The Hunger Games vs. Battle Royale: What all the fuss is about.

Something that has inevitably come up in online fan communities since the release and success of the first Hunger Games film is the apparently undeniable similarity to a Japanese series of similar themes called Battle Royale. This franchise also started out as a book and was made into a film in 1999, and I don’t know if it’s because I started participating in online fan communities in 2003, but I had definitely heard of this series and know already how popular it is not only in Japan, but in the U.S. and other Western countries as well. Everyone who’s even mildly engaged with fandom has heard of Battle Royale, and for the most part, everyone knows what it’s about: young teens who are made by a corrupt and dictatorial government to fight to the death on an island-turned-battle-arena, in which only one winner can emerge. The whole thing is made to look more perverse by the fact that the kids are wearing what looks like traditional Japanese school uniforms worn from elementary school until high school, and in all of the images and trailers advertising the franchise, their white collared shirts and pressed beige skirts or shorts are spattered with bright red blood. Essentially, it’s an image that sticks in your brain, so if you ever see a photo or comic of a Japanese school girl looking morbid and covered in the blood of her peers, you immediately associate it with Battle Royale.

So now, what with the Hunger Games movie breaking all of these box office records and the corresponding novels flying off the shelves as a result of its success, fans of Battle Royale are getting in a tizzy.  Oh my god, The Hunger Games is such a total rip off of Battle Royale, they’re saying. What a lie, I can’t believe Suzanne Collins is claiming she’s never heard of it, what a freaking outrage. This is just Western media and Hollywood ripping off Asian cultural products and not giving them any credit, like they always do.

Now, I’m not going to totally dismiss any of those claims. First of all, yes, the two plots are similar. As one enraged Battle Royale fan succinctly puts:

Both movies feature a corrupt totalitarian government that places children on an isolated island to fight brutally to the death, until one last winner emerges. They implant tracking devices into the children and fill the island with cameras, which are observed by a control room that airs the competition to the general population. A female protagonist ultimately triumphs with the help of a boy with whom she develops a relationship.

This is true. However, this concept has existed since gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome. And it has since been adapted to a more family friendly if not less distasteful form through professional wrestling of the flashy, gaudy WWE variety. Honestly, the idea behind the franchise’s success is in itself not that original—people just really get a kick out of seeing fellow human beings duke it out on the stage or arena. In a way, organized competitive sport amounts to the same thing. Do you know why the Olympics were invented? To replace WAR. So that nations would have a friendly way of displaying their prowess and mastery of the physical human form and competing for superiority in a way that didn’t involve the mindless slaughtering of thousands of people. So honestly, Battle Royale fans, get over yourselves. You’re not that original.

Second, as I said before, Battle Royale is a series that is KNOWN in online fandom, and thus potentially everywhere with access to the internet. Regardless of whether or not Battle Royale was blocked from U.S. distribution until recently, it’s been circling on the internet since 1999. I’m sure I could pull the movie up on YouTube right now if I wanted to. And if the creators of Battle Royale are really going to complain The Hunger Games being more popular internationally than BR, they shouldn’t have limited distribution in the first place! Japan’s culture industries for some reason are always hoarding distribution rights and calling up copyright laws in order to protect their precious intellectual property, for reasons I’m sure have to do with them being a naturally xenophobic society and wanting to keep their culture “pure” from Western perversions. Ugh, give me a break. You can’t complain if you’re unwilling to share your media products with the rest of the world who would gladly enjoy and pay for them.

But I don’t think it’s the creators of BR who are really complaining, it’s just the fans who want something to be indignant about. And it’s true, in the past, Hollywood has adapted Asian stories and many Western consumers of the U.S. adaptations have not consumed nor will they ever consume the originals—something which also has to do with Americans being rather ethnocentric (the rest of the world is used to watching Hollywood blockbusters with subtitles in their own language, whereas it’s harder to get an American to watch a foreign movie with English subtitles). But at least these films (21, The Departed, The Eye, The Ring, Avatar the Last Airbender, to name a few) admit that they were influenced by the original Asian cultural products. What the fans are taking issue with is Collins’ denial of ever having heard of BR. And I actually agree with them on this one. As original as her characters and universe that she wrote about may be, there’s no need denying your knowledge of the Japanese franchise’s existence. Because first of all, I’m not sure I could believe that, for the reasons listed above, and second because doing so just makes you seem less comfortable in your assertion that these really are your own, original characters. And admitting to knowing of BR would actually strengthen your argument because it would show that you’re not afraid of people harassing you about copying, or stealing, simply because it’s not true.

I’m not sure why I felt I had to make this post, maybe just to show that fans can spin things in whatever direction they want. There’s a host of articles and blog posts written on the subject, by BR fans hating on THG, by THG fans adamantly defending the American series, to fans of both trying to mediate between them. If anything, the debate has made for interesting discussion which only adds to wealth of internet knowledge on both The Hunger Games and the Battle Royale series, which could only pique the interest of fans of one series to the other.