Fact vs Fantasy
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Steven Spielberg |
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| Fact:
Award-winning film director on location filming Saving Private Ryan was informed that Jonathan Norman, a 31-year-old ex-con and aspiring screenwriter, had been arrested as he prepared to ram through the gate at Spielberg’s home. |
Fantasy:
Norman, according to a friend, had traveled to the estate to act out a scene in front of the director’s security camera in hopes to get recognized for his creative work. |
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| Outcome:
After discovering a “rape kit” in his vehicle and determining that Norman was “obsessive and frightening,” the judge assigned to the case gave him the maximum sentence of twenty-five to life. |
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Titanic |
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| Fact:
This film swept the 1998 Oscars with its tale of the tragic shipwreck. Many characters were based on real crewmembers and passengers. |
Fantasy:
The love story between the characters portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, the diamond necklace, the sketches, etc. |
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| Outcome:
Director Cameron became “King of the World,” Hollywood made money, teens walked out of the theatre describing the history of the shipwreck as a tragic love story and cruise ship personnel were on “Titanic” alert after several real-life passengers tried to reenact the “romantic scene” from the movie in which the leads stepped over the guard rail at the front of the ship. |
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Oliver Stone and Natural Born Killers |
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| Fact:
This blockbuster hit, rated NC-17, is based on the novel by Quentin Tarantino. The film’s director, Oliver Stone wanted the movie to be a wake-up call about a culture saturated with too much violence. |
Fantasy:
Fans of the show recited lines from the movie and sported shaved heads and tinted sunglasses like the lead “bad-guys” portrayed by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis. |
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| Outcome:
At least 15 copycat murders have been linked to the film (most of the perpetrators have taken on the identity of the lead characters). Novelist John Grisham initiated a lawsuit against Oliver Stone in relation to one of the murders. |
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Kenny
and Jimmy confuse the fantasy of Russ Rigel’s films with the facts of reality.
In Kenny’s mind, special effects don’t exist. 
Everything
he sees in Russ’ films is real. This raises some questions: What is real
and what is fantasy? How do we learn to separate the two? How does the
film industry represent the two? While pondering the answers, take a look
at some examples of blurring the lines between fact and fantasy.
