• sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
    271·
    2 months ago

    Couldn’t hide my disappointment at the end when they were like [strong female character] was created from the stories of over fifty different scientists…

    • Maggoty@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      2 months ago

      That’s how many historical movies and contemporary shows work though. Like, we all know CSI techs aren’t clearing rooms like SWAT in real life. But the story is far easier to follow if we keep it to a few characters the audience knows.

      • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        For sure. And ultimately they gave credit where it was due, which is nice but it was a bit jarring. I think that means the filmmakers did their job well and crafted a character I could identify with.

  • Renacles@lemmy.worldEnglish
    231·
    2 months ago

    It’s a great show but it’s also all bullshit pretty much, it only follows the broad strokes of the real story.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.worldEnglish
      61·
      2 months ago

      It was never supposed to be more than the broad strokes though. Even those were largely unknown in the West.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      2 months ago

      Oh. People from English-speaking countries don’t sink you with downvotes immediately for criticizing that show anymore. Nice.

      Even the broad strokes are, eh, how do you say it, eh … worse than Tom Clancy and that’s an achievement I’m not sure everyone is capable of measuring.

      It’s funny though how such series about “USSR” talk in fact about something American. Reminiscent of the “17 moments of spring” series which were about a Soviet spy in Berlin in the last months of WWII, but mostly explored Soviet ideology and morality issues.

  • yamanii@lemmy.worldEnglish
    265·
    2 months ago

    Ever since my father told the teen me that “based on a true story” doesn’t mean it’s a documentary I stopped watching those things altogether, since then I only engage with historical fiction if it’s so out there it’s obvious it’s not real.

    • CptEnder@lemmy.worldEnglish
      82·
      2 months ago

      That’s a pretty narrow way to cut yourself off from a LOT of great storytelling.

      • yamanii@lemmy.worldEnglish
        43·
        2 months ago

        There’s enough original fiction and documentaries that I can live fine with not watching some director’s fanfiction on screen.

    • daellat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      Chernobyl still is one of the best shows I’ve ever watched. Not a documentary but it doesn’t try to be. It tries to be good historical drama and it is. Very gripping.

    • FinishingDutch@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      2 months ago

      Some works will outright lie about it. For example, the TV show and movie Fargo specifically tell you it’s a true story, and even that names have been changed but ‘the rest has been told exactly as it happened’.

      To me that’s weird. It doesn’t really add to the end result in my opinion, but would breed distrust when people discovered it was wholly fictional.

      Still, even with things that are meant to be accurate portrayal of an event, it’s always good to check the facts. Hollywood just can’t help but fiddle with reality to tell a more interesting story, even when it doesn’t need it.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        The wood chipper scene in Fargo was inspired by a thing in Connecticut.

        That’s about as accurate as it really is.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        I saw it. But huh. If you use knuckles/phalanges you can get to 12 without any multiplication. (With multiplication- each knuckle is worth the last finger- you can get to 81.)

    • tetris11@lemmy.mlEnglish
      152·
      2 months ago
      1. The reactor’s kill switch worked fine, but another reactor reacted to it
      2. None of the Soviet’s spoke fluent BBC english at the time
      3. All the scientists were squashed into a single organism called “supafrique” who was the main antagonist
      4. The level of radiation blasted into the atmosphere was greatly exaggerated by captain planet
      5. Superman sealed up the hole in less than 10 minutes
      6. Chernobyl is actually pronounced “Churro-nob-yell”
      7. Everyone who was underwater and worked to kill the reactor actually gained telepathy later on
      8. It was actually hard to write this list. This was a great tragedy.
      • nyctre@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        That’s a historical drama, not a documentary, tho. Like complaining about vikings or gladiator or whatever.

        • repungnant_canary@lemmy.worldEnglish
          12·
          2 months ago

          You are indeed correct, some artistic freedom is definitely expected from that kind of series. But relying on Russian propaganda sources and making Legasov a hero doesn’t qualify as artistic freedom but misinformation. Also the representation of the soviet reality was at least inaccurate - my dad who was raised in the former soviet block summarised it as “representing how Americans think it was not how it truly was”.

          Chernobyl is a good and very interesting series and it’s good that it raises at least some awareness about the catastrophe. But imo it could be more technically and historically accurate without losing its attractiveness.