Optimistic lawsuit of the week
The creators of animated blockbuster Frozen are being sued for over £150 million after a woman claimed it was based on her life story.
Latin American writer Isabella Tanikumi says that Disney stole her idea when they created the £600 million grossing film. Tanikumi reckons that Frozen is inspired by her self-published 2010 autobiography ‘Yearnings of the Heart‘.
For those unfamiliar with the film, Frozen tells the story of a magical princess who has the ability to turn things into ice. Key characters in the blockbuster — whose plot is heavily inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale ‘The Snow Queen’ — include a talking snowman called Olaf and a troll king named Ciarán. Tanikumi’s autobiography, meanwhile, is about her experiences growing up in the Peruvian Andes with her sister.
As tenuous as the connection seems to the casual observer, Tanikumi is convinced that she has been done over, issuing a claim at New Jersey County Court earlier this week for $250 million (£153 million) against creators Disney.
The three-page lawsuit makes for entertaining reading, listing a host of points where Tanikumi alleges plagiarism, including:
1. Living at the bottom of a mountain
2. Having a sister with a different hair colour who owned a horse
3. Loving her sister
4. Loving a dark-haired, tall, fair man
5. Her boyfriend messing her around
6. Her sister dying (however she accepts in Frozen the sister comes back to life)
6. There being a moon
The full claim — via E! Online — can be enjoyed below: