Ellen Page and The Last of US

 

It has come to my attention that Ellen Page is a bit upset that Naughty Dog had used her likeness to create the character of Ellie in The Last of Us. It should be noted that Naughty Dog did redesign Ellie to look more like her voice actor, Ashley Johnson. However, Ellen Page still feels like she’s been ripped off by having her likeness used.

Now I’m not here to debate whether or not Ellie looks like Ellen Page. That point will always be subjective, though I personally think she does but not 100%. Regardless of this, the issue that I bring up is the people who are using the argument that they look like characters in games (or even TV shows and movies).

Virtually every movie that is out there now often has a disclaimer at the end of the credits that goes something like this.

”All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.”

Likeness rights exist for a reason and that’s to protect every single person who exists the right to control the use of their name, image. likeness and any other form that is involved with their person. It’s there to protect from slander and libel as well. It’s also a form of a right to privacy which we in the U.S. seem to hold very dear.

The character disclaimer exists to protect the developers, filmmakers and the like from random people filing lawsuits over likeness rights. This means that Joe Everyman can’t claim that the character used in a work of fiction was deliberately using his likeness for the character.  It doesn’t always work of course and people have sued and, in some cases, have won their cases when they are able to prove that the the work had deliberately used their likeness. For the most part, however, the developers are protected.

Now we come to the Ellen Page’s comments.

It’s easy to accuse her and make claims, whether joking or not, that any one of us looks like a character. There’s a difference though.The difference here is that Ellen Page is not some nobody. She’s a well known actress who has been in many notable roles. Many will notice her as Kitty Pryde in the X-Men films among other famous roles.

Why this is more of an exception than any of us is the fact that it is very hard to believe that Naughty Dog would not have known who she was and that it was all accidental. Sure, there is always a possibility it was accidental but it’s just hard to believe.

The use of her likeness if that is the case is good reason to upset her. Due to her social status it’s, really, now upon Naughty Dog to prove they aren’t if she even takes legal action.

She might have just been voicing her concern or anger but nothing more. She’s within her rights to do whatever and she’s possibly right. That’s all this boils down to. If she sues it’ll be a court case that will surely get coverage on various gaming website publications. If she’s just complaining then that’s all it is and there’s nothing more.

All I’m saying is she’s not deserving of some of the backlash she’s getting over this but that’s just my opinion.