Lately, I’ve found that the line between inspiration and copying is one that’s been stretched way too thin.
Genuine inspiration isn’t just looking at a ton of designs or preexisting ideas. It’s that point when you get an idea based on what you saw. Say you find something on Pinterest and copy it head to toe, you’re not being “inspired” anymore. You’re just stealing an idea. Being inspired means doing something more than just copy-pasting, it’s adding your own unique spin.
The extent to which you change is a creative loophole that is well overused.
From books to movies to songs, some form of creative overlap will still exist. But when one plot ends up identical to another, how much overlap are we willing to excuse? In most cases, the imitation is usually accepted.
Why?
Maybe it was just better written. Maybe the original was made a century ago and viewers forgot.
But the biggest reason?
Familiarity.
People naturally gravitate towards media they’ve enjoyed in the past. So what if it’s practically a ripoff? It still promises the same love triangle between brothers, an academy that sounds oddly familiar or the mere beat of a song that was trending ten years ago. After a point it’s like the plot, characters and ideas just keep changing their names and pretending they’re the next big thing. New identities, same idea.
It feels like the goal isn’t to be original anymore. It’s more about finding something familiar but changing it ever so slightly so no questions are raised.
The most incredible part of this guaranteed formula to success (or mild interest) is that it actually works. People will eat this up with no questions asked. To them, they’re getting more of their favorites, just reimagined. It’s like a win-win for both sides.
Which leads me to wonder how much originality is really left. It’s almost like people have given up on finding it.
But what were the biggest, most standout sensations? Harry Potter, Inside Out and Inception all stood out because of their originality. Ever since, there have been countless attempts to recreate this effect, some simply altering names and the basic plot while others devise a magic system of their own.
Just because a work draws on other existing pieces does not mean it’s unoriginal. An example of this is the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, which includes various Greek myths but the premise offers a fresh twist with a summer camp, new characters and humor.
Some might argue that it was easier to create years ago, when ideas and industries were less overpopulated. Now it’s just easier to copy.
But there are still ideas out there.
We just need to look and think a little deeper.
Coming back to everyday life, copying someone just doesn’t make much sense. It’s an opportunity for you to come up with something of your own, something that represents yourself. If not, it’s just going to be a copy of someone else’s heart and mind.
Would you really want to look back on something you made and see someone else’s reflection?
