There’s a lot of buzz online at the minute about a video doing the rounds from U.K. online content specialists Purplefeather.
In the video (seen below), a blind beggar is struggling to get people to put money in his tin. They see him, but most walk by. Then a girl walks by, sees the man, looks at his sign and has a brainwave (I won’t spoil it in case you haven’t seen the video yet).
It’s this action, and the message behind it, that’s resulted in all the buzz about the video. Not surprising – it’s a powerful message.
But it’s not the original message.
Three years ago, Alonso Alvarez Barreda of Wama Films made a longer video. It was about a blind beggar who was struggling to get people to put money into his tin. A kindly passer-by sees this and… well, you get the picture.
Purplefeather’s video is great, and they mention on their YouTube channel that their video is a homage to Alonso’s video, and it’s always nice to see credit where credit’s due.
But part of me can’t help but wonder if a direct remake was needed over the original, or if a similar point could have been made with a different video. Or are we really out of original ideas, now? I’m also curious if Purplefeather paid the original director, since (to me) it’s more than just a homage (of course, that’s just my cynical business head coming through).
The videos are below (the new version is the first one). What’s your take – imitation or inspiration?
Update: Thanks to Dukeo for the heads-up that the “original” video seems to be a copy itself. And the dearth of originality goes on…