# Feelings on originality? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073 "2003-06-20T03:02:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/1 "2003-06-20T03:02:53Z")
I hear many people today saying that Hollywood can’t come up with any new ideas, so they are just regurgitating the old ones and beefing up the effects and so on. I do agree with this to a point. I tend to disagree however when people use this same argument in regards to music. I know that many songs have been covered in the last 10 years or so, most of which shouldn’t have, but I really believe that music has evolved quite a bit, and continues to do so. The question is then: What are your thoughts on the above? Maybe the “new” music I am listening to just isn’t popular enough to be recognized by the people making these arguments. Feel free to take your shots at hollywood too. ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/2 "2003-06-20T03:18:15Z")
Originality is overrated. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Originality is overrated and, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily a virtue. That said, it isn’t that Hollywood has no new ideas. There _aren’t_ any new ideas. Go ahead and try to prove otherwise. The problem is an increasing lack of depth and character in favor of big name stars and big ticket special effects with big time price tags. I can take anything, even a tired and overused concept without even a halfhearted attempt to put an interesting spin on it, so long as the movie can make me care even a little bit out the characters. Increasingly, films don’t have actors and actress, they have human props. As for music, there’s always something new and interesting to find on the music scene for those willing to make a little more effort than just turning on the radio. I have no problem with covers, I just don’t like lazy covers that bring nothing new to the song, like the recent Uncle Kracker cover of _Drift Away_ which sounds so much like the original song that I’m promted to ask, “What’s the point?” Also, The Ataris’ cover of “Boys of Summer” just depresses me. Deeply. ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/3 "2003-06-20T03:24:44Z")
I felt like “The Truman Show” was an original. ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/4 "2003-06-20T03:28:54Z")
Try searching for the French movie on which EdTV was based, moe. It came out in 1994. Hey, if copying stories was good enough for Shakespeare, it’s good enough for me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/5 "2003-06-20T03:31:12Z")
Just about every Van Halen hit form the David Lee Roth days was a cover. And they were great. On 2fer tuesday, KLOL in Houston use to play the original and Van Halen’s cover back to back. That’s when I found out even _Jump_ was a cover. But, hey… If you can do a cover so well it becomes yours, then you’ve done it well. I have a book, _The Five Cs of Cinematography_ that says there are only seven plot story lines available to work with for any story, book, movie, what have you. Regardless of how far I dug, I could never find a work broke from the seven outlined plots. Weird, huh? (If you want to know them, I would have to unpack my stored boxes to find the damn book, so maybe a web search would help, huh?) 🙂 Anyways, what was the question? ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/6 "2003-06-20T03:32:42Z")
Oh, I thought of another good example of excellent “unoriginality”: Johnny Cash (his covers, anyway) ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/7 "2003-06-20T03:34:31Z")
**Moe,** here’s the link to that French movie I was talking about: [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0110390](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0110390) Gah, half the posts to this thread are mine. I guess my mouse clicking finger is going faster than my thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/8 "2003-06-20T03:39:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by moejuck \* > \*\*I felt like “The Truman Show” was an original. \*\* Well, every concept feels original the first time you encounter it. Rest assured, _The Truman Show_ was anything but original. Plus, the concept was the only thing really going for it, and since that was spoiled for me long before I ever saw the film, I had a hard time enjoying it. ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/9 "2003-06-20T04:20:29Z")
I see the point on the limited amount of story lines available to writers. Fred, thanks for the link, very interesting. When you brought up Johnny Cash, I had to agree. The question I wanted to have answered was more focused on music. Could we say the same thing about music? There are only so many chords. There can’t be a new way to put those chords together that has never been tried before. So really, what should we consider original? The basis is going to be the same, but when a group takes that and makes it thier own, should that count? Was Nirvana or whatever “grunge” band you want to use original? Or did they just take old ideas and put a new spin on them? ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/10 "2003-06-20T05:05:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \* > \*\*That’s when I found out even _Jump_ was a cover. \*\* 😕 Where’d you get that from? Every mention of the song and listing of the lyrics only gives the members of Van Halen writing credit. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feelings-on-originality/183073/11 "2003-06-20T05:14:26Z")
Hey, I heard it on the radio 20 yrs ago. The song KLOL said Van Halen covered sounded like a Spike Jones thing, if that helps.