Back in college, one of my lecturers told us to watch the film “Casino” by the next class. When I returned, he asked me what I thought about the film. I told him that I admired the acting in the film and the technical aspects such as the cinematography and score. However, I also said that I found the film to be a typical gangster film and that I didn’t understand why it was a story that needed to be told. His response was “But it’s based on a true story”.
This is an answer that infuriates me and yet it is an answer that I hear frequently. There seems to be a mindset that if something is based on a true story, whether it be a film, TV series, book, etc, it somehow elevates it to the level of being intellectual and beyond criticism. Logically, this also convinces people that stories of pure fiction are somehow subpar and have little cultural merit.
These thoughts and opinions are easily seen in this article where films critics and audiences reserved their highest marks for films based on real life. It is also unsurprising to see that these films do particularly well at the Oscars (one of many reasons why I no longer care for that award ceremony). To most people, it must seem that real-life stories are inherently better than fiction.
Of course, this could not be further from the truth. Sci-fi and fantasy series such as The Twilight Zone and Star Trek: The Original Series were amongst the first American television series to tackle real world issues such as racism and paranoia. The fact that these shows did not deal with the topics directly and, instead, made use of allegories and symbolism allowed them to avoid the harsh censorship of the time period.
It has also been proven that you are no more likely to be more emotional about a real-life story than a fictional story. Instead, what we find is that people are denying themselves new experiences because of false preconceptions. This lack of open-mindedness to new genres and experiences is exactly one of the problems that many creative industries face.
I don’t want people to think that I consider media “based on true stories” to be inherently inferior to fiction either. I have seen and read many fantastic films and books based on true events but I don’t think one should think of these as inherently good simply because it is based on reality. I simply want both fiction and real-life stories to be held to the same standard of criticism. Let me know your thoughts on this and any experiences you have had in relation to this.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!