When 'Based On A True Story' Is Actually A Lie

the internet's not written in pencil Mark it's written in ink as if every thought that tumbles through your head was so clever it would be a crime for it not to be shared storytelling is one of the most human Endeavors a way to flat out entertain connect with one another or Inspire or tell stories about those that entertained or inspired us but in recounting those stories and Inspirations how beholden to the truth should those creators remain and when does a lie turn into entertainment or when does it cross the line into malice you want answers I think I'm entitled you want answers I want the truth you can't handle the truth with movies and TV series often claiming broadly different interpretations it can be difficult to discern what is really true ranging from based on a true story or inspired by true events the terminology is getting more and more loose in order to serve the author's intended purpose telling a story when a filmmaker decides to abbreviate a life or career into a 2-hour movie some concessions have to be made take classic Underdog sports movie Rudy for [Music] example the film is still sort of a gold standard for the underdog works hard Against All Odds to win over the dismissive world kind of film and while some of it is true the film omits the fact that the real Rudy enlisted in the Navy After High School and had several veteran benefits while at Notre Dame never being forced to sleep on grounds or pays way with odd jobs famed 49er quarterback Joe Montana was also on the team at the same time and has said of the film it a movie remember not all that's true crowd wasn't chanting nobody threw in their jerseys he worked his butt off to get where he was but not any harder than anybody else like a lot of these types of movies the story was meant to inspire and sometimes lying or embellishing is part of the story stories are more fragile than people usually think sometimes in order to tell that story facts and characters have to be rearranged in Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor history is dramatically Rewritten the timeline of events is all over the place one of the more egregious moments is when Bay shows the Japanese planes attacking a civilian Hospital which just flatly didn't happen with the pilots even having orders to avoid civilians altogether light incoming get them away from the windows the director himself said that he intended for the moment to make the Japanese seem more barbaric which is an odd thing to do 60 years after the genuine moment of tragedy while the movie was littered with more inaccuracies most Shrugged it off as nobody watches a Michael Bay movie to learn history but it does beg the question are some people more qualified or even allowed to tell a true story recently Martin Scar's killers of the flower moon was released based on the book by David Gran scari and DiCaprio have talked endlessly about the cultural Consultants cooperation with the oage and how they have worked tirelessly to avoid the white savior stereotype popularized by movies like The Last Samurai it is genuinely not our place to say whether or not they succeeded but it clearly didn't work for everyone this film was not made for an oage audience it was made for everybody not oage this is an opportunity for them to ask themselves this question of morality it is highly recommended you read the entire Twitter thread but reservation dog star Dey Jacobs Ed a very thoughtful reaction with this is the issue when non-native directors are given the Liberty to tell our stories they Center the white perspective and focus on Native people's pain one of the most famous not true stories is the Cohen brother 's Fargo with a flat out based on a true story at the beginning of the movie the film is based on no one particular case the movie instead seems like someone pursuing a true crime headline database and filling in the blanks you lied to me Mr lard you're a bald face liar some people have connected aspects of the film's plot to various cases but that makes the fiction of it all seem much more ingenuous yes that is probably a horrible condemnation of us as a society when there are just so many crimes that it would be impossible to to not find some reoccurring beats that's because Humanity often goes through the same beats a lot when retelling a musicians rise to fame they often follow a particular formula meet the unappreciated artist see them start from nothing except Raw Talent watch their meteoric rise witness their inevitable downfall due to Vice or insecurity and rejoice as they land on their feet the formula is often Abridged and abbreviated in order to fit a timeline or clean up Loose Ends but being somewhat truthful isn't always entertaining not when artists like Weird Al are making biopics in the most Weird Al way possible what something you always wanted to do but you were never allowed to make up new words to a song that already exists weird the AL yanic story is the highly fictional story of his rise to fame only after following the formula for a while it goes off the rails in the best ways possible in order to not only Lampoon the genre but also act as a movie version of a song parody whether these movies are comedies or not isn't really important when making a quote unquote true story most recently Ridley Scott released Napoleon a historical biography about the famous French guy from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure you ditch Napoleon deacon do you realize you have stranded one of Europe's greatest leaders in San Deus he was a in the movie there's a scene where Napoleon's Army fires cannons at several Egyptian Pyramids which again just flat out didn't happen unlike Ba's malicious manipulation and Pearl Harbor Scott has said I don't know if he did that but it was a fast way of saying he took Egypt here the director is using the reframing of true events as shorthand it was the same with David Fincher The Social Network while the movie frames Facebook's creation as a result of being dumped that moment never really happened but it is an excellent way to introduce fur's version of Mark Zuckerberg a spiteful and Sinister man dead set on being more than what he's been told he is you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd it'll be because you're anle if you ask if it works to propel the story the answer is abs absolutely is it truthful not entirely but maybe that's not the problem while it was joked earlier that nobody should be taking history lessons from the guy who made the rock the same could be said about any person who made any Blockbuster movie these people are storytellers they spend a wonderful yarn and we should appreciate that but maybe we shouldn't believe every detail they utter the problem arises when we as an audience blindly accept everything we're shown that's backed by millions of dollars familiar faces and special effects and these things do get people talking a safe bet that often results in Oscar nominations record sales and box office returns there's a reason the genre of true story has existed for so long and the Oscar goes to greenbook there's an idea that there are three sides to every story Yours Mine and the truth while it's a nice colloquial saying it's important to focus on the wording three sides to every story there's a true truth in there somewhere but it's often hidden behind jokes necessity brevity and bias honestly that's all right there are history books and learned historians we are exposed to thanks to the stories we are told myths like Robin Hood and King Arthur expose generation after generation to real historical moments like the Crusades or the complicated relationship between Britain and Roman Empires that's how we should interact with these types of stories as a mean to educate yourself as an audience we have a responsibility to not just accept everything we are told stories are meant to entertain connect us with each other and Inspire sometimes that inspiration is one of education and learning and frankly that's beautiful even if the first thing you should learn is to take based on a true story or inspired by true events with a giant barrel of salt and so what do you think what are some of your favorite altars a story has made to history let us know down in the comments below and as always thank you for watching nerd stalic sh

Channel: Nerdstalgic

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Keywords: Based on a True Story, Based on True Events, Inspired by True Events, Biopics, Biopic Movies, Nerdstalgic, Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer True Story, Oppenheimer Real Life, Oppenheimer Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer Barbie, Bohemian Rhapsody, Bohemian Rhapsody True Story, Bohemian Rhapsody Freddie Mercury, The Social Network, The Social Network Facebook, The Social Network Mark Zuckerberg, Rudy, Rudy Movie, New Rockstars, Screen Crush, IGN, Corridor Crew, Nerd

Id: im8m4uv9nzE

Length: 8min 5sec (485 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 19 2024