From: (No Email available)

Date: 2000-10-12 17:25:50

Comment:

Well, I'll try to help. First, it's not really a contest. We don't have to take sides, like in a high school cheering contest or football game. We can like many movies at once. I really enjoyed The Matrix and continue to think it's a great accomplishment. I consider myself fairly smart and if you knew me I doubt you'd say I'm a sheep or a conformist. I had seen some Anime, such as Akira, when I saw Matrix, but not all of the ones mentioned here. Should I now, upon learning it was not completely original (surprise), decide it's crap and not enjoyable? What a self-concious and contrived impulse that would be. Tell me this: the night I saw the Matrix, what could I have done instead that would have been really very similar in content and in form to that movie? That would have affected me (and many others, apparently) the same way? My guess: nothing. 

Just because you find influences for a work doesn't nullify that work. I think it's INTERESTING to explore influences and pedigree, but it's not evidence of some conspiracy. Do you think the creators of Ghost in the Shell (or others) now despise the creators of the Matrix for "stealing" their ideas? No, they probably liked it too (correct me if I'm wrong). Does everything have to be a contest? This reminds me of those who maintain that all first-person shooters are just "Doom clones" (Wolfenstein clones?). No objective person thinks so...it requires certain preconceptions to think so. Diablo II is just a rehash of Pong! Pixels moving around on a screen--what a rip-off!

Cheers,
Helborg