bbqturtle t1_j1iosk2 wrote on December 24, 2022 at 6:00 PM

Reply to comment by pillbinge in Everything Everywhere all At Once Double Feature by jamesland7

? I can't think of something having a greater influence on a work than the work being an adaptation

pillbinge t1_j1je023 wrote on December 24, 2022 at 8:57 PM

That isn't how it works, and your view is limited by thinking unidirectionally with one word, maybe.

Influence is something smaller. Influence can be the way cuts are made, the way characters interact, their pathos, or even themes from older myths. Lots of Greek myths influenced the stories of the past. Not all, but many. You can find parallels between many characters. Motifs in certain works or schools of art can influence authors. Even their teachers, or people they didn't like. The legend of Amleth influenced the character Hamlet, but Hamlet isn't a retelling or adaptation of Amleth's journey.

A retelling or adaptation is just making it over again. If I retold a story about something I went through, I wasn't influenced by that story. Doesn't matter who tells it. Influence is more of a guide.

In this case, Ratatouille is mentioned and used in the film, but I'm asking for concrete, parallel themes. Barely high school material. I genuinely can't think of one. Ratatouille wasn't nihilistic and influenced by modern disassociation, or beliefs about alternate timelines and infinite possibilities, for one.

bbqturtle t1_j1jeopj wrote on December 24, 2022 at 9:02 PM

Op said inspired, not influenced. I'm sure the board room thinking of fun things to add to everything everywhere all at once random sequences pitched 15 different movies, and ratatoille was one that was mentioned. I think they were "inspired" by the idea of someone on someones head controlling them.

I know what you mean, of course thematically they aren't similar at all. But, since it's a list of movies that contributed to the content or were referenced in EEAAO, I think inspired is a fine term to use as a blanket for all of them.