Comments on: Should Roger Dean sue over Avatar film?

By: Artists UK

Artists UK — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:28:46 +0000

Sure Julian, John Martin was an amazing artist and ‘Plains of Heaven’ one of the most dazzling pieces I’ve ever seen but to quote him as an influence, main or otherwise, for Roger Dean, Rodney Mathews etc might be stretching the limits of credulity a bit. I’ve never heard either of these artist’s mention him as an influence. I would agree that some of Rodney Mathews’ style is there in Avatar in some of the plants but nowhere near as strongly as the number of ripoffs of Roger dean’s work that Roger Dean fans here have been mentioning. Let’s not forget that Rodney Mathews does quote Roger Dean as an influence. Much as I admire John Martin I can’t help feeling you’ve hijacked the thread here to talk about something else other than whether Roger Dean should be suing Cameron.

By: Julian Svensson

Julian Svensson — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:57:11 +0000

James Cameron was probably inspired by a number of Fantasy artists including both Roger Dean and Rodney Mathews. The floating islands in the sky for one as well as some of the amazing illustrations painted by Mathews for many Michael Moorcock books. Personally I think Cameron would have done better to base the film around one of Moorcocks excellent fantasy books, at least the film would have had a decent screen play.
Lets not also forget that all these guys were probably inspired by one of the grand daddies of fantasy art - John Martin. There is currently an excellent exhibition of his work to mid January at Tate Britain Gallery. Sadly Martin is not as well known as he should be, but the good news is that when I went to the Exhibition the rooms were half empty, yet people are queing for 3 hours every day just to buy tickets to see the Leonardo de Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery. People should be queing up for John Martin as well!

By: jon

jon — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:59:03 +0000

When Ridley Scott wanted an H.R.Gieger alien, he got H.R.Gieger to make him one. That shows a lot of class. Cameron, on the other hand… not so much.

By: Artists UK

Artists UK — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 09:12:13 +0000

Thank you Victoria. I think many Roger Dean fans would agree with your last comment that Cameron may have brought a world called Pandora to the screen but Dean created that universe many years ago. You have the same view as many others here that Cameron crosssed the boundary between influence and plagiarism in the making of this film and should be held to account for the wholesale theft of Roger Dean’s work.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 02:18:42 +0000

I watched Avatar on cable for the first time a couple of days ago. My first thoughts were, ‘how heartwarming, Dean is still doing his beautiful thing’.. Avidly, I watched through the credits, no mean feat, given their huge number! There was nothing, absolutely no recognition of Dean’s astonishingly amazing world which he brought to life in his artworks.

Dean and his work may inspire a certain amount of ‘intertextual’ mimicry but I felt this was not the case with Cameron’s world, Pandora. The direct comparison was too great, too obvious to be easily explained away by Cameron. What was he thinking? He has plagiarised Dean’s work blatantly and should be held to account. Certainly some kind of acknowledgement and financial compensation should be awarded to Roger Dean. I am Australian and Dean’s work - introduced initially to me in the 70’s via the Yes artworks -made me a lifelong admirer of his style and imagination. Cameron may have brought a world called Pandora to the screen but Dean created that universe many years ago.

By: Artists UK

Artists UK — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:08:08 +0000

Good comments Paula and given the fact that nothing appears to have happened to our knowledge so far over the Avatar film Cameron does appear to have got away with it. Maybe he also knows the adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity … He may have made many Roger Dean fans all over the world very angry but they all went to see his film and made money for him.

By: Paula

Paula — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:56:51 +0000

I understand the views of everyone here, but it’s impossible to copyright or trademark an “idea” - only a particular piece of work. Regarding the designers claiming not to have heard of Dean; I can believe that if Cameron said “I want something like this…” and they elaborated on his idea.

It is also entirely possible that Cameron himself was unaware that his ideas were heavily influenced by Dean. But it’s also possible that he knows the law regarding copyright, and knows he can get away with using variations of someone else’s idea.