Is Fake, but Accurate Persuasive or Sincere?
26th July 2010
You may remember that Margaret Thatcher served as conservative Prime Minister for the United Kingdom during the 1980s. Now, the Iron Lady is getting the Hollywood treatment as Meryl Streep stars in the biopic. Thatcher’s children are concerned.
. . . the screenplay of The Iron Lady depicts Baroness Thatcher as an elderly dementia-sufferer looking back on her career with sadness. She is shown talking to herself and unaware that her husband, Sir Denis Thatcher, has died.
Cameron McCracken who is a major creative force behind the movie notes
. . . Lady Thatcher’s health will be featured, but insists that it will be “treated with appropriate sensitivity”. He adds of the film: “Although fictional, it will be fair and accurate.”
This echos, of course, Dan Rather’s infamous line, “Fake, but Accurate” when describing on his CBS News broadcast the fake documents about President George W. Bush’s military service. Rather got fired for his unpersuasive sincerity. But, at least Rather meant what he said which is why it was unpersuasive.
But, what about “Fictional, but Accurate?” It sounds like most artful MovieSpeak.