Home
We laugh at Russian propaganda. But Hollywood history is just as fake
Simon Jenkins
From Churchill to Getty, the trust we rely on to interpret the world is being corroded by an entertainment industry that has lost faith in fiction
She staggers on to the screen, blood streaming from her face. Some of her wounds are flesh ones, but others are deep. Nobody cares, because her performance is sensational. Her name is truth, and she has taken a terrible beating.
The new thriller All the Money in the World, based on the kidnap of John Paul Getty III in 1973, carries an announcement that it is “inspired by” true events and that its genre is “history”. What does that mean, since some of it is clearly not true? Why not say it is “inspired by lies”, and its genre is fiction? That would be true.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/11/hollywood-history-churchill-getty-trust-fiction
Simon Jenkins
From Churchill to Getty, the trust we rely on to interpret the world is being corroded by an entertainment industry that has lost faith in fiction
She staggers on to the screen, blood streaming from her face. Some of her wounds are flesh ones, but others are deep. Nobody cares, because her performance is sensational. Her name is truth, and she has taken a terrible beating.
The new thriller All the Money in the World, based on the kidnap of John Paul Getty III in 1973, carries an announcement that it is “inspired by” true events and that its genre is “history”. What does that mean, since some of it is clearly not true? Why not say it is “inspired by lies”, and its genre is fiction? That would be true.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/11/hollywood-history-churchill-getty-trust-fiction