# Why are "based on a true story" movies so arbitrarily fictionalized?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522>\
**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:** 1\
**Showing post:** 83

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**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 9, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-based-on-a-true-story-movies-so-arbitrarily-fictionalized/721522/83 "2015-06-09T21:13:27Z")

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It’s a losing battle, folks. From the Jurassic Park thread:

> [@Jurassic World looks dumb (New Trailer)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-world-looks-dumb-new-trailer/705622/43):
>
> Who cares? It’s fiction.  
> I go to movies to be entertained, not to study or learn about history.
> 
> I’ve loved my fair share of “popcorn” movies. No plot? Flimsy reasoning? Totally incorrect information? Hell, as long as it has lots of special effects, CGI and maybe some explosions, I’ll probably like it.

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