Forget Poul Anderson, last night’s South Park revealed the true inspiration behind James Cameron‘s Avatar. He actually borrowed his story of love and destruction among the blue people from Eric Cartman’s classic film, Dances with Smurfs.
https://gizmodo.com/did-james-cameron-rip-off-poul-andersons-novella-5390226
Note: Clip above contains the sort of work-inappropriate language you’d expect from South Park.
Granted, Dances with Smurfs isn’t exactly the most original parody of Avatar, but it gets better when Wendy notes that Cartman is the true villain of the Smurf holocaust (because he gave them the will to fight back). And Cartman — for someone who combined two other stories to make his own — is pretty incensed when he learns James Cameron bought the movie rights (because, “You don’t just take one person’s story and add a few things and call it your own!”). Is the South Park team mocking Avatar’s blue aliens, or just commenting on the multiple influences in all storytelling?
You can watch the entire episode at South Park Studios.
