Asking who the Sex Pistols were sounds like something that might cause a heated argument in some groups since they were one of the more influential groups when they really got going, which is probably why there’s going to be a limited series detailing their rise to fame on FX. Fans of the group are no doubt going to be waiting with baited anticipation to see whether the series sticks as close as possible to the true history of the group or if they will find a way to tell a story that will play fast and loose with the facts. The reality is that this does happen quite often as many sources have seen throughout the years since the whole idea of telling the story as it happened and as people want to see it doesn’t always come out the same way that people want to see it. The problem with doing this with subjects that people can remember going to see and idolizing for so long is that the memories left behind are bound to conflict with what’s being shown, and as a result, the people will then begin to question the validity of the series or movie that’s been created, and the entertainment value might dip a bit. Still, it’s sounding as though fans can hope to expect something that will be eye-opening all the same, as it’s written in TVWeb:
“Imagine breaking into the world of The Crown and Downton Abbey with your mates and screaming your songs and your fury at all they represent. This is the moment that British society and culture changed forever. It is the detonation point for British street culture… where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion… and everyone had to watch and listen… and everyone feared them or followed them. The Sex Pistols. At its center was a young, charming, illiterate kleptomaniac – a hero for the times – Steve Jones, who became, in his own words, the 94th greatest guitarist of all time. This is how he got there.”
From what’s been said about the limited series at this point it does sound as though things might focus upon the beginning of the group and how it became one of the hottest bands in the world, but as one might guess it’s likely to run through the course of their career up until the later 2000s when the band finally split. Trying to state what’s going to be in the series is a little difficult at this time since one can easily imagine that one vision or another is going to be desired but it might happen that such visions won’t be taken into account. That’s the unfortunate downside of making a movie or a series based on real celebrities, the facts tend to get skewed so often that it might happen that people will need to look up the actual history of the band just to make certain that they’re not spreading false information. The downfall there of course is that whatever information is out there is bound to be biased depending on the source as well. We tend to live in an era when being told anything by anyone needs to be checked and re-checked in order to make certain that we’re not being fed a pack of lies. One might want to believe that the fans of the band wouldn’t follow any type of bias and would simply create something that would paint them in a light that makes them look good when they were on top and yet realistic no matter if they were doing good or were falling apart due to tensions that came from within the band.
Some would call that responsible storytelling since it’s far more difficult to reveal anything negative about anyone that a person happens to like, but it’s far more responsible when done in a manner that isn’t used to harm or sensationalize an individual in any way. This is what’s been done plenty of times in biopics since people want to look at their idols through rose-tinted lenses and not think that they were guilty of anything that they weren’t initially driven to do or say. But one thing that any storyteller needs to remember is that the story they’re telling, especially if it belongs to someone else, benefits more from a truthful retelling than a glamorized look at a celebrity or a band that people might want to believe is real. More damage is done to a reputation through poor storytelling than one might ever do by telling the truth since a fancy lie is something that can be uncovered rather quickly while a hard truth makes people realize that those they idolize are human, and not the shining happy people they appear to be so often. In the case of the Sex Pistols, a bit of realism might go a long way.
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