Spoiler alert and shift blame 破梗&甩鍋 在新冠疫情期間，無論是因為封城 (lockdown) 還是居家隔離 (self-isolation at home)，人們關在家中使用網路的時間大增。這也讓一些原本只存在於網路論壇的用語廣為普及。我們來談一下破梗 (spoiler alert) 與甩鍋 (shift blame) 這兩個用語。 有位古典文學教授 Joel Christensen 針對領導統御與疫情控制寫了一篇以古喻今、相當深入的文章：“Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales”，文中出現一些講法，可用來翻譯上述的流行語： In the 5th century B.C., the playwright Sophocles begins Oedipus Tyrannos with the title character struggling to identify the cause of a plague striking his city, Thebes. (Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.) (Joel Christensen, “Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales,” The Conversation, March 12, 2020) 作者提到 Oedipus（伊底帕斯）想找出瘟疫何以降臨他的城邦的緣由，加了一句：Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.（破梗：領導無方）。Spoiler alert 就是「破梗」，如果用在有人洩漏電影劇情的情境中，也可以翻作「小心爆雷」或「劇透警告」。疫情之下，在家看影集、電影成了很多人的娛樂，但要小心劇透 (spoilers)，很多 YouTube 上的影評在開頭也都會說 Spoiler alert!，警告還沒看過電影的觀眾小心爆雷、劇透。 至於「甩鍋」，源自大陸網民用語，通常意指某人犯了錯之後想推卸責任、轉移焦點、甚至讓別人背黑鍋的做法。疫情爆發後，相關網路資訊量爆增，許多中國網民也想找人為這場疫情負責，紛紛呼籲地方政府首長、地方黨書記不要「甩鍋」。 其實，在古代文學《奧德賽》中，就有「將自己的責任怪罪眾神」的說法，試用時下流行的「甩鍋」來重新翻譯： Humans are always blaming the gods for their suffering, but they experience
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