Lecture
Hooray for Hollywood Reel Life: Film Biography
Fiction, Fable and Fact, Part Two
Rick Harris, lecturer
The “true” stories of kings, queens, world leaders, songwriters, musicians, athletes, scientists and everyday heroes continue to be told by screenwriters and directors, many of whom embellish their history to craft a more compelling story. In the second part of a two-part program, we will explore the intersection of real-life events and fictional narratives in film, separate truth from mythology and examine if creativity superseding historical accuracy is really worth it.
Since the early days of talkies, Hollywood has used “Based on a True Story” to highlight a person’s extraordinary life or a real event, often blurring the line between fact and fiction, even changing events, merging characters or simply making “stuff” up to prioritize storytelling over historical accuracy. In Reel Life: Film Biography – Fiction, Fable and Fact, we separate truth from mythology and examine if creativity superseding historical accuracy is really worth it.
This presentation is part of Rick Harris' Hooray for Hollywood series.