The most recent Superbowl is the reason why this mention is coming up, and to be honest, some people would likely state that the distance needed between reality and entertainment is already there, but too often these days it feels as though the line is being blurred as future generations are being brought up on exaggerations and half-truths. Indeed, the actual history of the world and the sporting world can still be looked up and discerned from the glamorized versions that have been rolled out over the years, but when it comes to sports it feels as though Hollywood has sunk its talons in deep and isn’t about to let go. It’s done the same to the real world, which is to say that it’s made a lot of people question what’s real and what’s been fabricated to look like it’s real. But there’s a reason why there needs to be a gap between what’s real and what’s perceived to be real. Movies based on sports and real events are often a blend of real events and facts, and what the director and writers think the audience is going to like.
Rudy is one of the most inspirational movies out there, but because of how it went, a lot of people knew very little about the main characters, or that ‘Rudy’s’ household was a great deal different than what it was in the movie. Cool Runnings is another movie that follows true events that did happen but were altered to give people something to watch and root for when it was released decades ago. The point is that real events do make it onto the screen, but all too often they tend to be altered in a manner that is meant to be more cinematic since reality isn’t always quite as entertaining as some would like. Considering that Hollywood is all about making money, trying to pawn off real events as they happened might not be able to draw the same crowds.
Some might say it’s silly to worry about people trying to rewrite history, but the fact is that there are quite a few of those that belong to the younger generations that are already under the impression that things that they see in the movies, especially when accompanied by ‘based on a true story‘ might be real. And if they still doubt, there’s Wikipedia, there’s the internet, and there’s anything else that can be put on their phone or another device that they can take as the unvarnished truth. When it comes to sports though, the reality is often a very ugly truth sometimes that doesn’t get depicted in a manner that people are bound to fully understand, or appreciate. Some triumphs get downplayed for one reason or another, which feels like a cheat that shouldn’t be forgiven, but all too often it goes unnoticed and doesn’t matter after a while. Much like anything in this world that has been documented and snapped up by one studio or another, the truth and the fiction tend to intertwine at times, and what’s worse, sometimes folks don’t want to know any different when it comes to reality.
When talking about sports and Hollywood, the two have become close enough that the movies that have been rolled out over the years have been taken as being as close to the truth as they can without being deemed absolute. The reason a gap is needed between the two is that even though when it comes to reality and entertainment, the latter is what we as audience members choose to enjoy since it keeps us happy, it gives us something to be inspired by, and it’s what we wished life was like on a regular basis. The real world is something that we live with all the time, and we expect it to be real, no matter if it’s dingy and dirty or shiny and happy. People don’t always want reality, and they don’t want to be given something that they might have witnessed and know the truth of. They might want the fantasy, as it allows them to think that things were better at one point. It’s a sad commentary on what people want, but it’s not entirely inaccurate.
Keeping reality and fiction at arm’s length isn’t always possible, but there are times when it’s necessary to keep the two in focus to avoid confusion with what’s real and what’s fabricated. Enjoying the fictional aspects of the sporting world can be a lot of fun, but it’s still vital that people know what really happened back in the day and in recent times since otherwise it’s too easy to fall into the legends that are created from the reality. People might want to deny it, but the way they remember the good old days tends to be influenced heavily by the entertainment industry.
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