Origins

The disclaimer came as a result of the 1932 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie Rasputin and the Empress , which insinuated that the character Princess Natasha had been raped by Rasputin . Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia Princess Irina Alexandrovna Princess Irina sued MGM for libel . After seeing the film twice, the jury agreed that the princess had been defamed. ^[1] [2] Princess Irina and her husband Felix Yusupov were reportedly awarded $ 127,373 in damages by the English Court of Appeal in 1934 and $ 1 million in an out-of-courtsettlement with MGM. ^[1] [2] As a precautionary measure against further lawsuits , the film was taken out of distribution for decades. ^[2]Prompted by the outcome of this case, many studios engage in an “all persons fictitious” disclaimer in their films in order to protect themselves from similar short action.

Contemporary industry use

In some cases, the “All Persons” disclaimers became an active part of the motion picture, radio show, or TV series as part of the storytelling style and genre. For example, in Jack Webb ‘s police series Dragnet , each episode began with an announcer intoning, “the story you are about to be true.The names have been changed to protect the innocent. (A 1953 Stan Freberg smash hit satire of Dragnet , St. George and the Dragonet , begins with “the following story is a big fat lie.No names are changed to protect anybody.)

From about 2000 on, the traditional legal disclaimer for American film and television series has been expanded to include greater threats on copyright infringement, and also ensures that audiences are not affected. harmed. Modern-day boilerplate is along the following lines:

This motion picture is protected under the copyright laws of the United States and other countries throughout the world. Country of first publication: United States of America. Any unauthorized exhibition, distribution, or copying of this film or any part thereof may be found in civil liability and criminal prosecution. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

No person or entity associated with this film received or any other value, or entered into any agreement, in connection with the depiction of tobacco products.

No animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture. ( if the film featured animals )

Copyright © ( year ) ( production company ). All rights reserved.

Spoof use

Because the disclaimer is intended for serious purposes, it is often the subject of comedic satire. The Three Stooges ‘ parody of Nazi Germany, You Are Nazty Spy , saying that “Any resemblance between the characters in this picture and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle.” The sequel, I’ll Never Heil Again , features a disclaimer that states that “The characters in this picture are fictitious. In the 1968 movie Thunderbirds Are Go , a disclaimer states that the characters are fictitious “as they do not exist yet” (the film is set in the year 2068). In the movie An American Werewolf in London and Michael Jackson ‘, the disclaimer refers to “persons living, dead or undead “. The film The Return of the Living Dead features a disclaimer that reads “The events portrayed in this film are true The names are real names of real people and real organizations.” An episode of the TV series Red Dwarf included a news report saying that an ancient scroll had been found to contain such a disclaimer for the Bible. The novel Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut features a truncated version of the disclaimer: “All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental, and should not be construed”, referring to the novel’s existentialist themes.

A parody uses the disclaimer can heighten the message that the story is from a larger mythology or from a distant era. The 1969 alternative western comedy Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , based on real assets whose lives and exploits already had a place among American legends of the West, opens with the disclaimer “Most of what follows is true.”

David Foster Wallace’s 1996 novel Infinite Jest carries the disclaimer, “The characters and events in this book are fictitious.” Any apparent similarity to real persons is not intended by the author and is either a coincidence or the product of your own troubled imagination. ”

Because of the autobiographical nature of Dave Eggers ‘ memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius , the book features the following play on the usual disclaimer:

Anyone who resides in the living room is likely to be one of them, especially if they have their real names, and their phone numbers. All of these events happened, though, on the author has taken some, very small, liberties with chronology, because that is his right as an American.

Richard Linklater’s 1990 feature film Slacker ends with “This story was based on fact. All episodes of South Park open with a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer that begins by stating, “All characters and events in this show – all those celebrity voices are impersonated – poorly.” The opening caption of Futurama episode ” The Road of All Evil ” shows the disclaimer “Any Resemblance To Actual Robots Would Be Really Cool”. In the beginning of the 2009 American comedy-drama movie 500 Days of Summer (which is about a failed romantic relationship), a disclaimer is given: “Especially you, Jenny Beckman … Bitch.”

Disclaimers can sometimes be used to make political or similar points. One such disclaimer is shown at the end of the industrial / political thriller The Constant Gardener , signed by the author of the original book , John the Square:

Nobody in this story, and no outfit or corporation, thank God, is based on an actual person or outfit in the real world. But I can tell you this; My journey through the pharmaceutical jungle progressed, I came to realize that, by comparison with the reality, my story was like a holiday postcard. ^[3]

The 1969 film Z , which is based on the dictatorship of the dictatorship of Greece at that time, has this notice: “Any resemblance to actual events, to persons living or dead, is not the result of luck, it is DELIBERATE.” ^[4] German nobel laureate Heinrich Böll’s novel The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum was originally preceded by the following disclaimer: “The characters and action in this story are purely fictitious. the practices of the Bild newspaper, these similarities are neither intended nor coincidental but inevitable. ” For legal reasons, this disclaimer was later removed in the English edition. The 2015Bollywood movie Shamitabh opens with a stating disclaimer, “all characters and technology you see in the film are purely fictional.” ^[5]

Effectiveness

If a fictitious film is perceived to be too close to actual events, the disclaimer may be ruled null and void in short and the inspiration behind the film may be due compensation. Such was the case with the 1980 film The Idolmaker , which was based on a fictional talent promoter who discovers a talentless teenage boy and turns him into a manufactured star; Fabian , whose career path was very similar to the fictional boy’s, took offense at the caricature, and the production company responded to the fictitious disclaimer. As the promoter on which the fictional character was based, Bob Marcucci, Fabian, condemned by the filmmaker, and the film’s profits. ^[6] [7]

See also

• Negative checking

References