Fans of true-crime dramas have a lot to watch these days, including such popular new limited series as The Girl from Plainville, The Dropout, WeCrashed, Super Pumped: The Battle For Uber, and upcoming additions to the trend like The Staircase. These shows depict real stories involving murder trials and corporate scandals concerning allegations of investor fraud and sexual harassment. There is nothing new to the dramatization of true-crime tales ripped from tabloid headlines, but in the past, such stories were fodder for cheap, sensational movie-of-the-week broadcasts on network television. Now they're prestige TV, spotlighting Oscar-caliber talent in front of and behind the camera. In many cases, such as with the reception of The Girl from Plainville and The Dropout, their performances spark awards buzz themselves.

More and more of today's true-crime dramas are also based on stories previously presented in documentary films, docuseries, and podcasts. Some of them even have direct links to the documentary versions. For example, The Girl from Plainville is a Hulu Original about the trial of Michelle Carter (portrayed by Elle Fanning), who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend to die by suicide. Prior to the making of the series, this same case was the subject of Erin Lee Carr's two-part HBO documentary I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth V. Michelle Carter. The director of that doc served as a consulting producer for the dramatic "remake." Carr had already experienced seeing her doc subjects turned into dramatic series, having made the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, which inspired the Emmy-winning Hulu show The Act.

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For the documentary filmmakers, there could be a fear that the dramatic versions will replace the originals, in terms of the appeal for viewers seeking these kinds of stories. True-crime documentaries have seen a boon in popularity in recent years thanks to the surplus of twist-filled features and series acquired or produced by streamers, particularly Netflix. These programs are ripe for discussion at the office water cooler and on social media. However, scripted and acted-out alternatives featuring famous celebrities such as Jared Leto, Amanda Seyfried, and Super Pumped narrator Quentin Tarantino easily draw an even wider audience. That means more people entering the conversation, some of whom wouldn't have watched the docs in the first place. Therefore, the drama series can be seen as additional and supplementary to the docs rather than substitutes.

I Love You Now Die Michelle Carter HBO True Crime Documentary

As with any adaptation, though, it must be stated that familiarity with the source material provides deeper appreciation for the newer form. Books turned into movies don't render the literary original obsolete or less-read. Many people love to compare the multiple versions of stories. Just as traditionally the book is better than the movie, the same is often true of the docs. There tends to be more insight and analysis in the nonfiction medium. And in the process of conforming to the needs of dramatization as it suits a wide audience, many true-crime shows fictionalize a number of events and exclude certain facts and details that don't fit the purposes of entertainment. Viewers can understand and consider more for themselves by looking at the real people and events in a documentary as opposed to the performed and further narrativized interpretations of the dramatic versions.

The same can be said of biographical stories as well, and there is a hope that fans of the film The Eyes of Tammy Faye will now seek out the 2000 documentary of the same name that inspired the new biopic. Jessica Chastain's Oscar-winning portrayal of the titular evangelist is enjoyable and truthful to an extent, but there is nothing like seeing the actual Tammy Faye on screen and all the specifics of her life story. Dramatic movies and series can generate empathy, there's no doubt, yet documentary interviews and other intimate footage of real people put viewers in the shoes of those subjects on a whole other level. It's not necessarily better, just different. When real stories are depicted in both formats, a la The Girl from Plainville, true-crime fans, in particular, are able to comprehend and empathize so much more than they would through watching just one or the other.

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