Why does an unoriginal storyline make you not enjoy something?

[Erana]

Its the biggest complaint with Avatar; (also with Eragon, and a countless number of stories) but why does it bother people so bad?
People have been presenting Shakespeare for centuries!Or what about stories like Alice in Wonderland, that keep getting new twists to them?
I mean, even people here at the Escapist comment on how they want their favorite games to be remade...
With some people, it just seems like a lame excuse for them to use so that they can complain about something popular. With many other people, despite their genuine attempts to enjoy something, it does just ruin the fun.
Rarely does unoriginality ruin something for me, but with the people it does, what does it feel like?
Is it this nagging feeling that you get throughout the production? Is it that you know what's going to happen? Does it consciously make you feel ripped off?
And when has it not bothered you?
I am not asking when it has, but specifically why it bothers you.

 

[El Poncho]

Avatar was really, really obvious in my opinion. It's the only film i've noticed it, I usually enjoy the movie unoriginal or not.

 

[Jedoro]

It doesn't bother me if they do it well, which I think they did in Avatar. I loved that movie.

 

[Monkeytacoz]

that was the biggest problem, because the whole movie was predictable and generic. not only that, but it was 3 hours of it

 

[Toaster Hunter]

If it is known what will happen, then what's the point? Without something new or different, thre is nothing more than generic, uninteresting stories.

 

[Erana]

... The problem with it is that things we have seen before have DONE IT BETTER meaning you have wasted your time and/or money rewatching the same old plot with eye masturbation quality tacked on.

Why do you not reread most books? Because it is no fun. If you know exaactly how the story ends just based on the archetypes the story holds no interesting feature.

With Avatar, and even 9, its OK that the story was predictable, largely because of the Exquisite visuals. Is it that you went to see Avatar for the plot in the first place?

If it is known what will happen, then what's the point? Without something new or different, thre is nothing more than generic, uninteresting stories.

Just name one truly original plot.

 

[Cargando]

I do not normally notice whether a film is unoriginal or not, but with Avatar, I did. I guess it bothered me because instead of wondering what would happen to the characters, I just concentrated on the film, allowing me to pick out all the niggly little things I didn't like about it. If the storyline had kept me interested, I wouldn't have done this.

I don't like being so negative, so I will say that I liked the creatures on it, (except the flying ones). Especially the hammerhead-rhino animal, that good.

 

[NeutralDrow]

It doesn't bother me at all. The only time unoriginal storylines bother me are when they're not well-made and dynamic with good characterization...but that applies to original stories, too.

Hell, if I hated unoriginal stories, I probably wouldn't like the Belgariad/Malloreon books, despite them having some of the greatest characters and best-crafted dialogue ever written.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

it doesn't bug me really, most movies are pretty predictable, the issue with me is if they aren't that entertaining.

with Avatar, yes it was predictable, however it was overly entertaining and that one bad spot of the movie didn't ruin the movie at all, i think it was actually needed. if they tried to do too much with the movie, then it wouldn't have been as good.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Because it bores people who see a lot of movies.
Thankfully, I side-step this whole problem by not seeing many, except the classics.

 

[Gigaguy64]

It only bothers me if it becomes so predictable its not exciting or interesting any more.

In Avatar i had already figured out the plot from the commercials, and while watching the movie i knew how it would end half way through but, the way they presented the story and the things they added to the "recipe" made it a great movie.

If a story is good, the characters are top notch, and it plays out smoothly then i really dont mind the story being "unoriginal"

 

[Kollega]

Its the biggest complaint with Avatar;

Maybe they're formulating it wrong. My problem with Avatar is that it wants to slap me across the face with "OMG humans are such jerks to everyone!" message every fifteen nanoseconds. I heard that one already. Lots and lots of times, to be precise. Thank you very much.

And i didn't really feel like watching 2-hour movie just for the scenery porn. I was kinda apathetic about the whole affair. Maybe i've under-appreciated the sheer head-exploding quality of said scenery porn.

Truth be told, i didn't want to go and sit in movie theater for 2 hours. I'm not a crowd person.

 

[GrinningManiac]

... The problem with it is that things we have seen before have DONE IT BETTER meaning you have wasted your time and/or money rewatching the same old plot with eye masturbation quality tacked on.

Why do you not reread most books? Because it is no fun. If you know exaactly how the story ends just based on the archetypes the story holds no interesting feature.

With Avatar, and even 9, its OK that the story was predictable, largely because of the Exquisite visuals. Is it that you went to see Avatar for the plot in the first place?

If it is known what will happen, then what's the point? Without something new or different, thre is nothing more than generic, uninteresting stories.

Just name one truly original plot.

Daybreakers

Looks REALLY intresting, and it's original

What's wrong with Ol' Bill Shakey? You seem to be confusing "Unoriginal" with "Well-known"

The things that COPY Shakespeare are unoriginal. Shakey was the first

 

[Erana]

... The problem with it is that things we have seen before have DONE IT BETTER meaning you have wasted your time and/or money rewatching the same old plot with eye masturbation quality tacked on.

Why do you not reread most books? Because it is no fun. If you know exaactly how the story ends just based on the archetypes the story holds no interesting feature.

With Avatar, and even 9, its OK that the story was predictable, largely because of the Exquisite visuals. Is it that you went to see Avatar for the plot in the first place?

If it is known what will happen, then what's the point? Without something new or different, thre is nothing more than generic, uninteresting stories.

Just name one truly original plot.

Daybreakers

Looks REALLY intresting, and it's original

What's wrong with Ol' Bill Shakey? You seem to be confusing "Unoriginal" with "Well-known"

The things that COPY Shakespeare are unoriginal. Shakey was the first

Daybreakers? Original?
Isn't the fact that it has vampires unoriginal enough? Everything is derived directly from something else.

 

[hermes]

Because if it's unoriginal, it's predictable. If it's predictable, you are not surprised with what happends, the best you can hope is being amazed by how they happend, which is the feeling I was left with Avatar...