Editorial:

I can't take it anymore. I can't take seeing comments on every Hunger Games story saying it's a ripoff of Battle Royale

I get making the comparison. It's completely understandable. We all make quick comparisons when we hear about something new and when I first heard about Battle Royale in 2000 (I ended up seeing the film a couple years later), I'm sure I thought, "Oh, so it's kind of like Running Man but with kids?" So I understand hearing about Hunger Games and thinking, "Oh, so kind of like an American Battle Royale?"

The Hunger Games Review

<b><center>Two+movies+enter...+both+movies+leave!<br+/>Because+they+both+have+their+own+merits.</center></b>

But actually calling Hunger Games a ripoff is a ridiculous thing to say, because first and foremost, neither Hunger Games nor Battle Royale have a unique or original core concept. And that's not a value judgment: Personally, I like them both! The saying about there not being any new stories is essentially a true one. Which is fine! If you create compelling characters, situations and scenarios, you can grab audiences with any story, even though it's a variation on something that's come before. And I think both Battle Royale and Hunger Games (not to mention several other projects, many of which I list below) succeed in this regard.The idea of people being made -- usually by a malevolent government or other controlling power -- to fight to the death and/or being hunted for sport has been the basis for dozens and dozens of books and films. The one thing that directly draws the comparison between Hunger Games and Battle Royale is that both specifically are about kids being the ones forced to fight – but so what? If we agree that people being forced to fight to the death is a notable/well-used story point, then we agree that those people being children is even worse and more notable, right? I'd say it's a natural extrapolation to make on a time-honored set-up and it's why I believe Suzanne Collins when she said she hadn't heard of Battle Royale when she wrote Hunger Games. Because this is such a classic story scenario, I don't think Battle Royale author Koushun Takami would be the only person to ever think to add kids to it. But even if Collins had been aware of Battle Royale, it wouldn't make much of a difference, since Battle Royale itself followed so many other influences - some of which already involved children.Either way, both stories are relatively recent ones (the Battle Royale book came out in 1999, followed by the film in 2000; Hunger Games was released as a book in 2008), and were proceeded by a large list of stories -- some books, some films and some just plain fact -- with similar themes and elements. Let's look at just a sample, shall we? I should note that Cindy White mentioned some of the following stories in her Hunger Games: Pop Culture Primer feature before Hunger Games opened. But here, I want to focus more specifically on just how prominent (and frequent) these stories have been, long before Battle Royale was written.

<b><center>This+doesn't+end+well.</center></b>

<b><center>I+will+clap,+Dynamo,+because+I+do+love+you!</center></b>

<b><center>And+that's+the+last+example+on+here,+'cause+Stone+Cold+said+so!</center></b>

There are a couple of different versions of this centuries-old story, but most include a town that must periodically send seven young men and seven young women as a sacrifice or tribute to a Minotaur. No, it doesn't involve the "kids fight each other" idea, but it clearly does have the concept of adults being forced to send their children off as a sacrifice, regardless of who or what kills them. Suzanne Collins has named this story as a direct inspiration for Hunger Games, with Katniss standing in for Theseus, who goes in place of one of the selected children and ultimately slays the Minotaur.So yeah, it's kind of important to remember there was a time on planet Earth when people actually fought to the death in arenas for the entertainment of others. At the end of the day, any movie (or other story form) that uses this idea can say the inspiration was… life. It happened. Humans did this.And of course, among those real life gladiators is…Once again, this guy actually existed. Spartacus was a slave and Gladiator who was forced to fight to the death against others. But he then escaped and became the leader of a famous slave uprising against their Roman oppressors. The 1960 Stanley Kubrick film thrust Spartacus into a more mainstream spotlight and he is now the central character in a popular Starz TV series.Now we jump ahead to the past century and a notable and highly influential 1924 short story by Richard Connell, in which a big game hunter is trapped on an island by an aristocrat, who makes him his latest prey in his ongoing series of hunts involving humans. It's been adapted into several movies. An island setting and the basic "people hunting/killing one another" concept would be paired many times to follow.A 1948 short story by Shirley Jackson in which every member of a village, young and old, participate in an annual lottery where the eventual "winner" is stoned to death by the other members of their community.This 1954 novel (adapted into two feature films) is about a group of British boys shipwrecked on an island whose attempts to start their own society eventually turn hostile, as the boys begin fighting - with more than one kid eventually killed as a result. Now Lord of the Flies is a bit different in that there is no external, nefarious force here. No one intentionally put these boys into this scenario or wanted them to kill each other. But the idea of children turning primal, ugly and lethal (and, yep, the island setting) certainly make an impact.This 1965 French/Italian film based on a 1953 short story is set in a future in which violent citizens participate in The Big Hunt, where you must survive five rounds as a hunter and five as a victim, in a scenario where the hunters will attempt to kill those they pursue.This 1975 film takes place in a dystopian future in which there are several Gladiator-like forms of entertainment, none more popular than the Annual Transcontinental Road Race, in which the participants gain points for killing innocents along the way. Remade in 2008 under the title Death Race.A 1979 Stephen King novel (written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman) about a dystopian society in which 100 teenage boys must compete in the sadistic "national sport" - an annual walking competition – where they must maintain a speed of four miles an hour. If they continue to fall beneath that speed, they are shot and killed. The Long Walk is obviously notable, in regards to Battle Royale and Hunger Games, for having this sadistic scenario be one that kids compete in.A 1982 Stephen King/Richard Bachman novel about a dystopian (there's that word again!) society in which a popular game show has people pursued by "Hunters" intent on killing them. Adapted into the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film of the same name.A 2001 film in which a popular TV show has US citizens picked at random, given a gun and told to kill each other until only one is left alive. Yes, Series 7 (and the next film) came out post-Battle Royale. My point is, these kind of stories continue to come at a fairly regular basis. Whether it's adults or kids, it's a lot of the same themes and concepts at work.A 2007 film in which 10 convicts are forced to fight to the death as part of an illegal game being broadcast to the public.

<b><center>Total+ripoff!+Except+that+it's+not,+right?</center></b>

As you can see, the core concepts of Hunger Games and Battle Royale can be traced back so far and so frequently, with so many elements contained in different stories, it's pretty much impossible to just name one as the direct lineage. And I know I left out plenty of other examples (feel free to chime in with more in the Comments).Again, yes, both Hunger Games and Battle Royale are specifically about kids being made to fight, but if you think that is the one straw that breaks the camel's back and turns Hunger Games into a ripoff… Well, I strongly disagree. Especially given stories like The Long Walk and Lord of the Flies that already involved kids in these dark scenarios. It would be one thing if the characters and exact specifics of Hunger Games matched Battle Royale, but they are radically different and the worlds they take place in veer off from one another in a huge way. Yes, there are other surface similarities regarding the government's control and such, but that's all it is – surface similarities, which are also echoed in so many of the other influences both stories share.In 1939, Batman was introduced. He was a brilliant millionaire (later upgraded to billionaire) who used weapons and gadgets to fight crime without the benefit of any actual physical superpowers. Brilliant billionaire who uses weapons and gadgets to fight crime without superpowers. Hey, that kind of sounds like Iron Man! But Iron Man was invented decades later – so he must be a ripoff of Batman, right? Except it's not true.That's how I feel when I see people accusing Hunger Games of being a Battle Royale ripoff. It's as though every time someone wrote about Iron Man, everyone yelled, "He's just a Batman ripoff!" It would be ridiculous and a gigantic oversimplification. The actual methods/costume/tactics/personality/origins of the characters are completely different and you'd sound pretty silly arguing over and over that Iron Man should be dismissed for having such minimal ties to Batman, as far as the set-up and bare bones description.So why can't certain Battle Royale fans get over the surface comparisons here? Why are they acting like Battle Royale was completely original and groundbreaking in terms of its core concepts and the only possible influence for The Hunger Games - and straight up accusing Hunger Games of being a ripoff in the process?Maybe it's because they just don't know about all of the other stories that came before 1999. But there are a whole lot of books and films with these themes to look back upon. And you know what? Just like Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, plenty of them are pretty great as well.

Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of. You can follow him on Twitter at