Actually, if you're really like me, you hit snooze three times this morning, the coffee can't be stronger because you have sensitivity to caffeine, and you know that it's been scientifically proven that Tuesday is the most depressing day of the week, not Monday. Reality is what it is!
Regardless of how your Monday unfolded, perhaps this little gem will add a little something extra to your evening. As an English and Media/Journalism teacher, I cover both the realms of plagiarism and current events, so when this recent headline popped up, it caught my eye.
A Woman Is Suing Disney Claiming “Frozen” Is Stolen From Her Life Story
The story is made all the more hilarious by the subtitle:
A queen with magical powers who’s friends with a snowman – we’ve all been there.
...which naturally makes it primo material for class because I can now cover two birds with one stone. A. Reporting the news. B. Don't plagiarize. Excellent!
For those of you who haven't read the story, I'll do the responsible thing first and link you to this relatively unbiased story regarding the details of the woman's claim. I, however, prefer this overly sarcastic recap of the lawsuit. Among the details claimed to be plagiarized: the setting is a snow covered village in the mountains, the younger sister falls in love, and it features the story of two sisters who care about each other. To be fair to the plaintiff, I should mention that she DOES NOT claim to have magical powers or to hang out with a talking snowman.
I teach literature for a living, so I feel relatively confident in my assessment that many stories share very similar elements and repeating, universal themes are the threads that tie generations of authors and great works together. My students are writing compare/contrast essays right now. Guess what? The stories they are comparing are very similar, and written in completely different time periods. Does this mean they were plagiarized? Of course not! Hence the compare AND contrast. In the case of this particular complaint, I'm going to say that the fact the main character has magical powers and a talking snowman are pretty big plot elements that can't be ignored. Also, there's the whole issue of the Hans Christian Andersen story, "The Snow Queen," which Frozen is admittedly similar to (likely on purpose). Perhaps the autobiography in question plagiarized Andersen first.
If I sound like I'm up on a soapbox about this, I'm certainly not. I'm more recapping the conversation that was had in class today. I'm not really going to defend Frozen as I've punned and parodied the movie to many times to count. However, as a creative writing exercise, I did begin to wonder what Disney movie is plagiarized from my life story. I've decided it's probably the entire Toy Story series for the following reasons:
- I had toys growing up
- I used to pretend that those toys had personalities and could talk to each other
- We had a sandbox
- There were army men in the sandbox
- I had plastic dinosaurs
- I had a Barbie and Ken
- My toys might have come to life and talked to each other when I left the room (I can or cannot verify this)
- I moved as a child
- I used to buckle my toys into the car with the seatbelt
- Pizza Planet looks a lot like Chuckie Cheese
- I went to college and packed my toys into boxes in the attic
- I once sold toys at a garage sale
- I'm not a boy named Andy
Happy Trails,
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