October 15 2022, 13:37

Watching the movie “Elvis.” And here’s a thought that came to me this morning over breakfast. We haven’t finished watching Elvis yet, yes, it’s three hours long, but some expectations from the movie have already formed — to learn more about Elvis Presley. Is it worth watching the movie for this purpose? Here are some biopics that come to mind: “Blonde” about Marilyn Monroe, “Bohemian Rhapsody” about Freddie Mercury, “The Theory of Everything” about Stephen Hawking, “I, Tonya” about Tonya Harding, “Amadeus” about Mozart. Some of them stick closer to the real biography (like Hawking), while others are full of fabrications (for example, Blonde).

What happens is: they often create an alternative history, having an unknown intersection with real events and facts. It’s very hard to correct this initial impression by later reading a biography, as it already forms a mental image, and all subsequent information is viewed through the prism of what was already received earlier. For example, the movie “Blonde” starts with a scene where Marilyn’s insane mother tries to drown her little daughter in the bathtub. Or Marilyn’s polyamorous relationships with Chaplin and Robinson. This is what millions of viewers will remember after watching.

Then, a portion of the audience might become interested and start reading about what from the movie is true and what is embellished. But here enters the confirmation bias – the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. Precisely those shaped by these biopics. And then try to believe that Salieri actually didn’t kill Mozart, and that most of the stories about Marilyn Monroe’s affair with Robert Kennedy are made up since no one was there to actually witness, and there are no facts.

Interestingly, propaganda works in a similar way. It’s very important what introduces us to a subject because everything that follows is perceived in a certain context. That’s why propaganda aggressively targets schools and kindergartens.