Books of Magic vs Harry Potter

[marion11111]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
>
> ---  "stacygalore" <stacygalore@> wrote:
> >
> > The thread about Stardust got me thinking about Neil
> > Gaiman and his graphic novel "Books of Magic". ...  
> > A good friend of mine refused to read Harry Potter 
> > because he was convinced JKR ripped off Neil Gaiman.
> > Has anybody heard of this theory?  ...
> >
> 
> bboyminn:
> 
> Well, let's see. Harry Potter has magic; Lord of the 
> Rings (LotR) has magic. Harry Potter has wizards,
> LotR has wizards. Harry Potter has elves, LotR has
> elves. Harry Potter goes on a quest, Frodo goes on a
> quest. So, Harry Potter must have ripped off LotR? 
(SNIP)

> So, I guess my point is that there are some things
> that can be legally 'stolen'. Since there hasn't 
> been a lawsuit by Gaiman, I suspect he doesn't feel
> like he was ripped off. If the author doesn't think
> so, I don't see why your friend should think so.
> 

marion11111:

Well, to be fair, Stacy's friend is allowed an opinion and it's a reasonable point of 
discussion to look for an author's influences.  I've been looking for and can't find the 
review of DH that stated JKR "steals from the best" and then complimented her on putting 
it all together in interesting ways.

I've noticed a number of places in the series where I "see" images from movies.  Many have 
commented on "Dirty Harry" facing off Voldemort and of course, Molly doing a bit from 
Aliens.  In HBP, I kept picturing several scenes from the LOTR movies in the cave scene.  
And if anyone has ever seen the old (early-mid1980's) BBC production of Worst Witch, 
Diane Keaton is a female Snape, Tim  Curry does a Lockhart and there is even a little girl 
Draco to torment our heroine.  The comparison is too close to be coincidence.

I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that an author has seen or read things 
throughout her life and those images sneak out when she's writing.  I would imagine that 
the creators of the originals don't bother to cry theft for the very reasons you mention 
(who "owns" the idea of elves, dragons or magic rings?) and because they themselves are 
successful and content.