Faux Life: Things That Happen On TV But Not In Reality

[DoctorAtomic]

Now that I have a real job, I've been able to buy jackets. I have 3. And one for hiking. 

[Madding crowd]

3 hours ago, SusanM said:

One of my secret addictions are the Hallmark Christmas movies and this is something you really notice with them.  The heroine arrives in town with one suitcase and manages to have packed within it at least 3 or 4 coats (and a fancy ball gown depending on the movie).  A Christmas miracle I guess.

That reminds me of The Bachelor when the women arrive with one suitcase but have 8 ball gowns, cocktail dresses with accessories, winter coats, sweaters and boots, shorts and tee shirts with light jackets and bikinis and pajamas plus sweatshirts and hanging around clothes. Must be magic lol

[Hiyo]

Quote

One of my secret addictions are the Hallmark Christmas movies and this is something you really notice with them.  The heroine arrives in town with one suitcase and manages to have packed within it at least 3 or 4 coats (and a fancy ball gown depending on the movie). 

You mean you've never heard of The Mary Poppins Premium Luggage Stores?

[Blergh]

On 4/10/2022 at 1:47 PM, Hiyo said:

You mean you've never heard of The Mary Poppins Premium Luggage Stores?

If the characters of those movies HAVE heard of the above stores, then why haven't any of them gotten their trademark item- those umbrellas that triple as parachutes AND silent helicopters? I'd imagine  at least one of those characters would have thought THAT would be more fun to have  that any clown-car overnight bag! 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Blergh

[Anduin]

9 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

Speaking of wearing things:  Apparently, people who live in cooler climates have several different jackets (which tend to be expensive).  It doesn't matter how much money they make--unless the show's premise is specifically about the struggles of a lower income family, the characters seem to have a different jacket for every day of the week and then some.  I grew up in Vermont, in a middle class family (money was tight, but we were ok), and I only remember having two winter jackets--one for everyday and a nice one. 

Funny thing. I live in a place not known for its cool temperatures, unless you think that 15 c is practically Antarctica, but I still have four good jackets. One light, one quite thick and warm, two medium. In my defence, there's this really good outdoorsy shop in the nearby central business district. Easy to pop in while I'm in the area.

I also picked up a leather jacket, but that proved a little too heavy and awkward, plus one jacket that turned out to not cut the wind out at all. It looks cool if I find myself in an air conditioned office. Which rarely happens. Ah well.

[Bastet]

I live in Los Angeles, where it doesn't ever get what much of the world would even classify as cold to begin with, and I run hot.  The cute cardigans and short corduroy jackets in fun colors plus one jacket designed for actual warmth should be all I have.  Yet my foyer closet is also filled with a bunch of stuff I hardly ever actually grab on the way out the door -- about half a dozen leather coats (including one utterly fantastic long, red one) and a handful of other types of coats it is also hardly ever cold enough to wear.  There's one long, heavy-ass black wool coat I take with me when traveling to a properly cold climate but could sweat just looking at here at home, a long, synthetic brown slightly fuzzy thing I take to cold, but not cold cold environments but can virtually never wear at home, and two not overly stylish but easily washable options - one puffy thing it's hardly ever cold enough to need and a fuzzy thing that gets used more often - for sitting around a campfire if it's a "cold" year at Thanksgiving (which we spend in a motorhome, sometimes at the beach, usually in the desert).

I love that on Roseanne and The Conners, the (mostly working class, some glimpses of middle class, some glimpses of broke, in an Illinois suburb) characters all have just one winter coat each, which they keep for years and wear over their everyday clothes and also don for the portion of any fancy night out that involves winter outdoor time.

[Annber03]

36 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I love that on Roseanne and The Conners, the (mostly working class, some glimpses of middle class, some glimpses of broke, in an Illinois suburb) characters all have just one winter coat each, which they keep for years and wear over their everyday clothes and also don for the portion of any fancy night out that involves winter outdoor time.

LOL, yep, as a Midwesterner who is very much in a similar financial setup as that family, this is accurate. I still own a winter coat that I've had since high school, that I keep on hand for the times when we have particularly extremely cold/snowy weather. It's very thick and puffy and would be just right for that kind of weather. 

I do have another winter coat, a nicer red one with buttons, that my mom got me for Christmas and which I wear most often in the wintertime (mainly 'cause we've had such mild winters lately). But yeah, That old high school coat is still here and still ready for use if and when needed :D. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm annoyed when I have to take a jacket to travel. 

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I'm annoyed when I have to take a jacket to travel. 

I go to Florida for Christmas usually and it annoys me that I have to bring a winter jacket just to have it for getting to the airport and back.

[DoctorAtomic]

Or have to keep boots in the car so your feet don't get frostbite when you're cleaning the snow off to drive home.

Remember when airports had lockers?

[Popples]

9 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I go to Florida for Christmas usually and it annoys me that I have to bring a winter jacket just to have it for getting to the airport and back.

It was still better to have it. When I was 10, my mother took me to the Bahamas for New Year's and it was unseasonably warm that year in the DC area, so we didn't wear coats to the airport. When we got back, the temperatures plummeted and we nearly froze at the terminal and on the bus back to the parking lot.

[Anduin]

According to TV and movies, when people who speak another language can't find the word in English, they often say "How you say?" before bringing out the correct word anyway.

In my experience, they normally um and ahh instead of "How you say?" But! I just heard it on a podcast. From a Dutch woman. And yes, she did bring out the correct word afterwards.

[Egg McMuffin]

I didn’t scan through this thread, so someone may have brought this up already. How about wrapped gifts on TV, where they wrap the lid separately from the rest of the box, so the recipient just takes the top of the box instead of unwrapping it? They do it that way so that the actor isn’t distracted by pulling off the wrapping paper, and so they can just put the lid back on if they need to do a retake. But it always makes me laugh.

Some Christmas, I’m going to wrap all my gifts that way and see if anyone says anything.

[Haleth]

4 minutes ago, Egg McMuffin said:

I didn’t scan through this thread, so someone may have brought this up already. How about wrapped gifts on TV, where they wrap the lid separately from the rest of the box, so the recipient just takes the top of the box instead of unwrapping it? They do it that way so that the actor isn’t distracted by pulling off the wrapping paper, and so they can just put the lid back on if they need to do a retake. But it always makes me laugh.

Some Christmas, I’m going to wrap all my gifts that way and see if anyone says anything.

Oh, I've seen gifts wrapped that way.  Tied with a fancy ribbon.  It actually looks neater.

[DrSpaceman73]

3 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

I didn’t scan through this thread, so someone may have brought this up already. How about wrapped gifts on TV, where they wrap the lid separately from the rest of the box, so the recipient just takes the top of the box instead of unwrapping it? They do it that way so that the actor isn’t distracted by pulling off the wrapping paper, and so they can just put the lid back on if they need to do a retake. But it always makes me laugh.

Some Christmas, I’m going to wrap all my gifts that way and see if anyone says anything.

I think they also do so if they miss on some takes there is no re-wrapping or continuity errors.  Just opening a box. 

But yeah I've never seen that in real life. 

[Shannon L.]

My mom loved wrapping.  She was an artist and to her it was another art form.  She'd make beautiful bows and the wrapping itself was damn near perfect, but she never went so far as to wrap the lid and box separately.

[Danielg342]

19 hours ago, Anduin said:

According to TV and movies, when people who speak another language can't find the word in English, they often say "How you say?" before bringing out the correct word anyway.

In my experience, they normally um and ahh instead of "How you say?" But! I just heard it on a podcast. From a Dutch woman. And yes, she did bring out the correct word afterwards.

To be fair, it is a great way to set up the punchline to a joke:

"He is...how you say...a loser!"

[andromeda331]

Bridgerton reminded me how often people in show set in the past are surprised by arranged marriages and that people didn't always married for love. They are also surprised that relatives marry. They really shouldn't be surprised by any of that. 

[Danielg342]

2 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Bridgerton reminded me how often people in show set in the past are surprised by arranged marriages and that people didn't always married for love. They are also surprised that relatives marry. They really shouldn't be surprised by any of that. 

It's probably why, back in the day, many had mistresses and sex slaves. Their marriages were often just for show so people needed to have someone they actually enjoyed being around.

I think the primary reason why shows in "historical" settings don't present sexual slavery in the way that it was actually present is down to fears that audiences would react badly to it. Two of our society's key inherent values are our personal freedom and the idea that we create families with someone we've fallen in love with and chose to spend the rest of our lives with. Because those ideas are so engrained in our societal fabric, presenting characters who go against those values- even if it is accurate- is a faux pas for producers, unless those characters are not meant to be sympathetic.

The reality is- shockingly- that slavery throughout history is far more nuanced that most realize. Medieval Muslim states actually granted slaves rights and there were harsh penalties for mistreatment. Even in places where- generally speaking- slaves didn't have rights (like in Rome) it was considered poor conduct to treat a slave badly, since, obviously, a slave that is happy is one that does their job better. The image of the callous slavemaster who literally treats their slaves like trash, chains them and whips them just for the fun of it is so far removed from logic that the idea that, in the past, that treatment was ubiquitous should be dismissed without a second thought.

I'd go on a longer screed about all the other things Hollywood messes up about history but I'll leave that rant for another day.

[Ohiopirate02]

3 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Bridgerton reminded me how often people in show set in the past are surprised by arranged marriages and that people didn't always married for love. They are also surprised that relatives marry. They really shouldn't be surprised by any of that. 

I lay the blame for this on the writers.  Any period piece is designed for the current audience.  They are never going to be completely historically accurate because that will not work for the current audience.  The characters are written to reflect what the writers perceive the current audience will understand.  They do not trust their audience to figure things out, so they create characters that are shocked to learn they are expected to marry for financial reasons first or that they need to marry their cousin.  The thing is though, you don't normally find this in adaptations of classic fiction like Jane Austen.  Jane was writing contemporary fiction that is now historical, and her audience knew marriages were financial arrangements first and that first cousins marrying happened all the time.  I have never seen an adaption of Mansfield Park where Fanny says I know it's gross that Edmund is my first cousin, but I'm gonna marry him anyway.  

[DearEvette]

3 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I lay the blame for this on the writers. 

See, me?  I blame the readers/audience for expecting accuracy. And frankly most readers who complain don't even know what is historically accurate and what isn't from time period to time period. Historical pieces can span several hundred years and what is true in 1700 may not be true in 1800.

I don't go into any historical fiction written by current writers and expect 100% accuracy on anything.  And that goes double, triple with romance novels. 

The driving force for most fiction is to tell a story.  The plot is all.  If it requires hand-waving or sacrificing accuracy then they will do it.

Pure historical fiction writers try the most  to be the closest, depending on the subject at hand.  But still they are going to reserve their accuracy for the specific person or subject they are focused on and not necessarily the daily minutia surrounding them. Fiction is still fiction after all.

And yes, I agree with @Ohiopirate02 that a writer writing contemporaneously will be the most accurate, so in the case of Jane Austen she is a primary source herself.

But expecting hist accuracy in romance novels is off the table, imo,  LOL.  And not just customs and daily life, but language anachronisms abound. The reality of life in the 1600s through 1800s  as presented in novels just don't jibe with the fantasy of romantic romance as we -- or more importantly  -- the romance novel industry --  understands it today.  And honestly I think if readers were given real pure unadulterated accuracy they'd hate it. 

One example, Julia Quinn, the writer of the Bridgerton books once famously (or infamously) said she doesn't write Black characters because historical happy endings are unrealistic for them.  Which ok, girl.  But this mindset persists in the readership because there are people who do not believe there were any black or brown folks who even lived in Europe before the 1900s much less had any semblance of lives that included romance, love and marriage.  So when other authors do start to include POC in their Euro set books (and they are not bedraggled slaves) some readers ask '... but what about historical accuracy?'

[Raja]

I don't know for sure but I can't imagine that undercover agents always get promoted to second in command of criminal organizations by the crime boss.

[proserpina65]

On 12/31/2021 at 5:54 PM, Cotypubby said:

It’s a sheet, not a piece of cardboard. You can pull it into any shape you’d like. I’ve never understood why people make a big deal about this.

Because the shape it always ends up in in these scenes is unnatural.  It wouldn't end up in that perfect L shape unless you specifically arranged it that way, and who does that in real life?

 

[proserpina65]

On 4/28/2022 at 10:44 AM, DearEvette said:

I blame the readers/audience for expecting accuracy.

I don't.  I think audiences SHOULD expect something closer to historical accuracy from most historical pieces.

[Hiyo]

Quote

It wouldn't end up in that perfect L shape unless you specifically arranged it that way, and who does that in real life?

Apparently. you heteros do, after doing The Sex.

[janie jones]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Because the shape it always ends up in in these scenes is unnatural.  It wouldn't end up in that perfect L shape unless you specifically arranged it that way, and who does that in real life?

 

Me. I don't like feeling air on my nipples!

[proserpina65]

18 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Apparently. you heteros do, after doing The Sex.

So do the gays not use sheets afterwards or are their sheets just more messily arranged? ;-)

16 hours ago, janie jones said:

Me. I don't like feeling air on my nipples!

But in that perfect L shape?  I mean, I get wanting the sheet to cover certain areas, but when I do it, the sheet's always scrunched up and messy looking, not the immaculately arranged ones of tv.

[Hiyo]

Quote

So do the gays not use sheets afterwards or are their sheets just more messily arranged? ;-)

Whatever happens, except no magic L shaped sheets. Free the nipple!

[possibilities]

I suspect most of us would arrange things differently on camera than under usual circumstances.

[Raja]

26 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I suspect most of us would arrange things differently on camera than under usual circumstances.

There is too much evidence out there of how people act on their cameras. We don't care

[janie jones]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

But in that perfect L shape?  I mean, I get wanting the sheet to cover certain areas, but when I do it, the sheet's always scrunched up and messy looking, not the immaculately arranged ones of tv.

I guess I'm not having sex vigorously enough!

[proserpina65]

2 minutes ago, janie jones said:

I guess I'm not having sex vigorously enough!

Better get on that, lol.

[DrSpaceman73]

19 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Better get on that, lol.

Get on something and do it right

[Danielg342]

On 5/3/2022 at 4:06 PM, proserpina65 said:

I don't.  I think audiences SHOULD expect something closer to historical accuracy from most historical pieces.

There's a bit of give and take in this area. First, it should be noted that not even historians have a 100% accurate picture of what the past was like, with all that is known about many events, people, places, countries, etc. being one person's account or even just a single line on a monument. There may be quite a bit that can be inferred but it's still only just educated guesses.

Furthermore, history, just like reality, can be quite messy and complicated. Even something as simple as a single event or one person's narrative can have a thousand different moving parts that can be hard to keep up with, which means it's hard to construct an easy, straightforward narrative that can be used as the basis for a story. It's why writers will cut corners or make characters more active as participants than what they actually were, because no one wants to sit through a story where the main guy sits around waiting for his underlings to finish their jobs- they want to see the main guy doing things.

Plus, there are a lot of aspects of historical settings that just don't translate well to great storytelling. The prime example are military battles. In Hollywood, you will always see these massive, gigantic armies fanned out across the hills with a huge field right in front of them. At the crack of a horn, the two armies then rush at each other from their initial positions, eventually meeting at the centre with every soldier engaged in tight battles with swords clanging, fists flying and blood and severed heads flying everywhere. The battle may last for a few minutes at most, with the winning army standing tall, battered and bruised but with a smile on their face with the ground littered with the maimed bodies of the losing army, completely decimated to the last soldier.

Lots of fun to watch...but real battles were never like that. In fact, a general who just throws his army right into the teeth of an oncoming army would be one that is incredibly foolish. Something that always stuck with me was when I paid a visit to L'Anse Aux Meadows was when one of the tour guides said that "a good general has won the battle before the first shot is fired". Which is true- winning a battle is more about being in the proper position and playing to your strengths than just "hitting and hoping". This is true no matter what fighting force you have- even if you have superior numbers, it's always better to ask the other guys to submit rather than risk needlessly losing soldiers.

This isn't to say that there weren't Hollywood-style battles- there were, and lots of them. It's just that, for entertainment purposes, it's better to skip to the actual clash than to see the weeks needed to scout positions and the days and hours it took to actually get into those positions before the struggle even takes place.

I also brought up before the idea that audience values may prevent storytellers from using elements that, while historically accurate, might trouble the audience and I want to raise it again. I remember when Disney's Pocahontas came out that there was a row over the fact that Disney "aged up" the eponymous character so that they could have a love story between her and the colonist John Smith. In real history- so says Smith in his letters- the only interaction Pocahontas had with Smith was when she saved him from execution when she laid on top of him to prevent the executioner's stone from striking Smith's head. At the time she was only 12 and Smith was 29. So, while a love story back then might have made sense, if anyone tried to write that same kind of story now with the characters at those ages, they'd more than likely be run out of town than get a movie produced out of it.

Which leads to one last thing I want to mention about historical pieces- the motivation of the author behind writing them in the first place. How the writer frames the story, its characters and its settings can say a lot about the writer's own personal views as well as, possibly, their opinions on contemporary subjects. You may have a writer concerned about women's rights who might write about people like Theodora or Sayyida al-Hurra and emphasize how much power, prestige and respect they had in their time in order to empower women in our time. Then there's Suetonius, whose anthology of biographies- The Twelve Caesars- followed a format where a Caesar was contrasted with an earlier historical figure (for example, Julius Caesar was compared with Alexander the Great) in order to cement their legacy into contemporary history. You may also have someone who writes about a disaster to possibly warn people of a disaster they are worried is happening or will happen...and so on and so forth.

So, bottom line is that, when it comes to accuracy, there's a delicate balancing act between "getting things right" and telling the best possible story. Truth is, tell a great story and the audience won't care too much about inaccuracies. As long as you're not too over the top about it- for example, it's highly likely Aristotle didn't have an iPhone- a little fudging to tell a good story is OK.

[AgathaC]

My degree is in history and I took a really great upper-level history course in which we read a book about an event/person/time period and then watched a movie about the same thing. Fascinating, really, from a historical and storytelling perspective. I will say — we pretty much laughed our way through Pocahontas, which got almost nothing at all right. (I ruined the movie for my baby sister who refused to ever watch it again after I gave her a history lesson.😉)

But I agree. Some adjustments have to be made, just like when adapting a novel. Where I get annoyed is when something seems like a really unnecessary or egregious change. Like changing the murderer or motive in a murder mystery.

Edited May 5, 2022 by AgathaC

[SusanM]

1 hour ago, AgathaC said:

But I agree. Some adjustments have to be made, just like when adapting a novel. Where I get annoyed is when something seems like a really unnecessary or egregious change. Like changing the murderer or motive in a murder mystery.

There was a series based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple that was made a few years ago.  I do not understand why people feel the need to rewrite Agatha Christie.  She got it right the first time. no need to second guess her, yet whoever was responsible for these decided they knew better.  

[DoctorAtomic]

Even the Doctor wouldn't second guess Agatha Christie.

Edited May 5, 2022 by DoctorAtomic

[BlackberryJam]

15 minutes ago, SusanM said:

There was a series based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple that was made a few years ago.  I do not understand why people feel the need to rewrite Agatha Christie.  She got it right the first time. no need to second guess her, yet whoever was responsible for these decided they knew better.  

Do not remind me of the abomination that was The Secret of Chimneys.

[Trini]

Y'all will be pleased to know that I just saw a show reverse the 'L-shaped sheet' trope(?) by having the man covered to the neck and the woman uncovered to her waist. She was wearing a shirt and he was not; so that actually made sense!

[Cinnabon]

24 minutes ago, SusanM said:

There was a series based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple that was made a few years ago.  I do not understand why people feel the need to rewrite Agatha Christie.  She got it right the first time. no need to second guess her, yet whoever was responsible for these decided they knew better.  

It often seems like remakes are the only things being made.  Usually unnecessary ones that are inferior to the originals. 

[Raja]

19 minutes ago, Trini said:

Y'all will be pleased to know that I just saw a show reverse the 'L-shaped sheet' trope(?) by having the man covered to the neck and the woman uncovered to her waist. She was wearing a shirt and he was not; so that actually made sense!

Let me guess an aging actor who doesn't spend his off time in the gym lifting

[ABay]

The Christie stories adapted and ruined by Sarah Phelps are the worst. Sucking every ounce of joy out of every possible scene in every possible way. The current series of A Very British Scandal is also by her and if I'd noticed her name at the beginning, I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to watch it.

[Trini]

13 minutes ago, Raja said:

Let me guess an aging actor who doesn't spend his off time in the gym lifting

Actually, no! The opposite in fact; one of the CW 'I also do modeling' stars.

[BlackberryJam]

10 minutes ago, ABay said:

The Christie stories adapted and ruined by Sarah Phelps are the worst. Sucking every ounce of joy out of every possible scene in every possible way. The current series of A Very British Scandal is also by her and if I'd noticed her name at the beginning, I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to watch it.

AVBS ...I tried it. For such a fascinating story, it was so dull. 

I used to do the L-sheet after sex. I just didn't like my boobs catching the breeze. I have no problem with it. I do have a problem with women sleeping in their bras. I get that whole The Two Mrs. Grenvilles I-slept-in-my-bra-to-keep-my-breasts-from-sagging, but must women don't care that much. 

[Ohiopirate02]

11 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

AVBS ...I tried it. For such a fascinating story, it was so dull. 

I used to do the L-sheet after sex. I just didn't like my boobs catching the breeze. I have no problem with it. I do have a problem with women sleeping in their bras. I get that whole The Two Mrs. Grenvilles I-slept-in-my-bra-to-keep-my-breasts-from-sagging, but must women don't care that much. 

I occasionally sleep in either a bralette or sleep bra because I sleep on my side and some nights the girls are heavy and I need a bit of of lift.  

[Hiyo]

Ok but do y'all put on your bras, panties, and boxer shorts back on after sex?

[BlackberryJam]

1 minute ago, Hiyo said:

Ok but do y'all put on your bras, panties, and boxer shorts back on after sex?

Panties, yes. I get up afterwards and have a quick wash, then put on my panties. I expect the same of my partner. I don't like naked ass and bits rubbing all over my top sheet/blankets. 

[Bort]

9 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

Ok but do y'all put on your bras, panties, and boxer shorts back on after sex?

I put on a tshirt and pj bottoms. I absolutely cannot fall asleep if I’m naked.

[AgathaC]

2 hours ago, SusanM said:

There was a series based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple that was made a few years ago.  I do not understand why people feel the need to rewrite Agatha Christie.  She got it right the first time. no need to second guess her, yet whoever was responsible for these decided they knew better.  

Don’t even get me started…🤬

[DrSpaceman73]

There are frequent disputes on tv over estate boundaries for businesses. 

Example :  it's always sunny the gangs bar is part of the land bought by the neighbor, so they dont own the whole bar. Hilarity ensues (true in this case, it's hilarious).   Cheers I think did the same storyline with Sam's upstairs snooty restaurant guy. I know I've seen it elsewhere. 

I'm sure it happens in real life too but find it hard to believe it's this often. And not without lawsuits all over the place.