Take something as mundane as making breakfast. You’ve probably seen at least one movie—or an episode from a TV series—where a parent makes enough food to feed a family of six and members of the household barely touch anything before heading out the door. In real life, the parent would probably stop them dead in their tracks or make a fuss about spending all this time in the kitchen for nothing.
This, and many similar scenarios were discussed by members of the ‘No Stupid Questions’ subreddit when one of them asked fellow redditors about American things that are not that common but are often shown in Hollywood movies or TV shows. If you’re curious about what other misrepresentations netizens have spotted, scroll down to find their answers on the list below and feel free to upvote those you agree with the most.
Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with a professor of history at the University of Waterloo, expert in modern U.S. cultural and social history as well as the history of American popular culture, including film, Dr. Andrew Hunt, who was kind enough to share his insight on how reality is depicted in film.
ShadowThePhoenix Report
rjainsa , universalstudios Report
FB_100 , 20thcenturystudios Report
“Films that convey verisimilitude effectively often do so because of the vision of the director and the screenwriter, who use their knowledge of events to recreate realities in compelling ways,” he told Bored Panda in a recent interview.
babyfresno77 , August de Richelieu / Pexels Report
Ok_Present_6508 , 20thcenturystudios Report
“Other films, such as the acclaimed American Fiction from 2023 or She Said from 2022, to name a couple examples, do an outstanding job of portraying contemporary American life,” he added.
“Films with realistic depictions of life in the United States do not always fare as well at the box office as escapist blockbusters. Still, some very accurate historical dramas can attract big audiences. The commercial success of Oppenheimer in 2023 shows that a very intelligent film that closely follows actual historical events can do well among moviegoers, which is a reason to be hopeful. The continued success of documentaries on streaming platforms like Netflix is also incredibly encouraging.”
BendingDoor , sonypictures Report
wawa2022 , nbc Report
other_half_of_elvis , Paramount Pictures Report
Street-Suitable Report
CheyenneDemure , sonypictures Report
Delicious_Virus_2520 Report
“The director of the film, Shaka King, faced the daunting task of recreating the poor neighborhoods of Chicago from 1969, but he only had a $26 million budget to do so. That may sound like a lot of money, but it gets used up quickly on a variety of things, from the actors to the crew to the catering. So King had to utilize a lot of filmmaking tricks to present a depiction of Chicago from 1969 that seemed accurate to viewers. The movie, in my opinion, succeeded admirably in showing real life at that moment in history, despite its limited budget.”
NotThatKindof_jew , nbc Report
remymartinia Report
slash-5 Report
“Showing audiences real-life situations can educate the viewer, and deepen their empathy with other people who might be living dramatically different experiences than the moviegoer,” he added. “There is immense power in cinema.”
sra19 Report
jason_sation Report
RusticSurgery Report
ParapluieGris , paramountpictures Report
dreadowntown , cottonbro studio / Pexels Report
IveKnownItAll Report
jrm2003 Report
VisibleCoat995 Report
wojonixon Report
Scrotchety , Think Film Report
michaelyup , warnerbros Report
Quirky_Definition_38 , Juan Salamanca / Pexels Report
St_Ander Report
Fireproofspider , sonypictures Report
CambionClan Report
LemonsAndAvocados Report
The_Lost_Pharaoh Report
Hosj_Karp Report
Ibrahim2x Report
Beezo514 Report
MickeyAmica Report
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