SHOWTIME hasn’t had a lot to write home about lately in terms of successes. The once vaunted rival network to HBO brought us series like “Shameless,” “Dexter,” “The L Word,” and “Californication” amongst others. Now, the only thing they really have going strong for them is “Yellowjackets.” But that jewel in the crown is accused of ripping the plot and character ideas of a 2015 survival film called “Eden.”
If you haven’t watched “Yellowjackets” yet, we don’t really want to go into spoiler territory but when discussing elements of a story allegedly being stolen, some spoiler elements are inevitable. The story involves a women’s soccer team traveling by plane over Canada. The plane crashes, survivors are left to fend for themselves, and it doesn’t go well. A combination of rivalries, friction, cliques, and the need to survive lead to some cannibalism and some other barbaric activity.
The production team behind “Eden” alleges the SHOWTIME series “copied” the “most substantive elements” of the film to make their series. Both projects have a plane crash of a soccer team, though it’s a men’s team in the film.
“In both works, the survivors, which include various players and the coach, among others, must fight for their lives against the harsh elements, starvation through dwindling resources, and the psychological toll of isolation in the form of growing darkness within themselves,” the complaint states.
Beyond this, the claimed similarities also involve what the respective coaches go through and how both the film and the series mix the genres of horror, drama, and dark comedy together with a “slow-burn approach” to the storytelling. Eden Film Production is seeking an injunction against the series in addition to damages, the amount of which are unspecified.
The problem with this lawsuit is the idea of a sports team surviving a plane crash and resorting to cannibalism is an actual, real-life event. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes mountains back in 1972 carrying a rugby team. Those who survived the crash were subjected to incredibly harsh weather conditions that resulted in more deaths. The remaining survivors did turn to cannibalism in order to survive. This was even the subject of a book that was turned into the 1993 film, “Alive.”
What’s more, the idea of different sects and a charismatic leader forming amongst plane crash survivors, kids at that, was done in William Golding‘s 1954 book, “Lord of the Flies.” While those kids in the novel are younger than the ones in “Yellowjackets,” its safe to assume a fair amount of inspiration came from that source material.
Of course, we can’t say for sure that this lawsuit is without merit. We don’t know what the writers and producers of “Yellowjackets” were thinking of and what they were inspired by. We do know “Eden” was not a film that saw a wide theatrical release, and people probably haven’t heard about until this lawsuit was filed. It’s far more likely that real-life events and “Lord of the Flies” had a lot more to do with “Yellowjackets” than “Eden” did. We’re guessing that if the lawsuit goes forward, it won’t have much of a chance, but we’ll see what happens.
You can catch seasons 1 and 2 of “Yellowjackets” on SHOWTIME. Season 3 is still forthcoming.
