WE know that it is important to do as much as we can to stay green, help conserve the environment and yada, yada, yada.

Every day people try to do their bit for the cause in small ways that we know and can like recycling and re-using things.

The Hollywood bigwigs, though, prefer to use the ”reduce and reuse” concept differently — they reduce the number of movies with original plotlines and recycle the old ones. How ”environmentally friendly”!

Check out this list of recycled plot lines. You will realise that we have all been watching the same movies over and over again, without complaining!

Storyline #1: A male traveller lands in a foreign land, meets an exotic gal and falls head over heels in love with her. Soon, a war ensues and traveller is torn between his and her country. What to do, what to do?

Well, that is Disney’s Pocahontas for you. Not a major blockbuster hit, but the movie did introduce us to Vanessa Williams’ haunting Colours Of The Wind.

Recycled version: It took James Cameron 14 years to work on a movie about a soldier who is sent to a foreign land, where he meets and falls in love with a local girl. Soon his loyalty is divided between the ”foreigners” and his own people.

Does the Avatar storyline sound familiar? Oh well, at least Cameron jazzed it up by painting the characters blue.

Storyline #2: Aliens land on Earth and humans are forced to deal with the consequences of their company. Humans treat aliens badly and the latter plan to seek revenge. Alien Nation portrayed ”Newcomers” as aliens with limited intelligence who were bred as labourers with no positive outlook in life.

The aliens in the movie are used as metaphors for socially-conflicted minority groups in the United States like homosexuals, African-Americans and women.

Recycled version: More than 20 years later, we are introduced to ”Prawns”, a breed of aliens stranded on Earth and working as labourers in District 9. In this movie aliens are used as metaphors to represent the oppressed Apartheid-era Africans and the growing number of refugees in third world countries.

Storyline #3: College kids out having fun witness a murder or accidentally murder someone or land in a crazy town full of murderers. The ”murdered man” is then out on the hunt for the college kids. Usually, the murderer kills them one by one, leaving clues like I Know What You Did Last Summer or make phone calls in the middle of the night or just show up in their room holding an axe.

The prettiest girl often gets killed in a gruesome manner, while the not-so-pretty girl and her boyfriend survive in the end.

Recycled version: How can we forget Paris Hilton’s award-worthy scream in House Of Wax? Funnily enough, the movie is a remake of a 1953 movie of the same name, which itself is a remake of 1933 movie called Mystery Of The Wax Museum.

Storyline #4: In Deep Impact, a comet the size of Jessica Simpson’s … hometown (Texas), heads right towards Earth and unless a bunch of under-qualified US citizens stop it in its track, we are all doomed.

Recycled version: In Armageddon, an asteroid, also the size of Texas, apparently, is on a collision course with Earth, and a bunch of under-qualified people are sent to stop it.

Well, the movie did have Aerosmith’s I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing (which some people appreciated while others hated), as well as Ben Affleck who was still in his cute phase then.

Storyline #5: People have different takes on love. Some love the idea of love and some hate it, while others are indifferent. Love, Actually featured a long list of A-list actors such as Emma Thompson, Kiera Knightley and Colin Firth whose characters are connected through one common thread — love.

Moral of the story: Everyone finds love.

Recycled version: This year’s Valentine’s Day featured a whole bunch of Hollywood stars. The film showed the drama that people in love and out of love; people who are looking for love; people who reject love etc have to go through.

In the end, one thing was clear … everyone finds love, eventually.

Sharm says: Do you know of any other movies that share similar storylines? Well, tell me … and oh, follow me on twitter.com/sotscene.