# Why are "based on a true story" movies so arbitrarily fictionalized? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2015, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522 "2015-06-03T12:30:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/21 "2015-06-03T18:15:41Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Movies based on actual real people should strive to be as close to reality as possible (while telling a good story). Your priorities are different from those of some—perhaps even most—movie makers and movie watchers. To them, the number one priority is making a great movie. (Or some variation on that, like making a profitable movie or making a prestigious movie or making a movie that conveys the effect they’re trying to convey.) Accurately portraying the facts, if it’s on their list of priorities at all, is somewhere below that. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/22 "2015-06-03T18:33:06Z")
If you see a movie called _The Ben Franklin Story_ “based on real events”, the only thing you can be sure of is that a character named Ben Franklin will be in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/23 "2015-06-03T18:56:58Z")
_Selma_ likely lost it’s shot at several big Oscars due to that fact it played very fast and loose with some of the facts, making President Lyndon Johnson a bad guy when in fact he supported MLK. > **[Selma (film) | Historical accuracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_(film)#Historical_accuracy)** > > The historical accuracy of Selma's story has been the subject of controversy about the degree to which artistic license should be used in historical fiction. The film was criticized by some for its omission of various individuals and groups historically associated with the Selma marches, while others challenged how particular historical figures in the script were represented. > Most controversy in the media centered on the film's portrayal of President Johnson and his relationship with King. Accor... _Having served as Johnson’s top domestic policy assistant (including on issues of civil rights) and as U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Califano questioned whether the writer and director felt “free to fill the screen with falsehoods, immune from any responsibility to the dead, just because they thought it made for a better story”._[80] ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/24 "2015-06-03T19:07:07Z")
I kind of feel like the disclaimer “Based on a true story” should obligate the producer to identify their sources and any major departures from accepted fact. You know, essentially the same way a student puts a bibliography or footnotes in their research papers as citations. Especially true in the age of the Internet where a simple link to the movie’s website can provide all the information we never wanted. If a movie producer did real research, then they already have that information. If they just winged it, or don’t want to cite sources, then they should change the names to protect the innocent and remove the “based on a true story” claim. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/25 "2015-06-03T19:16:50Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > I kind of feel like the disclaimer “Based on a true story” should obligate the producer to identify their sources and any major departures from accepted fact. You know, essentially the same way a student puts a bibliography or footnotes in their research papers as citations. Especially true in the age of the Internet where a simple link to the movie’s website can provide all the information we never wanted. > > If a movie producer did real research, then they already have that information. If they just winged it, or don’t want to cite sources, then they should change the names to protect the innocent and remove the “based on a true story” claim. When I went to see the movie _Executive Action_\* it came with a little newspaper’s worth of footnotes and citations for the film. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen a movie do that. (When David Lynch’s _Dune_ first opened, they gave out little Glossary sheets, kinda like the glossary in the back of Herbert’s book. But it’s not the same thing. \*A dramatized film from the early 1970s claiming that the assassination of JFK was a conspiracy. Think of it as the **JFK** before Oliver Stone’s **JFK**. Notable for casting Grandpa Walton (Will Geer) as one of the guys behind the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/26 "2015-06-03T19:28:57Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Go for it. If [Abe Lincoln](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1611224/?ref_=nv_sr_1) can fight vampires, and [Elvis](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281686/?ref_=nv_sr_1) can team up with a black JFK to fight a mummy, I see no reason a black Bob Dylan shouldn’t race in NASCAR and fly fighter jets. It sounds awesome! 🙂 Speaking of black Bob Dylans - [it’s been done.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368794/) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/27 "2015-06-03T19:35:05Z")
> [@solost](#): > > And while I’m on the topic of biopics of great scientists/mathematicians, how about “A Beautiful Mind”, where it’s revealed that > > John Nash’s buddy/confidante, who he’s been talking to throughout the entire film, turns out to be a figment of his imagination. Nash didn’t have an imaginary friend in real life. There is a lot more fictionalized in that movie than that, and more important things. a major theme was the relationship of Nash and Alicia, so the movie left out the fact that she divorced him and was having an affair with another mathematician for much of the time he was living in her house. Because, I think, the actual story was a bit more complex emotionally than they wanted to show in the movie. Even if you are writing a memoir, you need to be selective about what to include. If you don’t select things that make a story of some kind, your memoir will sink like a stone, and be boring. I read Keith Richards’ autobiography. From the publicity material, I though it was going to be significantly about music, but it was almost entirely about drugs and risky behavior. I’m sure that was an excellent marketing choice, but it left me cold. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/28 "2015-06-03T20:53:57Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Even if you are writing a memoir, you need to be selective about what to include. If you don’t select things that make a story of some kind, your memoir will sink like a stone, and be boring. > I read Keith Richards’ autobiography. From the publicity material, I though it was going to be significantly about music, but it was almost entirely about drugs and risky behavior. I’m sure that was an excellent marketing choice, but it left me cold. Well, there’s a difference between _being selective_ and _making shit up._ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/29 "2015-06-03T23:21:08Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > I agree that the fictionalization is often because of wanting to tell a story about the greater truth, or for sake of drama. > > But also, scripts go through multiple drafts. Like I wouldn’t be surprised if a screenwriter wrote a script about Teddy Roosevelt or someone that was 90% true to life in the first draft. Then he revises it on his own, and changes around some stuff for a smoother story and to make it less exposition heavy, and it’s down to 85 or 80% true. Then when he sells it, there might be another screenwriter who goes over it, bringing it down to 70% true. Then when there are directors and actors attached, and they want to do certain things and not do other certain things, it brings it down to 50% true. Not that that’s what happens every time, but I think it does happen some. Make the original writer the guy who the movie is about and give the lead actor nearly free reign to improv, thus knocking it down to 5% or so, you get _Good Morning, Vietnam_. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/30 "2015-06-04T02:14:51Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Yeah, I agree. Saving Private Ryan is a good example. It was indeed based on real events, in that there were actually a group of 4 brothers ([the Niland Brothers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niland_brothers)) where 3 were thought killed, and the Normandy paratrooper survivor was sent home as a result, and that there were [the 5 Sullivan brothers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_brothers), all killed on the USS Juneau earlier in the war. > > But there’s no attempt to actually portray the story of Ryan as the story of Fritz Niland; it’s clearly a similar, but fictional story taking place at the same time and place as real events, with no real (or very few) real people portrayed. > > On the other hand, there’s “Braveheart”, which takes place within the context of the early stages of the First Scottish War of Independence. Almost everybody who wasn’t a Scottish peasant was a real historical personage, and [a LOT of what happened in the movie is untrue, and misleading.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braveheart#Historical_inaccuracy) With the Niland story reality just didn’t make it a good enough story. Fritz Niland wasn’t found by a group of Rangers in the middle of a fire fight. He was found by a chaplain a few days after D-Day. And one of his bothers survived. He was captured by the Japanese but at the time he was missing and presumed dead. SPR had a better ending. I remember watching The Sullivans on TV one afternoon without knowing the story. It was quite a jolt. When Ward Bond shows up at the house to deliver the news and the mother asks calmly “How many?” “All five.” Chilling. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/31 "2015-06-04T07:34:05Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > But so many of the changes didn’t make any sense on any level. Like, shutting down trying to break the code if you didn’t break it by midnight? Yes, it means you can’t read today’s secret messages until tomorrow. It also means you can’t read today’s secret messages in real time, and act on that intelligence in real time. So? Breaking the secret messages tomorrow or next week is still pretty fucking helpful. That’s an easy one. They needed a ticking clock to create more drama. > [@](#): > > And then the annoying tropes like the wrongheaded commanding officer. Seriously we’ve got to throw in the wrongheaded commanding officer who wants you off the force? And then the war is over, so take all your computers and codebreaking skills and notebooks and set them on fire, we won’t need to break codes anymore now that the war is over! You pretty much explained that one yourself. It’s a trope–a building block of a story. Pointless changes are pointless, but these are very clearly changed to make the story more dramatic. Like it or not, that’s what we do as human story tellers. And the medium of big Hollywood film has even more restraints than basic storytelling. If the restraints aren’t followed, people feel there’s something off about the movie. Making an accurate movie isn’t as important as making one that maximizes the money you get from it. Why would it be otherwise in a commercial film making enterprise? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/32 "2015-06-04T08:28:48Z")
It’s not just making a “great movie” its often just changing things to fit the standard tropes which mainstream movies and particularly US mainstream movies must use lest too many people be taken outside their comfort zone. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/33 "2015-06-04T08:48:00Z")
“Argo” pissed off all of Canada. The story would have been just as dramatic if it stuck to the truth, but instead the CIA had to play the central role with Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor taking the back seat. I haven’t seen the movie because of all the inaccuracies I’ve read about it. I’d be embarrassed to watch it. The Canadian embassy was responsible for freeing those hostages. The fictional story directed by Ben Affleck was a slap in the face to Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/34 "2015-06-04T10:44:03Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > “Argo” pissed off all of Canada. The story would have been just as dramatic if it stuck to the truth, but instead the CIA had to play the central role with Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor taking the back seat. I haven’t seen the movie because of all the inaccuracies I’ve read about it. I’d be embarrassed to watch it. The Canadian embassy was responsible for freeing those hostages. The fictional story directed by Ben Affleck was a slap in the face to Canadians. Suit yourself. You’re missing out on a very good movie. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/35 "2015-06-04T13:43:11Z")
Imitation game needed a “villain” to spice up the story and that’s the role the Charles Dance character played. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/36 "2015-06-04T14:18:53Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > “Argo” pissed off all of Canada. The story would have been just as dramatic if it stuck to the truth, but instead the CIA had to play the central role with Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor taking the back seat. I haven’t seen the movie because of all the inaccuracies I’ve read about it. I’d be embarrassed to watch it. The Canadian embassy was responsible for freeing those hostages. The fictional story directed by Ben Affleck was a slap in the face to Canadians. The minimising - and in fact implying that they hindered things - the role of the British was widely reported in the UK at the time. > **[Ben Affleck's new film 'Argo' upsets British diplomats who helped Americans...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9622647/Ben-Afflecks-new-film-Argo-upsets-British-diplomats-who-helped-Americans-in-Iran.html)** > > British diplomats took risks to help Americans being hunted in revolutionary Iran, but Ben Affleck's new film Argo tells a very different story - to the anger of British diplomats. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/37 "2015-06-04T14:39:18Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > “Argo” pissed off all of Canada. The story would have been just as dramatic if it stuck to the truth, but instead the CIA had to play the central role with Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor taking the back seat. I haven’t seen the movie because of all the inaccuracies I’ve read about it. I’d be embarrassed to watch it. The Canadian embassy was responsible for freeing those hostages. The fictional story directed by Ben Affleck was a slap in the face to Canadians. It’s not just Canada. Even if I didn’t know the real facts, the movie had too many stupid scenes, such as the car/jet chase down the runway, to be considered a great movie. (And U-571 never pretended to be ‘the truth’ about capturing an Enigma machie. It’s just a war movie. get over it people!) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/38 "2015-06-04T14:58:30Z")
Some great examples of what I’m talking about, like Connecticut’s vote in Lincoln depicted incorrectly for no good plot purpose, and LBJ being portrayed as the “Bad Guy” in Selma, when in fact he was highly supportive of MLK and the Civil Rights movement. Like I said, I understand dramatic license, and to some extent, the need for movies to fit within a certain framework. I think the “people expect tropes” argument is a little fallacious though. “People expect tropes because that’s what we give them, so that’s what they expect”. And even if you accept a trope like “there has to be a bad guy”, they couldn’t have come up with a more accurate “bad guy” in Selma than LBJ? I think Sam Lowry has it most right- scripts based on factual events might start out 90% accurate, but with each rewrite and “punch-up” every writer wants to add their own spin to the story, facts be damned. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/39 "2015-06-04T16:38:59Z")
Sam Goldwyn seethed at the “Goldwynisms” attributed to him, but he never thought twice about juggling the facts in the movie \* Pride of the Yankees, \* to give an example. He thought his way would make for a better movie; seems to me like practicing psychology without a license. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/40 "2015-06-04T17:01:53Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Imitation game needed a “villain” to spice up the story and that’s the role the Charles Dance character played. They needed a villain? The Germans were right there across the channel. It was like making a movie about the Manhattan Project, except making Einstein in charge of the Manhattan Project, and have Einstein overrule Truman on dropping the bombs, and have Einstein fly the Enola Gay over Hiroshima, and have the bomb not work at the last minute so Einstein has to punch his co-pilot Oppenheimer (who is a Russian spy) into unconsciousness and crawl out into the bomb bay and cut the red wire in time to drop the bomb on the massive Japanese battle fleet that’s about to sail forth to attack America. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522.md?page=3)