Martin Scorcese is a Plagiarist

In an attempt at being productive this afternoon, I plopped down in front of the TV and opened up my rickety laptop to get some writing done. My slightly shameful habit on Sunday afternoons is to find a lame, unchallenging movie that I can half-watch while I pretend to write, but actually check electoral polls on an hourly basis. Usually, I check TBS, WE! and Oxygen, hoping for something like "Baby Boom" or "Stepmom." Basically anything that stars Diane Keaton and where having the volume on is not entirely necessary to understanding the plot. This afternoon while I waited for "Because I Told you So" to start, I watched a few minutes of the heart-wrenching classic, "An American Tail." If you were 7 years old in 1987, you were probably obsessed with this movie too. I watched for a few minutes when it dawned on me: "Gangs of New York" is basically a live action remake of "An American Tail." And yes, Leonardo DiCaprio is Fievel.




They're both plucky orphans with cute hats. They both have a prejudice against other "species"--for Fievel, it's cats, for Leo, it's Natives.

I think Marty has some explaining to do.