Comments on: ‘True Detective’ Creator/Writer Nic Pizzolatto Accused Of Plagiarism

By: Brett

Brett — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

I commented on this when I read the original story a few days ago. I've never read Ligotti as I don't care for his philosophy, but I recognized that Pizzolatto was drawing from him when I watched the show. I was shocked to read the side-by-side comparison and see that he had taken, at times word-for-word, from Ligotti's writings. As the article points out, he also lifted from one of Alan Moore's lesser known works. Perhaps he believed that Ligotti was obscure enough no one would notice? In any event, some sort of response from Pizzolatto seems warranted.

By: lisbeth

lisbeth — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

Oh, and as a writer, I'm totally offended by the "this is what all artists do" hand-waving. No, it's not. Yes, all artists are inspired by other things they see, hear, read or encounter, but INSPIRATION is about taking an idea and putting your own spin on it. Plagiarism is taking the words of others' and trying to pass them off as your own – which is exactly what's happened here. This is a particularly lazy, blatant and direct version.

By: lisbeth

lisbeth — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

As far as I can tell, this is plagiarism. This is far more than just borrowing ideas/atmosphere – this is word choices and whole sentences. Even more damningly, NP seems to be refusing to acknowledge his own sources in an attempt to prolong the "mythos" and passing it off as part of his creative process ("I can't talk about Ligotti until the season is over"). He's trying not to acknowledge his inspirations while taking credit for it. Straight-up plagiarism.

Even though I love the show, I feel like it's getting a free ride on this immoral and irresponsible stuff because it's beloved by film/TV geeks (of which I am definitely one). 50 Shades of Grey (which is a terrible excuse of a novel, don't get me wrong) gets slammed all over the place as a Twilight fanfic, which it is. No matter how great True Detective is, plagiarism is always wrong, and this is plagiarism.

By: diego

diego — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

So what? the show is great, nobody denies that, and it constructs over and around the things it takes from its literary sources. Copyright is a recent and weird human invention and lots of times it doesn't make sense. True Detective might have been another show without these kind of direct evident references, and I actually like it how it is. Also, what makes the show special is far more complex than a case of intellectual robbery, there's enough showcase of talent and creativity from Pizzolatto to accuse him of being a hack. And if he wanted to use extracts from Ligotti's book did he have to hide and transform the words? Why? That's a lame thing to do, if Ligotti's text fits perfectly to the scene, the only reason to change it it's fear of the law, but not artistic integrity.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

It is irresponsible to use such a sensationalist headline. This clearly isn't plagiarism, and IndieWire know that. In the current online climate people will just read the headline and take it as gospel, which tarnishes the work of a magnificent series (albeit with a disappointing ending).

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

I loved TD – and still do – but after reading that article, if Pizzolatto didn't plagiarize Ligotti then they should just take plagiarism off the books because it doesn't exist anymore.

By: Bob Morane

Bob Morane — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

I understand Pizzolatto was 'inspired' (or 'lifting words') by Ligotti but there's a question here I'd like to ask: have you guessed where Ligotti got 'his inspirations' (or 'lifting words') from? Come on, We all use words and ideas inspired by others. The writers who claim they never do this and are totally original must have some kind of 'memory loss' -may be triggered by their own ego… Nothing is new in the world of creation and we all know this! We all get 'inspired by' others artist's works–Picasso used Degas's paintings and created a new style (Cubism) from it. Scorsese's use of tracking shots to express an emotion is deeply 'influenced' by Max Ophuls style. In LUCY, Besson's use of shots of nature to symbolize a danger or a human situation in the opening sequence (the interwoven scene between Scarlett delivering a suitcase to a drug dealers and the scene with a leopard chasing an antilope) is also using the same technique and style as Terrence Malick's. So, since we all know we are 'using' other people's work to create our own so why bashing Pizzolatto all of a sudden and saying his work is not legit? Are we sure Ligotti's work was not 'inspired' by someone else's work? I think if someone looks deeper may be they could find some strong ressemblances with Ligotti's inspired writers/philosophers.

By: mustang55

mustang55 — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

Good writers borrow, great writers steal. -T.S. Eliot

By: Rod

Rod — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

funny, i remember reading an early interview with Pizzolatto where he talks about writing a couple of screenplays in a week's time after finishing his novel. i guess we can figure out now how he wrote them so quickly.

the more i read about this, the more damning it seems. yes, he ripped them off. very little question about that. if you're a creative, you are aware there are plenty of tools and techniques you can use to cover your tracks or transcend your influences. hell, even Picasso ripped people off. Pizzolatto ripped Ligotti and Alan Moore nearly word for word. that, i believe, is plagiarism.

the way i see it, i think HBO should definitely throw Ligotti some money, and maybe even Alan Moore (if he'll accept; Gene Ha and Zandor Cannon, the artists of the comic Pizzolatto ripped off, if he doesn't).

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

As far as I can tell this is something that just adds more to the character of Cohle. The guy's an obsessive and maybe as a young guy he stumbled across the work of Ligotti and due to that obsessive nature of his he is able to and regularly does quote his work verbatim since it applies to his own psychological virtues. The Alan Moore example though, of a conversation seemingly lifted wholesale and put in the True Detective universe, is a lot more damning and harder to refute.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

He could have had either one of them say who exactly said it at the time, or even had Harrelson's character call Rust on him lifting all these ideas, thereby diffusing the whole thing.

By: Michael M. Hughes

Michael M. Hughes — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

I wrote about this yesterday when I first heard about it. The examples do not constitute plagiarism, from what I can see. The character of Cohle is quite clearly a inspired by Ligottiâas Pizzolatto has said on a number of occasions. None of the text is lifted verbatim, as anyone can see looking at the examples, but it is clearly "Ligottian" in tone, word choice, and theme.

See my analysis, and also the comments from Davis and Padgett, below the article at michaelmhughes dot com

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

Wow, it seems Pizzolato took the very words of Ligotti and used them as his own. I think he was just inspired by Ligotti. Actually reading the evidence in that link is damning.

By: yer

yer — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

Tarantino plagiarizes since the beginning of his career and people give him awards for it.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

Could it just be that the character of Rusty Cohle was just a big fan of Thomas Ligotti and loved to quote him? lol

By: Barry

Barry — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

As a huge fan of Ligotti it was obvious to me from the moment I saw the first episodes of True Detective that Cohle's rants were heavily influenced by Ligotti. I'm ok with that and didn't consider it plagiarism. It's Pizzolattos' way of dealing with the issue that I don't like, that he didn't admit it until "cornered" and even on DVD commentary tells that some of Cohle's words are influenced by Nietzsche, with no mention of the more obvious influence. Maybe he's not breaking the law, but that's no homage either and seems pretty dishonest to me.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

But Ligotti is a living writer, and that book is a combination of philosophy and literary analysis and fiction. And his work is in copyright–unlike, say, Nietzsche's

Also, you guys might want to take a look at this…

Google "From Five Misconceptions About Plagiarism as Highlighted by Certain Recent Events"

By: Zack

Zack — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

So it sounds like the argument is basically that, by making Cohle an adherent to Ligotti's philosophy, Pizzolatto plagiarized him? That's like accusing "The Big Lebowski" of plagiarizing Nietzsche.

By: Nithin M

Nithin M — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

Heights of joblessness… Has he copied the storyline? Has he lifted the characters? No. He is obviously inspired like all filmmakers and writers are – This is a preposterous way to gain attention. Are these people jealous of the fact that he has been able to create such an amazing television show? You can start saying that most works of art are plagiarized (if that's the case)…

By: johnny b

johnny b — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

Seems like he borrowed the philosophy expressed by another writer, but he didn't steal plot details.

Also, if you enjoyed the show, do you really care? Even if all he's doing is assembling a story from the best parts of other stories, if they are exciting and compelling I don't really mind.

By: Washington

Washington — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:31 +0000

"If people are good only because they fear punishmentâ¦ then we are a sorry lot indeed"

So anyone whose expressed this idea is quoting einstein, who is the sole originator of this idea? give me a f*cking break.

I guess he was also plagiarizing Raymond Chandler too, since it was all a conspiracy that lead back to the rich guy, and every detective story writer since Raymond Chandler was also a plagiarist and nobody noticed.

By: scoo

scoo — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:30 +0000

Some of these comments are totally off course. All writers take inspiration from other stories and sources, that is natural. However, I have NEVER quoted directly from another writer in anything I write – that is wrong. I do have a section where a character is paraphrasing a dead writer, but the characters directly says that he is paraphrasing this writer, and his name. I honestly think what Pizollato did is wrong. I think he could have used the same philosophy but put it in the character's own words, or at least have the character mention that he read Ligotti and shared some of his philsophies. That would have been okay as far as I'm concerned. I feel he was stealing another writer's brilliant words and taking credit for it because no one has read Ligotti.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:30 +0000

Sorry, but the sentiment behind that Einstein quote has been expressed a million different times but a million different people, including myself when im halfway into a good bottle of bourbon. That\’s hardly an original thought.

By: Scoo

Scoo — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:30 +0000

I enjoyed the show, and was really blown away by some of Rust's dialogue. However, after reading the quotes from Ligotti and Rust's dialogue it's pretty obvious that a lot of it was closely reworded, which I would consider a form of plagiarism. I don't think using philosophies would be plagiarism, if they were put into the author's own words. Some of the quotes I read were almost word for word.

By: Mayan morning

Mayan morning — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:53:30 +0000

Dude, don't you know enough to steal from dead people? They can't sue you.