People see a few similarities and they start screaming "rip-off" every time. It's crazy on the Hunger Games board with all the lunatics screaming that HG is a rip-off of Battle Royale. The two books/films share one basic theme. Everything else is different. That doesn't stop people from making dozens of accounts so they can spend their time screaming "rip-off." The truth is, it's impossible to come up with any idea that doesn't share at least some components with other ideas. Even Harry Potter shares many components with an 80s TV show called "The Worst Witch." Anybody who has watched "Roswell" knows where Stephanie Meyer got her inspiration. None of these things are true rip-offs.

Movies and TV shows like Falling Water and Hunger Games deal with subjects that haven't been explored in abundance and that's why it stands out when you see similarities. Nobody accuses the endless inane hospital, detective, police or FBI shows of ripping off other hospital, detective, police or FBI shows, even though those shows have so much in common that it's hard to tell that you're not watching the same show. It's because our brains are so used to them that we've come to accept them as they are; more of the same. It's unfortunate that we can't be more appreciative of shows that stand out so much that we can only think of one or two other shows that share similar components.