Classic Movie Scenes You Never Knew Were Snatched From... Anime
In post-modernism, there's a theory that all stories have already been written, you just have to re-write them from a different angle, to add yourself to it in order to make it a new piece of art.
Sure, it is no news that artists, musicians, film-makers and other around-art people like to borrow each other's ideas, to refer to another work of art, especially if it is older and much more prestigious – then it is simply a sign of bon ton.
Sometimes, however, such allusions are not transparent, and borrowings remain unseen for years. This is the case with the five Hollywood pictures whose creators must have been inspired by classical anime.
Inception ( 2010) is a sci-fi action film by Christopher Nolan that has several scenes reminding those from the 2006 Japanese animated science fiction psychological thriller picture Paprika.
Corridor running looks mysteriously alike. So does the breaking of a bus stop mirror walls – probably one of the most spectacular moments of the entire movie.
Besides, the characters of both pictures start to levitate in the similar locations. Is it an allusion or an impertinent steal? Well, it is up to you to decide.
The eerie yet beautiful bathtub screaming scene from the 2000 classic Requiem For A Dream is an identical twin of the very same scene from the psychological thriller Perfect Blue (1997), a popular Japanese animated film.
The main heroine screaming into the water in the tub, the very direction we look at her – all these remind the original animated picture.
The famous Matrix (1999) has numerous scenes whose origins must lie in the Ghost In The Shell (1995) animated picture.
Take into account the spectacular leap from a multi-storied building, shooting at watermelons that burst almost like their drawn counterparts, and the very similar splashes of water that accompany a gun fight.
What do you feel now, knowing that probably the most famous scenes from your beloved movie were not as original as they might seem? The 2010 ballet drama Black Swan, apparently, has some "borrowings" too.
The scene where the main characters are choking each other, the very stage entrance, or the portraits witnessing the main heroine's melt-down – they all very conveniently remind similar scenes from a much older Japanese animated picture Perfect Blue (1997).
Anyway, let's give those movie-makers the benefit of the doubt. After all, these scenes do look awesome in our favorite pictures, don't they?