In common language it seems like original and origin have been divorced. I think this is the origin (pun intended) of many of the problems surrounding big 'O' Originality. Problems like copyrighting music with sampling in it, awarding bad patents, or publishing fan fiction based on copyrighted work. These problems are real and can be fixed by using simple middle school math.
The origin of a Cartesian plane is, without argument, original. Things that are origins must be original. (0,0) is the origin of a plane not because (0,0) is special. It is because the people using math choose to orient that plane about that point. It ensures that when they draw a graph a stranger can understand it. There are numbers before zero, naturally, and zero may have interesting properties, but so do many numbers. Zero is the origin because people make the choice to look at other numbers in perspective to it, NOT the other way around.
Something is the original if and when we use it as an origin- When we measure other points in relation that point. That means it's the consumers of content that decide what is original, NOT the creators, nor the lawyers, nor nature itself.
The other edge to this sword is that an origin requires a population, one that we may disagree with. Like so many other things an origin can be forgotten. And when it is it ceases to be original. So no, for many people The Odyssey is not the original epic, they've 'forgotten' about it. An origin cannot exist without an observer and other points to describe, so let's say people are comparing epic stories with Trapped in the Closet. For those people, Trapped in the Closet is the the origin of the epic story. Not because it precedes or is better than other epics, but because it defines the landscape of what they will talk about. It's a social phenomenon, and it requires study and acceptance of the society in which it is measured.
This can be hard to swallow for many people. It takes power from people who studied a craft and proved themselves- historians, musicians, and lawyers- and gives that power to literally anyone. That uneducated buffoon that never read the Odyssey and uses Trapped in the Closet as their origin for epics is right, and that's kind of terrible. There are plenty of people who think that buffoon shouldn't be right about anything. The problem gets compounded when we offer so many rights and protections to originals. Now these people might grant these to something utterly undeserving!
Relax- there are still some origins that are better than others for describing certain planes. It's handy then, that we can reorient ourselves, placing a better fitting origin at the center of our plane, number line, or genre. I do believe that using the Odyssey as the original epic is a better idea than the alternative, but I believe that because the Odyssey has a couple of important things going for it:
- Popularity- saying you're the Facebook of Porn(SFW) only works if people know what Facebook is. YMMV in any given crowd, but chances are high that whomever you're talking to knows about The Odyssey.
- Typical- Some things are not good descriptors of their field. For example, Game of Thrones is an excellent dramatic fantasy, but if I used it as the origin of fantasy I'd have a long list of 'excepts'; The Odyssey is like Game of Thrones except the protagonists win, it's centered around one and only one hero, and the protagonists are unambiguously moral. And I'd have those exceptions when describing majority of fantasies. A better origin would be more typical fantasy.
This is why, for so many people, Star Wars is original and Akira Kurosawa's work is not. Star Wars is far more popular among these people. The fact that George Lucas referred to Kurosawa's work so often is irrelevant, because both works were typical of their field and Star Wars was more accessible. This doesn't mean Star Wars was the first coming of age story, nor the best, and it certainly doesn't mean that Lucas invented that type of story. All it means is that most people would compare the two works by saying "The Hidden Fortress is like Star Wars, but in Japan", and not the other way around.
Does this really solve the problem though? No, not really. But it does something better. Keeping all this in mind makes it clear that originality is not that important- patents, royalties, and similar payments shouldn't necessarily be paid to the original. If anyone deserves that money or protection, it's the predecessor. In my opinion, being original should actually invalidate claims to copyright and similar. Originality proves that this thing will be credited as long as it is relevant and that if there's money to be made this thing's creator is getting the lion's share.
So while doesn't solve anything immediately, but I think it brings us closer to the Truth on the issue. That in turn means that whatever solution we come up with will fit better than the ones we have now. Hopefully there comes a day when these issues are not problematic, but that day won't come as long as we try to contort words to fit our systems instead of the other way around.
