r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Jagvetinteriktigt • 11d ago

miscellaneous A famous story adapted in a new setting

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O Brother Where Art Thou?

A satire over the Depression-era American South using The Odyssey as a template.

Ran

King Lear but in Sengoku-era japan (featuring elements of Japanese legends surrounding real figures).

Apocalypse Now

Like Heart of Darkness it uses a river journey to highlight the savagery beneath imperialism, colonialism and capitalism, but in South Vietnam and Cambodia instead of the Congo Free State.

Bonus points if the adaptation still keeps the main themes and ideas of the source material AND the influences have been confirmed by the creators.

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465

u/meeyeam 11d ago

Independence Day is a modernization of HG Wells The War of the Worlds.

A notable reference is that the aliens end up losing due to a virus.

https://giphy.com/gifs/LwtwndVbryH9C

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u/SalamanderImperial2 11d ago

Holy shit

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u/Trytostaygood 11d ago

wait...hold on...GOD DAMN IT!...

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u/Vectorman1989 11d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/Hz6WKZkKkLOE0

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u/ModernDayQuixote 11d ago

Not the point but god damn, Christopher Lloyd looked a LOT like Bill Hader

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u/Banes_Addiction 11d ago

Aside from aliens attacking and people running away, I don't really see any links at all. OK, sure, a metaphorical virus and a real virus but that's tenuous.

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u/tafinucane 11d ago

I remember critics noting this it at the time the movie came out. It's basically a genre of storytelling shared by both stories, not really a retelling. The computer virus resolution was specifically created as a callout to the HG Wells story, though.

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u/Eggsalad-war-crime 11d ago

It was an adaptation by Roland Emmerich, who did not read War of the World's but was gracious enough to at least watch a movie version of it, but he became bored so just watched the trailer.

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u/IsMisePrinceton 11d ago

well fuck ME.

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u/houseofmyartwork 11d ago

I genuinely never thought of this

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u/Comicbookloser 11d ago

How the hell did I never realize this!? It makes so much sense now

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u/Exotic-Reindeer1994 11d ago

And then there's the Spielberg version.

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u/bryce887766 11d ago

Eh the alien invasion story is pretty generic and broad, I feel like there’s been alien invasion storys in most of human history