Is There A Difference?

United States
December 6, 2010 8:44pm CST
I'm usually interested in seeing movies that are about true stories, but I have a question for you all. Is there a difference between movies when they say "inspired by true events" and "the incredible true story." When they say "inspired by" (like in the case of Unstoppable) is the movie loosely based on a real life occurrence? As good as Unstoppable was, it really wasn't anything like the news story it was "inspired" by. Obviously, the movie was much more interesting. But movies like 127 Hours say "the incredible true stories" and they are much more accurate to their real life counterparts. So is that an actual difference between the two phrases, or is that something I've just come up with on my own? Or perhaps there isn't a real difference between the two? Just something I was thinking about! Haha
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7 responses
7 Dec 10
There really is no difference between the two phrases. Whenever a movie is made which relates to a true story or someone's life it is taken that in turning the story into a screenplay a certain amount of poetic licence will be used with the facts. That could be a change in the timeline of events or almost a complete rewrite of everything just using the actual true story as an idea for something bigger. I have to say I would love for there to be a classified difference so that if a movie is "inspired by" you know that the idea is based on truth but the characters and events are for the most fictitious. Where as "the incredible true story" would relate more closer to the truth.
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@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
18 Dec 10
Inspired by means that the actual story inspired the movie maker to make a movie...it need have no correlation to the truth therefore...lol. It's the difference between stating the facts and changing the facts. The characters might have the same name but boring becomes personable and maybe the outcome is similar or close to the actual outcome. I'm not sure how they get away with narrative license. The writer likes the story better and thinks it will make a better movie if it's done his way.
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• Australia
12 Dec 10
My perception of the phrase inpired by tru events is that the movie or book is based loosely on the facts U& that there could be alot of made up characters & events surrounding what actually happened.
@sagnik42 (3592)
• India
8 Dec 10
Hi lily, I think the movies which are based on a true event are always loosely based upon it. There is hardly a movie which can claim that it depicts a completely true story for as it is. Fiction plays a big part in any movie. It is dramatized to a certain extent. But mainly, according to me, the story itself can be variable. The main theme is the same - definitely. But the facts and details about an event are not always genuine. Now a days with so much media and globalization, it is much easier than before and proper research can actually provide the true story behind an event but I rather doubt that a movie has ever been made showing the exact story as it has been in real life. That is almost impossible to do.
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@alex8288 (290)
• Philippines
7 Dec 10
That is correct my friend.
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@alex8288 (290)
• Philippines
8 Dec 10
The simplest way is to make example Inspired by true events Movie: Hachiko true event: it took place on Japan and the main characters are Japanese Movie: the movie took place in US and the names of the characters are not the same as the true story. The incredible true story Movie: Pirates of the Silicon Valley They said it the story of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, They have the same character Even the actors looks like the true person. The companies are the same and they really re enact the event.
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• United States
3 Jan 11
The difference is exactly what you stated. "Inspired by true events" means that a writer took the original story, and added his/her own creative license to it. One place that you see this quite often is the show "Law and Order", where they take real events from the news papers, and then use literary license to make the story interesting and draw viewers to the show. "The Incredible True Story" is just that. They take the exact account of what happened, and don't add any dramatizations to it. Usually, those kinds of stories are already outlandish and hard to believe, even though its true. So they don't need any help to draw viewers.