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Comment by JustUhThought | Hacker News Reader

Sorry, rip-off from Fight Club is just too obvious and sustained. No can do.

I thought so too at first, but it really becomes it's own story despite that fact, especially after the first season. The similarities are not unintentional. Sam Esmail doesn't hide the fact that the series is inspired by Fight Club.

How does a TV series rip off Fight Club?

Good god man. You asked that question? Movies rip-off books, books rip off real life, tv rips off movies. Format doesn't stop one from appropriating material.

Just google Fight Club and Mr. Robot. There are plenty of interviews with the creator of Mr. Robot where he explicitly discusses the Fight Club connection. Straight from the horses mouth.

I don't have a problem with referencing other works, but it's got to the point of a simple rewrite.

Fight Club: A prototypical, disillusioned male worker with daddy problems has a psychotic break causing him to make an imaginary friend, and this immaginary person pushes him to destroy all debt records to set everyone free to have a fresh start. In order to do this they start an undetground club that collects members who band together to accomplish this task, who are not totally in the know regarding the immaginary friend. In the process one of the main members of thr club is shot in the head and dies. There is a woman who has a very close relationship to the main character, who is central to plot development, who is portrayed as being very antisocial and rowdy.

I could go on. Sound familiar?

The word you're looking for is "inspiration".

Watching Fight Club is absolutely not the same experience as watching Mr Robot.

You say inspiration, I say rewrite.

You responded way to fast to have actually googled that, brw. There is no way you fully considered what I put forth.

You need to watch the condescendence here, Fight Club is a well known movie and I've watched it, so have a lot of people who, like me, appreciate Mr Robot and a lot of them, like me, appreciate Fight Club.

Of course I can see the parallels. But, like I said, watching the two shows is a completely different experience. I work in the games industry, I'm quite familiar with what a "rip-off" looks like. Mr Robot is not a rip-off. Inspiration is not a rip-off.

Are you aware Fight Club was first and foremost a book? If you've had the opporto read the author's other books you'd likely distinguish a vein of an original artistic contribution that run through his material, straight through to Mr Robot. I'm speaking specifically of the philosophy here. So to also adopt the plot and style so heavily, I just can't.

So for someone to dismiss out of hand with so little consideration, as you did, the artistic licence which was taken with the material in this instance, and then to follow-up without considering my follow-up comment, that is condescending in its own right. To right off the other's thoughts so glibly.

And sorry, but working in the gaming industry does not give someone authoritative rights on being able to call out a rip-off. It's possible you missed something here. In which case it might not be the worst thing in the world to fully consider the other person's arguments prior to responding to the comment by simply stating you hadn't changed your position. A very dismissive response.

I read and loved Fight Club, loved the movie, and love Mr Robot. Sam Esmail (Mr Robot creator) even says in interviews that Fight Club is his favorite movie, and certain threads, characters, etc are an homage to that. I mean, he even plays the same song ("Where is my Mind") during part of the "reveal" in Mr Robot. However, as other viewers have mentioned it wasn't really MEANT to be that big of a reveal. In fact, the /r/MrRobot subreddit had that theory nailed very early on in Season 1, and I would argue that knowing that reveal was coming didn't detract from any enjoyment.

Anyway, I totally get why you feel that way about the Fight Club similarities, and at first I felt that way too. But if that is the main reason you stopped watching, I urge you to give it another shot! I think there is so much more to the show than that story thread.

Edit: Also, just curious, how far did you make it before you decided to stop watching?

Hola, thx for response! 2nd episode of 2nd season. I'd also read those interviews, and so decided to give the second season a shot based on them. However, the first couple of episodes seemed to double down on the "homage". It sounds like I should give it another couple of episodes, so will do. But, I just can't help but be turned off by the breadth and depth of similarites. But, will give episode 3 and 4 a shot.

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