True Story?

Note: Before reading My Thoughts, please read My Disclaimer!

I like a good movie as much as anyone. But, I'm very skeptical about movies (or television shows) that are "based on a true story" or are "inspired by a true story".

If a movie is about real people and real things that happened to them, then tell me the truth about it. Don't dress it up with lies just so it is more entertaining. That's incredibly dishonest to me and insulting to the real people by fabricating stories about them.

Hollywood would probably claim that they produce their products based on what sells. Why does the public value entertainment at the expense of the truth?

Similarly, I despise seeing the term "dramatization". It is another euphemism for "based on a true story" -- substituting fiction for fact in order to make the story more appealing. When you see that in a commercial, it means "We've ridiculously eggagerated the effectiveness of our product in pictures but disclaimed that with words. Since a picture is worth a thousand words and our disclaimer took just one sentence in fine print that no one will read anyway, we figure we're way ahead."

Companies have latched on to this concept so well that they've started advertising their weaknesses as their strengths. Cell phone providers claim "it's all about the network" when they have a poor one compared to their competitors. Fast food restaurants claim to have healthy food when it is loaded with sugar, trans fats, cholesterol, and sodium, among other "fun" stuff. The list goes on and on. "Truth in advertizing" seems to have become an oxymoron.