Homage and plagiarism in cinema

Résumé du document

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times was a partial remake of Rene Clair's A nous la liberté (1931), a French comedy which was in turn inspired by Fritz Lang's 1926 science fiction epic, Metropolis. In this document, we try to find answers for the following questions: What did Chaplin borrow from Clair and Clair from Lang? What is the difference between an "homage" and outright plagiarism?
Defining plagiarism is a challenging topic. The concept of intertextuality should be explored in order to understand what is and what not plagiarism is. Indeed, the frontier between influence, homage and plagiarism is thin and an incorrect definition could lead to a miscarriage of justice. Throughout this essay, I will attempt to show that Modern Times is neither a remake nor homage nor a plagiarism but a unique masterpiece which has to be appreciated for itself. I will therefore try to refine definitions of intellectual property and intertextuality clarifying the distinction between influence, homage and plagiarism.

Extraits

[...] Perf. Jean Börlin, Inge Frïss. Writ. René Clair. Stud. Société Nouvelle des Acacias Metropolis. Dir. Fritz Lang. Perf. Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Helm. Writ. Thea Von Harbou. Stu. UFA (Germany), Paramount Pictures Modern Times. [...]

[...] Throughout my essay, I attempted to argue as a court working on a plagiarism case. I analyzed the similarities between Modern Times, A nous la liberté and to a lesser extend Metropolis and tried to explain them by other reasons than plagiarism. As I said, Lang developed the themes of human beings' alienation, machines' superiority over workers and many other ideas before Clair. For instance, even Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet (1595), which influenced many artists through history, was inspired by a poem entitled The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562) written by Arthur Brooke who was himself inspired by Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe AD). [...]

[...] Film Sonores Tobis An Italian Straw Hat. Dir. René Clair and Jean Renoir. Perf. Albert Préjean, Geymond Vital, Olga Tschechowa. Writ. René Clair. Stud. Films Albatros (1931 in the US). A star is born. Dir. William Wellman. Perf. Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou. [...]

[...] Stud. Film Arts Guild (1926 in the US). Pierrot le fou. Dir. Jean-Luc Godard. Perf. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Samuel Fuller. Writ. Jean-Luc Godard. Stu. Studio Canal The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Dir. Robert Wiene. [...]

[...] However, as Robinson said, “inspiration is not plagiarism”[26]. Therefore, I will finally study the concept of intertextuality in order to show that Modern Times is neither a plagiarism nor an homage but a unique masterpiece. Firstly, in cinema as in many other fields, total originality is a myth. As I said before, ideas circulate and are shared between human beings through dialogues allowing them to create new ones[27]. Indeed, as Michel Foucault said, book can exist by itself; it is always in a relationship of support and dependence in regard to others: it is a spot in a network; it contains a system of landmarks which refer explicitly or not to other books, other texts, or other sentences” (14)[28]. [...]