Media in recent years has featured an increase in biopics: a movie or TV show that dramatizes the life events of a real person. Films like Elvis, Bohemian Rhapsody, I, Tonya, and Rocketman hit the box office with high expectations of delivering a thrilling story about beloved pop culture icons. Streaming services have released series’ like Dahmer, Pam & Tommy, Inventing Anna, The Dropout, and Dickinson, which depict snippets of the main characters’ lives in a shorter form that viewers can binge. While these pieces are based in reality, they often end up sacrificing details or the true nature of events to craft a more captivating story.
The 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody followed Freddy Mercury’s career alongside the band Queen’s rise and fall. . They touched on significant events like the formation of the band, their performance at Live Aid, the writing of “We Will Rock You”, and other hit songs, all the way to Freddy’s tragic AIDS diagnosis. While this film was nominated for five awards, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Best Motion Picture, with a more critical lens, the fallacies present in the storyline stick out like a sore thumb. The movie shows that for the band to play at Live Aid they had to reunite from a hiatus and relearn how to play together to pull off their iconic 17-minute performance. In actuality, Queen had released their widely successful album “The Works” a year before and had just ended a 9-month world tour. Ultimately, they were anything but unprepared to perform as a group. Another inaccuracy appears when Freddy tells his bandmates of his AIDS diagnosis before their previously mentioned gig. Live Aid occurred in July of 1985 when, as Peter Freestone- a friend of Freddy’s- told Express Online “Freddie thought he was sick in 1986 and it was confirmed in 1987.”, meaning the movie overlooked at least a whole year of real history to supplement the storyline and make the event seem more high stakes.
In early 2022 streaming services Hulu and Disney+ began airing Pam & Tommy, a whirlwind story of the early 90’s “it” couple, Pamela Anderson & Tommy Lee, and their 3-year marriage. Not only was the series produced without the permission or knowledge of Pamela Anderson, but it also makes light of the shame and humiliation she endured during the relationship, especially regarding her and Tommy’s sex tape being leaked. The show mainly focuses on that last point, with the showrunner Rob Siegal telling Entertainment Weekly, “We very clearly, unambiguously present them as victims of a crime, which they were.” Many critics claim it achieves the opposite effect. Rand Gauthier- the man responsible for the copying and distributing of the intimate video, is played by Seth Rogan in the series. Known for his teddy bear-like charm and overall chill vibe, one wouldn’t expect him to play the broad-shouldered, rough-and-ready electrician he was acting as. The stylistic choice can be overlooked as just that, but in a different light can be seen as a way to make the story feel more conflicting to the viewer- it starts to feel like you should be rooting for this blue-collar worker who is seeking revenge for losing a valuable job due to Tommy’s self-righteous attitude. On top of all this, Pamela is depicted as a two-dimensional bombshell lacking any attributes other than her looks and given less of a compelling storyline than Rand.
The misrepresentation in biopics shows Hollywood’s willingness to blatantly bend the truth to create more monetarily successful projects regardless of the facts. Generalizing details for the sake of plot twists and keeping viewers entertained seems to be the name of the game.