Based on a True Story?

Based on a true story, the way this phrase is used in popular films today is very interesting. How much of a work is required to actually be factual? In print media, specifically newspapers and news magazines, the story is basically required to be one hundred percent factual. These mediums instill a sense of pride in the strength of their truthful storytelling. We as a people expect everything we read out of a newspaper or magazine to be inherently true. Why do we not expect the same out of our films? How much truth really is in a true story?

In 1996 the film Fargo premiered; a work by the now infamous Coen Brothers. In the opening titles a title reads: "This is a true story that took place in Minnesota in 1987". The exact opposite was the actual truth, the film was completely fictional. The film was not advertised as being an account of real events. The audience is suddenly almost surprised by the claim; does this claim automatically make the story more interesting? The Coen's were trying to write a story that could have actually happened at some place at some time, since it was likely it could or did happen, it was in a since true. The film attendee seeing this film premiere would not have known this and it still raises the question, how much needs to be true to is a true story? In this film's case, absolutely none of it was proven fact and the story was to the writer's knowledge totally fictional.