8 Entertainment
8 Entertainment March 2 2023 | World and Press ‘Based on a true story’ (except the parts that aren’t) ENTERTAINMENT The entertainment genre of historical drama is flourishing – and riddled with inaccuracies. mit Übungen | Sprechen By Jeremy W. Peters and Nicole Sperling 1 THE FOLLOWINGstories are not based on real events. In fact, they’re completely made up – even though they’re meant to seem real. 2 No, Queen Elizabeth II’s staff never hid a copy of ‘The Sunday Times’ from her because of a devastating, but nonexistent, frontpage headline: “Queen Should Abdicate in Favour of Prince of Wales – Half of British Public Agrees.” No, former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Jerry West didn’t fly into fits of rage so violent that he snapped a putter over his knee and tossed his Most Valuable Player trophy through a window in his office. And no, the two police officers who unwittingly missed an opportunity to arrest Jeffrey Dahmer before he could kill again were not given honors as officers of the year by the Milwaukee Police Department. 3 But the millions of people who watched three of the most popular historical dramas of the last year – ‘The Crown’ and ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ on Netflix and HBO’s ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’ – were left to separate fact from fiction on their own. These series are hardly outliers in the flourishing genre of based-on-atrue-story entertainment. 4 As the number of shows and movies that depict real events has grown in recent years – never before have dramatizations of wellknown people and events been so popular and prevalent – so, too, have the liberties that screenwriters are taking with the facts. 5 In many instances, these are not mere embellishments for dramatic flair but major fabrications. Some of the people who claim they’ve been reduced to crude caricatures on screen are suing for defamation. And shows like ‘The Crown’ have been forced to belatedly add disclaimers stating that what people are watching is in fact a dramatized version of real events. 6 Sometimes disclaimers are enough to protect a studio from legal liability, especially if they are prominently displayed in the opening credits and offer detail of what has been fictionalized – beyond a generic acknowledgment such as “based on real events,” legal experts say. The First Amendment offers broad protections for expressive works like film and television productions that depict real people by their real names. 7 But if someone can convincingly claim that he or she was harmed by what screenwriters made up, that is grounds for a strong defamation suit, said Jean- Paul Jassy, a lawyer who works on media and First Amendment cases in Los Angeles. “A disclaimer is not a silver bullet,” he said. “And this is where it gets very tricky with docudramas,” Jassy added. “A court could say: ‘I understand there are fictionalized elements of your show. But you used a real person’s name, and you presented as fact something that’s false that hurt their reputation.’” 8 Lawsuits fail more often than not because very few fans of these shows probably believe they are watching history as it literally unfolded. Hollywood has, of course, always amped up the drama when telling – and selling – true stories. But when shows like ‘The Crown’ become so popular because – at least to some degree – viewers believe they are getting an education, the liberties taken by writers go beyond dramatic license, say those who have a stake in getting the facts straight. Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II and Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip in Netflix’s ‘The Crown.’ | Photo: Netflix via AP/ Picture Alliance Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer in ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.’ | Photo: Netflix/Everett Collection/Picture Alliance 9 Netflix added a disclaimer after criticism from high places about the inaccuracies in ‘The Crown,’ including from famed British actor Judi Dench and former Prime Minister John Major over a scene that depicted an imagined conversation between Major and Prince Charles about the queen’s possible abdication. But the disclaimer, saying the series is “inspired by real events,” appeared not on the show itself but rather on its press materials and in the trailer, which aired on YouTube. … 10 With the heightened sensitivity toward confronting racial and gender inequality, many Hollywood screenwriters are turning these issues into major storylines, even if that means sometimes exaggerating the details. This was the case in ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,’ one of Netflix’s biggest hits of the last year. While the series uses historical records to accurately portray much of how Dahmer, the cannibalistic serial killer, preyed on young men and got away with it for so long, including court transcripts from his 1992 trial, it invents moments to convey how systemic failures in the criminal justice system allowed him to remain at large. … 11 Anne E. Schwartz, a former police reporter who was on the scene the night Dahmer was arrested and later wrote a book about the case, faulted the writers for projecting themes that are far more salient today onto events that happened more than 30 years ago. “We’re going back and looking at this case from the lens of 2022, not 1990,” she said. 12 Filmmakers often try to be as sensitive as possible to the people whose stories they’re telling, said Brad Simpson, producer of the ‘American Crime Story’ anthology, which covered three dramatic moments in recent history – the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the assassination of Gianni Versace, and President Bill Clinton’s impeachment. That’s why, Brad Simpson said, he and his colleagues involved Monica Lewinsky in their series ‘Impeachment’ to help her regain control of her version of what had happened. “I think when you’re making TV based on real people, you always have to be incredibly aware that there are real victims at the center of all these stories,” he said. 13 But Simpson, who likened the current popular fascination with true crime to what the nation experienced in the 1960s and ’70s with ‘In Cold Blood’ and ‘Helter Skelter,’ acknowledged that at the end of the day, what he and other producers were doing was creating entertainment. … © 2023 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times. 0 – 2 TO FLOURISH(fig) boomen — riddled with voll von — inaccuracy Ungenauigkeit; s.w.u. accurately genau — devastating vernichtend — to abdicate abdanken; s.w.u. abdication Abdankung — in favour of zugunsten — head coach Cheftrainer(in) — to fly into fits of rage Wutanfälle bekommen — to snap zerbrechen — to toss werfen — unwittingly unwissentlich 3 – 5 outlier Ausreißer — to depict; s.w.u. to portray darstellen — dramatization Bearbeitung für Film oder Fernsehen; s.w.u. dramatized — prevalent verbreitet — to take liberties (fig) s. Freiheiten nehmen — embellishment Ausschmückung — fabrication Erfindung — crude plump — to sue for defamation wegen Verleumdung klagen — belatedly nachträglich — disclaimer Hinweis 6 – 7 legal liability rechtl. Haftung — opening credits Vorspann — generic unspezifisch — acknowledgment h.: Erklärung; s.w.u. to acknowledge einräumen — legal expert Rechtsexperte(-in) — First Amendment erster Zusatzartikel zur US-Verfassung — expressive work künstlerisches Werk — grounds Grund — (law)suit Klage — silver bullet (fig) Wunderwaffe 8 – 9 to unfold s. zutragen — to amp up (coll) verstärken — dramatic license künstlerische Freiheit — to have a stake in doing (fig) ein Interesse daran haben zu tun — to get the facts straight die Fakten richtig darstellen — from high places (fig) von hoher Stelle — famed berühmt — to air ausgestrahlt werden 10 heightened sensitivity erhöhte Sensibilität; s.w.u. sensitive — to confront s. auseinandersetzen mit — to exaggerate übertreiben — serial killer Serienmörder(in) — to prey on s.o. s. jdn. als Opfer aussuchen — court transcript Gerichtsprotokoll — to convey vermitteln — criminal justice system Strafjustizsystem — at large (fig) auf freiem Fuß 11 – 13 to be on the scene (fig) dabei sein — to fault s.o. jdn. kritisieren — to project projizieren — salient bedeutend; präsent — lens (fig) Sicht — assassination Ermordung — impeachment Amtsenthebung — to liken s.th. to s.th. etw. mit e-r S. vergleichen — In Cold Blood dt. Titel: Kaltblütig — Helter Skelter dt. Titel: Helter Skelter – Nacht der langen Messer
World and Press | March 2 2023 As Asian societies age, ‘retirement’ just means more work SOCIETY Across East Asia, populations are graying faster than anywhere else in the world. Asia 9 By Motoko Rich and Hikari Hida 1 ALL Yoshihito Oonami wants to do is retire and give his worn body a rest. Instead, every morning at 1:30, Oonami, 73, wakes up and drives an hour to a fresh produce market on an islet in Tokyo Bay. While loading mushrooms, ginger root, sweet potatoes, radishes, and other vegetables into his car, he frequently lifts boxes that weigh more than 15 pounds, straining his back. He then drives across Japan’s capital city, making restaurant deliveries up to ten times a day. “As long as my body lets me, I need to keep working,” Oonami said on a recent morning, checking off orders on a clipboard as he walked briskly through the market. 2 With populations across East Asia declining and fewer young people entering the workforce, workers such as Oonami increasingly are toiling well into their 70s and beyond. Companies desperately need them, and the older employees desperately need the work. Early retirement ages have bloated the pension rolls, making it difficult for governments in Asia to pay retirees enough money each month to live on. 3 Demographers have warned about a looming demographic time bomb in wealthy nations for years. But Japan and its neighbors have already started to feel the effects, with governments, companies, and, most of all, older residents grappling with the far-reaching consequences of an aging society. The changes have been most pronounced in the workplace. Working at his age “is not fun,” said Oonami, rummaging through a box of carrots. “But I do it to survive.” 4 For some older people, the demand for workers has given them new opportunities and leverage with employers, especially if they felt pushed out by early retirement ages in favor of younger workers. Now the question these aging nations are grappling with is how to adapt to the new reality – and potential benefits – of an older workforce while ensuring that people can retire after a lifetime of work without falling into poverty. 5 In East Asia, where populations are graying faster than anywhere else in the world, there is an urgent need for more flexibility. Japan, South Korea, and China have all been forced to experiment with policy changes – such as corporate subsidies and retirement adjustments – to accommodate population shifts. Now, with the rest of the world not far behind, many nations will probably look to Asia for lessons in how to respond to similar crises. 6 “Are you just going to panic about it and run around being frightened?” said Stuart Gietel Basten, a professor of social science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “Or do you say, ‘It’s very complex, and we will have to adapt our lives and institutions in lots and lots of different ways?’” 7 Long before Oonami started delivering vegetables, he tried working in an office and as a cabdriver. Eventually, he decided he preferred the solo life of a truck driver. That decision consigned him to perennial contract work rather than the more traditional path taken by many early postwar employees in Japan, with lifelong jobs of guaranteed salaries, regular promotions, and corporate retirement benefits. … 8 As he approached Japan’s traditional retirement age of 60, Oonami could not afford to stop working. Having held contract gigs his entire career, he is only eligible for a basic national pension: about 60,000 yen (about 7) a month – not enough to cover his daily expenses. 9 Japan isn’t the only country in East Asia where older people feel they have no choice but to keep working. In South Korea, with a poverty rate among older people close to 40%, a similar proportion of those 65 and older are still working. In Hong Kong, one in eight older residents works. The ratio is more than one-fourth in Japan – compared with 18% in the United States. 10 In Japan and South Korea, temporary job agencies and unions have formed to support older laborers. Although many older people must work out of economic necessity, employers have also become more reliant on them. Eiji Sudo delivers flyers for a company that installs and repairs gas lines in Tokyo. Yoshihito Oonami works at a fresh produce wholesaler in Tokyo. | Photos: Shiho Fukada/ The New York Times 11 Koureisha is a temporary agency in Tokyo where job listings specify that applicants must be at least 60 years old. Fumio Murazeki, the president, said he believed employers were growing more receptive to hiring older workers. “People who are over 65 or even up until 75, they are very active and healthy,” he said. 12 Rental car agencies and building concierge services are eager to hire older workers, said Murazeki. One popular job for older contract workers is to sit in the front passenger seat of service vehicles while electricians or gas repairmen assist clients on site. The contract worker can move the vehicle when necessary, helping companies avoid parking tickets or traffic fines, Murazeki said. … © 2023 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times. für nur € 5,95 Jetzt im Einzelverkauf Zusatzmaterial zu dieser Ausgabe. Im Abo PREMIUM sehr viel günstiger! www.sprachzeitungen.de 0 – 1 TO AGE; s.w.u. to gray altern — to give s.th. a rest etw. ausruhen lassen — worn erschöpft — islet kleine Insel — ginger root Ingwer — radish Rettich — to strain belasten — briskly zügig 2 – 3 workforce Erwerbsbevölkerung — to toil schuften — early retirement Vorruhestand — to bloat anschwellen lassen — pension roll (fig) Zahl der Rentenempfänger(innen) — retiree Rentner(in) — looming drohend — to grapple with s.th. mit etw. ringen — pronounced ausgeprägt — to rummage durchwühlen 4 – 6 leverage Einfluss; Druckmittel — to adapt to s.th. s. an etw. anpassen — corporate subsidies Unternehmenssubventionen — to accommodate s.th. s. auf etw. einstellen — population shift Bevölkerungswandel 7 – 9 cabdriver Taxifahrer — to consign s.o. to s.th. h.: jdn. zu etw. zwingen — perennial permanent — contract work Arbeit als Auftragnehmer(in) — promotion Beförderung — retirement benefits Ruhestandszahlungen — eligible berechtigt — proportion Anteil — ratio Quote 10 – 12 temporary job agency Zeitarbeitsfirma — union Gewerkschaft — laborer Arbeitnehmer(in) — necessity Notwendigkeit — to be reliant on s.o. auf jdn. angewiesen sein — applicant Bewerber(in) — receptive aufgeschlossen — building concierge Pförtner(in) — front passenger seat Beifahrersitz
