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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To suggest Harry potter is a rip off of star wars?

65 replies

Summerishere123 · 09/04/2023 21:26

NOT MY SUGGESTION!

DH has suggested it based on some random youtube video.
He hasn't watched either series. I have watched all harry potter and 10 minutes of star wars.

Any thoughts?

OP posts:
MoggyP · 09/04/2023 21:29

Is your DH some sort of god, that means whatever shite comes from his lips is an opinion worthy of debate?

What is your opinion on this?

CampervanKween · 09/04/2023 21:30

No that's just silly talk. Can't see it has anything in common with Star Wars.

7Worfs · 09/04/2023 21:31

Harry Potter is somewhat derivative like all fantasy really, but it had themes and characters that translated extremely well into films.

There are common themes with SW - an orphan raised by relatives, an inherited power etc but that’s most fantasy books/films.

Luckydog7 · 09/04/2023 21:31

They are both based on a very old classic story structure/trope ' the heros journey' so no.

Suzi888 · 09/04/2023 21:31

You can’t compare Harry Rotter to Star Wars! YABU without the YouTube link.

Original poster
Summerishere123 · 09/04/2023 21:31

MoggyP · 09/04/2023 21:29

Is your DH some sort of god, that means whatever shite comes from his lips is an opinion worthy of debate?

What is your opinion on this?

I think he is talking bollocks...

OP posts:
MammaWeasel · 09/04/2023 21:31

There are only so many storylines, there are bound to be parallels

GettingThereCharleyBear · 09/04/2023 21:32

It definitely has things in common with Star Wars, but all stories borrow off each other. It also has things in common with LOTR. It doesn’t make any less of a fabulous piece of story writing which continues to captivate millions 😍❤️.

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 09/04/2023 21:33

I suppose they both have a dark lord and a dark side. Good overcoming evil. But I think it's a bit of a push to say it's a rip off.

Tell him the Lion King is Hamlet and watch his mind blow.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 09/04/2023 21:33

An 11 year old propounded this exact same theory to me yesterday!

I didn't even know Luke Skywalker was raised by his aunt and uncle.

Icedlatteplease · 09/04/2023 21:35

Tbh I love JK Rowling but bless her, Harry Potter ripped off so many different franchises (worst witch I think you can almost compare some classroom scenes like for like) I wouldn't be at all surprised if star wars was in there.

But yes it is also a fairly standard Fantasy trope

Wotwotwotwotwot · 09/04/2023 21:36

CampervanKween · 09/04/2023 21:30

No that's just silly talk. Can't see it has anything in common with Star Wars.

Orphan lives with his uncle and aunt but is destined to take on a great foe aided and abetted by some trusty sidekicks under the guidance of a wise mentor. No I can't see any similarities myself

CampervanKween · 09/04/2023 21:37

It's not a big part of the story though, they're not cruel to him, his dad is alive and in fact is the baddie, he has a twin sister who he is reunited with, she lives.

donquixotedelamancha · 09/04/2023 21:37

He's got a point, what with Harry being Voldemort's son, Hermione being his sister, Dumbledore dying in the first book then ghost-Dumbledore sending Harry off to train with his old master, Ron being a loveable rogue smuggler, R2D2 gets his freedom by being given a sock and....oh wait, no it's total bollocks

CampervanKween · 09/04/2023 21:38

donquixotedelamancha · 09/04/2023 21:37

He's got a point, what with Harry being Voldemort's son, Hermione being his sister, Dumbledore dying in the first book then ghost-Dumbledore sending Harry off to train with his old master, Ron being a loveable rogue smuggler, R2D2 gets his freedom by being given a sock and....oh wait, no it's total bollocks

😆😅😁

Broadbeachshallow · 09/04/2023 21:38

Both are classic quest structures. Three buddies on a journey/quest/adventure. Discovering a special power (magic, The Force, the power of self-belief, courage, whatever). A lot of stories follow this same broad plot.

CampervanKween · 09/04/2023 21:40

Metaphor for the journey of life really

ForestofD · 09/04/2023 21:40

In that case, you could put forward a argument that SW was ripped off from Lord of the Rings or the Narnia Chronicles.

SherbertDabs · 09/04/2023 21:43

He’s not seen either? Does the think he ands are lightsabers? Tell him to watch both then start a conversation about it.

SherbertDabs · 09/04/2023 21:44

*does he think wands ..

donquixotedelamancha · 09/04/2023 21:49

ForestofD · 09/04/2023 21:40

In that case, you could put forward a argument that SW was ripped off from Lord of the Rings or the Narnia Chronicles.

This is true. Rescued by beavers/ewoks/elves; given gifts by Father Christmas/Leia/Galadriel; Yoda, Elrond and Aslan are basically the same character and, of course, Sauron is Peter's father.....ah wait, it's bollocks again isn't it?

GettingThereCharleyBear · 09/04/2023 21:51

@donquixotedelamancha there are lots of crossovers between LOTR, SW & HP. Not bollocks at all. Not a surprise either. Widely commented on.

Heroicallyfound · 09/04/2023 21:51

Look up The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker.

Also look up Carl Jung’s archetypes - the orphan one particularly. That’s the crux of it all really! It’s not that the stories are a rip off of each other but that we all have these archetypes jostling in us, some more integrated than others, and stories are culture’s way of making sense of them.

James Bond is arguably the same story too.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/teaching-wiki/hero-story

https://www.tedxmilehigh.com/five-examples-heros-journey/

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/teaching-wiki/hero-story

ElleMD80 · 09/04/2023 21:57

A chosen one, a villain, a ‘princess’, a rogue, a wise man. It’s hardly unique to either HP or SW. That is not a rip-off, it’s a trope. And if he has not seen any of it, or read any of it, he gets no opinion.

kittenkipping · 09/04/2023 22:11

Well there's nothing new under the Sun there? As other have said if hp rips off Star Wars, that rips of the chronicles of narnia and lord of the rings. Avatar rips off fern gully. The lion king rips off hamlet. Shakespeare rips off cinthio with Othello. On and on it goes.