It is one thing to be inspired by one work of art and so make
another. This inspiration will involve the use of at least a few elements of
the story doing the inspiring, and that is fine. An idea worth expressing and exploring
can probably stand to be approached a few different times and from a few
different angles. This is part of the ongoing conversation between artist and
audience. The audience consists of human beings (all of whom are artists to one
degree or another) and some of them will make artifacts in response to
artifacts.
Although at times they simply say “inspired by”, this is one
use of the term “based on” as seen in the credits of many a movie. This is a
strange term; a metaphor that never seems apt. In this first case – stories inspired
by other stories (like The Terminator, Total Recall, or The Omega Man) – the
works are more “based off” their inspirations (as some with a scattershot approach
to prepositions would say). They sort of take a running leap off whatever they
started with and end up somewhere else.
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| A man in a costume inspired by Gandalf the Grey. |
But, there is another use of the term
