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Plagiarism: Difference between revisions
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{{Useful Notes}}
''Let no one else's work evade your eyes!''
▲{{quote|''Plagiarize,''<br />
''
''
''Only be sure always to call it please 'research'.''
▲''But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -''<br />
'''Plagiarism''' is essentially taking the work of others and attempting to pass it off as one's own. In academia, it is generally defined as putting forth ideas cribbed<ref>Use of the word "cribbed" comes from the fact that plagiarism literally means baby stealing.</ref> from other places and claiming that the writer came up with them -- in other words, discussing facts and theories without proper citation. This can get dicey if the author of a paper or essay happened to come to the same conclusion as a previous writer independently. It can also lead to "Plagiarism Paranoia", when a student panics over whether they've cited it enough or not. However, around here, we're more concerned with literary plagiarism. For plagiarism used as a plot point, see [[Plagiarism in Fiction]].
When it comes to works of fiction, the term "plagiarism" tends to be misused quite a bit; indeed, most of what is referred to as "blatant plagiarism" is actually far less blatant than actual plagiarism. If two stories happen to have [[Trope|similar elements]], it does not mean that one plagiarised the other. All stories are influenced by what has come before and what the author has experienced; the most likely case is that one story inspired at least part of the other.
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Note that plagiarism does not necessarily involve [[Copyright]] infringement, or vice versa. A writer can plagiarize a work that is no longer under copyright or was never copyrighted. If writer Joe Smith publishes a play he copied from a [[William Shakespeare]] anthology, Smith is still plagiarizing even though Shakespeare's work is in the public domain. Copyright infringement occurs when Joe Smith uses someone else's copyrighted work without their permission, even if Joe Smith is [[I Do Not Own|upfront about the fact that he is not the author]].
Do not confuse [[Trademark]] infringement with [[Copyright]] infringement. While almost all [[Fan Fiction]] of works not in the [[Public Domain]] involves (of necessity) trademark infringement, it would be safe to say that
It is sometimes debatable if a similar plot, introduced in a different setting and written differently with most of the details changed, still counts as plagiarism. ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' is an example of this, with the first two books having a plot line that is quite similar to ''[[Star Wars]]'' but with many different details and an entirely different setting. Whether or not [[Christopher Paolini]] is actually guilty of plagiarism is [[Serious Business|hotly debated]] between [[Fan Boy|hardcore fans]] and [[Fan Hater]].
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For example, the fifth in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Dark Tower]]'' series sees the heroes defending a town against raiders who attack every so often, in a plot which was acknowledged [[Lampshade Hanging|in the series itself]] as being inspired by both ''The Seven Samurai'' and ''The Magnificent Seven''. However, the characters were original, and the setting and raiders were largely the product of King's own imagination (albeit containing numerous [[Shout-Out|shout outs]]).
A "remake" or "retelling" is doing the original work over again with some relatively minor changes, while openly admitting that it's heavily derived from the original. A famous example of a retelling is John Sturges' film ''[[The Magnificent Seven]]'', which had the plot and even some of the same dialogue as Akira Kurosawa's earlier ''[[Seven Samurai]]''. The only real difference is that while Kurosawa's film was set in feudal Japan, Sturges' was set in [[The Wild West]]. Why is this not plagiarism? Because Sturges had two things going for him: Kurosawa knew what he was doing and gave his approval, and Sturges openly acknowledged that he was simply moving ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' to the Old West. He never claimed that it was a purely original work.
Contrast this with [[Sergio Leone]]'s ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'', which is a frame for frame remake of Kurosawa's ''[[Yojimbo]]'', but set in Spain pretending to be Texas. When Kurosawa saw the film, he wrote to Leone "It is a very fine film, but it is my film." He sued and won, because Leone didn't have permission, didn't give credit, and didn't pay.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Plagiarism]]
[[Category:Mechanics of Writing]]
[[Category:This Index Is Copypasted]]
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