I don’t see the end of the end credits of movies as much as I used to because
they get squashed into a tiny box on Netflix while it begs you to watch something else; and
honestly (this is the real reason) I barely watch movies.
However I remember the words they used to end with, and I just went and checked a relatively modern movie - Top Gun: Maverick if you want to know - and you know what, the words are still there, right before the credits stop:
The persons and events in this motion picture are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons or events is unintentional.
That legal boilerplate, present for almost 100 years, is there because of Rasputin.
Ra-ra-Rasputin, lover of the Russian queen, was murdered in 1916 by Prince Felix Yusupov using cyanide cakes and then being shot.
MGM produced a film based on these events… and Yusupov sued them in 1933 for defamation.
MGM had made up some plot for dramatic effect, knew what they were doing, and therefore lost the case massively.
An MGM researcher had pointed out this factual discrepancy to the studio during production and warned that the Yusupovs could sue; the studio fired her.
They also stated at the beginning of the film that it was true (more or less).
Then, during the case:
A justice in the case told MGM that the studio might have stood a better chance had they incorporated a disclaimer stating the exact opposite: that the film was not intended as an accurate portrayal of real people or events.
I find it baffling that including this statement like a magic spell at the end of every movie for a century is any kind of effective legal shield against anything – but I guess, who wants to be the lawyer who says Yeah you can get rid of that.
In particular: Due to weather conditions the surfaces around the station may be slippery.
Like. HELLO. Of course! Why warn me?? Automated announcements mean I tune out and don’t hear anything, vital or otherwise.
Besides, if you can’t figure out that rain means you should be more careful about slipping and breaking a leg then let’s let Darwin thin the herd.
Is what I thought then.
What I was told after writing that post is that railway station operators in the UK have been saving money by laying off the people who used to be paid to keep the stations clean, and replacing these waged humans by putting down “self-cleaning” paving slabs.
And, it turns out, “self-cleaning” paving slabs are unbelievably slippery when they get wet. Like, way more than normal paving slabs, unexpectedly so. And now they’re in the exact locations where people will be rushing so they don’t miss their train!
So the operators have saved money for themselves by pushing the cost onto the public in the form of injury risk.
They absolutely deserve to be liable for that negligent externality! An automated tannoy announcement should absolutely not be a legal shield! It layers insult on injury!
But at least I now know why that announcement is there.
It made me wonder about all the other ubiquitous but unnoticed phrases that will probably fade in time.
He noted wherever you get your podcasts which is a great one.
So I hereby submit the fictitious persons disclaimer (Wikipedia) from the bottom of movie credits – although it doesn’t have the same wording each time, so maybe it doesn’t count.
Kurt Vonnegut, famous for his quotes, has a variation of this: All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental.
The wording at the end of Sunshine (2007) (Wikipedia) is:
The events, characters and firms depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons living or dead, or to events or firms is purely coincidental.
Can I just say: photoplay!
Danny Boyle’s movie is GORGEOUS. The spaceship has a viewing window where the crew can stare at the Sun as they approach, and it has the exact dimensions of a cinema screen. The soundtrack by Underworld is perfection.
(The premise - which you get in the first 30 seconds - is that the Sun has gone out and they’re sending a spaceship to reboot it. Drama ensues.)
I saw the movie when it came out and re-watched it the other night using my favourite method of watching TV with high efficiency, which is to watch the first 10 minutes to pick up the vibe then read the plot on Wikipedia.
The fictitious persons disclaimer in this case is absurdly false because Cillian Murphy’s character is doing Professor Brian Cox cosplay, who was science advisor on the movie and they clearly just saw his 90s-synth-pop-boyband-turned-physicist look and couldn’t let it go. “Purely coincidental” indeed. Still a good movie though.
Although. If I were sending a spaceship on a mission to the Sun vital for the continued existence of humanity, I would simply not name it Icarus.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it by email or on social media. Here’s the link. Thanks, —Matt.
‘Yes, we’ll see them together some Saturday afternoon then,’ she said. ‘I won’t have any hand in your not going to Cathedral on Sunday morning. I suppose we must be getting back. What time was it when you looked at your watch just now?’ "In China and some other countries it is not considered necessary to give the girls any education; but in Japan it is not so. The girls are educated here, though not so much as the boys; and of late years they have established schools where they receive what we call the higher branches of instruction. Every year new schools for girls are opened; and a great many of the Japanese who formerly would not be seen in public with their wives have adopted the Western idea, and bring their wives into society. The marriage laws have been arranged so as to allow the different classes to marry among[Pg 258] each other, and the government is doing all it can to improve the condition of the women. They were better off before than the women of any other Eastern country; and if things go on as they are now going, they will be still better in a few years. The world moves. "Frank and Fred." She whispered something to herself in horrified dismay; but then she looked at me with her eyes very blue and said "You'll see him about it, won't you? You must help unravel this tangle, Richard; and if you do I'll--I'll dance at your wedding; yours and--somebody's we know!" Her eyes began forewith. Lawrence laughed silently. He seemed to be intensely amused about something. He took a flat brown paper parcel from his pocket. making a notable addition to American literature. I did truly. "Surely," said the minister, "surely." There might have been men who would have remembered that Mrs. Lawton was a tough woman, even for a mining town, and who would in the names of their own wives have refused to let her cross the threshold of their homes. But he saw that she was ill, and he did not so much as hesitate. "I feel awful sorry for you sir," said the Lieutenant, much moved. "And if I had it in my power you should go. But I have got my orders, and I must obey them. I musn't allow anybody not actually be longing to the army to pass on across the river on the train." "Throw a piece o' that fat pine on the fire. Shorty," said the Deacon, "and let's see what I've got." "Further admonitions," continued the Lieutenant, "had the same result, and I was about to call a guard to put him under arrest, when I happened to notice a pair of field-glasses that the prisoner had picked up, and was evidently intending to appropriate to his own use, and not account for them. This was confirmed by his approaching me in a menacing manner, insolently demanding their return, and threatening me in a loud voice if I did not give them up, which I properly refused to do, and ordered a Sergeant who had come up to seize and buck-and-gag him. The Sergeant, against whom I shall appear later, did not obey my orders, but seemed to abet his companion's gross insubordination. The scene finally culminated, in the presence of a number of enlisted men, in the prisoner's wrenching the field-glasses away from me by main force, and would have struck me had not the Sergeant prevented this. It was such an act as in any other army in the world would have subjected the offender to instant execution. It was only possible in—" "Don't soft-soap me," the old woman snapped. "I'm too old for it and I'm too tough for it. I want to look at some facts, and I want you to look at them, too." She paused, and nobody said a word. "I want to start with a simple statement. We're in trouble." RE: Fruyling's World "MACDONALD'S GATE" "Read me some of it." "Well, I want something better than that." HoME大香蕉第一时间
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I don’t see the end of the end credits of movies as much as I used to because
However I remember the words they used to end with, and I just went and checked a relatively modern movie - Top Gun: Maverick if you want to know - and you know what, the words are still there, right before the credits stop:
That legal boilerplate, present for almost 100 years, is there because of Rasputin.
Ra-ra-Rasputin, lover of the Russian queen, was murdered in 1916 by Prince Felix Yusupov using cyanide cakes and then being shot.
MGM produced a film based on these events… and Yusupov sued them in 1933 for defamation.
MGM had made up some plot for dramatic effect, knew what they were doing, and therefore lost the case massively.
They also stated at the beginning of the film that it was true (more or less).
Then, during the case:
I find it baffling that including this statement like a magic spell at the end of every movie for a century is any kind of effective legal shield against anything – but I guess, who wants to be the lawyer who says Yeah you can get rid of that.
Speaking of magical legal disclaimers, I had a moment earlier this year complaining about automated tannoy announcements in train stations.
In particular:
Like. HELLO. Of course! Why warn me?? Automated announcements mean I tune out and don’t hear anything, vital or otherwise.
Besides, if you can’t figure out that rain means you should be more careful about slipping and breaking a leg then let’s let Darwin thin the herd.
Is what I thought then.
What I was told after writing that post is that railway station operators in the UK have been saving money by laying off the people who used to be paid to keep the stations clean, and replacing these waged humans by putting down “self-cleaning” paving slabs.
And, it turns out, “self-cleaning” paving slabs are unbelievably slippery when they get wet. Like, way more than normal paving slabs, unexpectedly so. And now they’re in the exact locations where people will be rushing so they don’t miss their train!
So the operators have saved money for themselves by pushing the cost onto the public in the form of injury risk.
They absolutely deserve to be liable for that negligent externality! An automated tannoy announcement should absolutely not be a legal shield! It layers insult on injury!
But at least I now know why that announcement is there.
I mentioned the other day contents may settle in transit and Russell Davies said on his blog:
He noted which is a great one.
So I hereby submit the fictitious persons disclaimer (Wikipedia) from the bottom of movie credits – although it doesn’t have the same wording each time, so maybe it doesn’t count.
Kurt Vonnegut, famous for his quotes, has a variation of this:
The wording at the end of Sunshine (2007) (Wikipedia) is:
Can I just say: photoplay!
Danny Boyle’s movie is GORGEOUS. The spaceship has a viewing window where the crew can stare at the Sun as they approach, and it has the exact dimensions of a cinema screen. The soundtrack by Underworld is perfection.
(The premise - which you get in the first 30 seconds - is that the Sun has gone out and they’re sending a spaceship to reboot it. Drama ensues.)
I saw the movie when it came out and re-watched it the other night using my favourite method of watching TV with high efficiency, which is to watch the first 10 minutes to pick up the vibe then read the plot on Wikipedia.
The fictitious persons disclaimer in this case is absurdly false because Cillian Murphy’s character is doing Professor Brian Cox cosplay, who was science advisor on the movie and they clearly just saw his 90s-synth-pop-boyband-turned-physicist look and couldn’t let it go. “Purely coincidental” indeed. Still a good movie though.
Although. If I were sending a spaceship on a mission to the Sun vital for the continued existence of humanity, I would simply not name it Icarus.