Zal rule
The Zal rule is an informal term coined by Zal in December 2017 for psyops that share the following: "when a movie of an event is made, the event can safely be considered fake".
Psyops - Narrative management
Year | Title | Referencing event | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1990 | The Simpsons | 3-eyed fish Nuclear power plant, Nuclear scare | [1] |
1993 | The Simpsons | Tiger attack Las Vegas (2003) | [1] |
1994 | The Simpsons | Average Joe Astronot (2010), Oliver Knight (2013) | [1] |
1995 | The Simpsons | Ebola medical scare (2014) | [1][MSM 1] |
1998 | The Simpsons | God particle (2012) | [MSM 1] |
1999 | The Simpsons | nuclear power plant, nuclear scare, Fukushima tsunami (2011) | [1] |
2005 | Family Guy | Kevin Spacey scandal (2017) | [2] |
2007 | The Simpsons | NSA spying, Edward Snowden release through Wikileaks (2013) | [1][MSM 1] |
2009 | Knowing | Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010) | |
2012 | Family Guy | Death of Robin Williams (2014) | [2] |
2012 | Family Guy | Bruce Jenner (2015) | [2] |
2012 | The Simpsons | Debt default Greece (2015) | [MSM 1] |
2013 | Family Guy | Boston Bombings (2013) | [2] |
2013 | Family Guy | Death of Paul Walker (2013), 6 days later | [2] |
2014 | The Simpsons | FIFA scandal (2015) | [1][MSM 1] |
Examples
For more examples, see the category at the bottom of the page
- Guy Fawkes Night (1605) - V for Vendetta (2006)
- Death of Simón Bolívar (1830) - El Libertador (2014)
- Sinking of the Titanic (1912) - Titanic (1997)
- Bonnie & Clyde (1934) - Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
- Holocaust Story (1941-45) - Schindler's List (1993), many more
- Nikola Tesla (1943) - The Prestige (2006)
- Assassination of JFK (1963) - JFK (1991)
- Apollo 13 (1970) - Apollo 13 (1995)
- Space-time singularity (1970)/Stephen Hawking - The Theory of Everything (2014)
- Miracle of the Andes (1972) - Alive! (1993)
- US Embassy Iran hostage crisis (1979) - Argo (2012)
- 9/11 (2001) - Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), World Trade Center, United 93 (2006), many more
- Hudson Hoax (2009) - Sully (2016)
- Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010) - Deepwater Horizon (2016)
- Mining accident in Chile (2010) - 33 (2015)
- Boston Bombings (2013) - Patriots Day (2016), Stronger (2017)
Subsets
- Jet rule - "If a plane crash appears in documentaries like Mayday, Air Crash Investigation, Seconds from Disaster or similar shows, it is probably staged"
- Wallace rule - "If events appear in documentaries and especially in the In Search Of... show running from 1977 to 1982, it is probably staged"
Criticism
If this rule "when a movie of an event is made, the event can safely be considered fake" is taken seriously it could be seen as a result of a logical fallacy.
For example if it is seen as the outcome of the following examples of faulty reasoning:
- All events that have been proven to be fake are made into a movie -> when a movie of an event is made, the event can safely be considered fake
- Many events that are made into a movie have been proven to be fake -> when a movie of an event is made, the event can safely be considered fake
Another problem is that the terms of the rules are not well defined:
- There are many different kinds of "movies", "Hollywood-movies" being only one of them. The examples here also include animated series and sitcoms.
- "Documentaries" is also a broad term, which also includes Youtube documentaries that everybody can make. It is absurd to think that nobody can make a Youtube movie/documentary about a real event.
- "can safely be considered fake" is a very vague term. When would it be "unsafe" to consider an event fake? As we know, it is hard or even impossible to prove for 100% an event is fake.
All this makes it impossible to falsify the stated rules.
Still this leads to interesting questions: when an independent movie maker makes a movie/documentary about a fake event while thinking that it is real, would the people that invented the hoax sue him for copyright infringement? This could be the reason behind some Youtube censorship and it could be in fact legitimate. You can't just make a movie about superman either without buying the rights. It could be an explanation of why only certain people can make movies about certain fake events.
See also
- Prescriptive programming - when an event is prescribed in an earlier movie, series or other form of art
- Glossary of Fakeologist terms - for other terms used by Fakeologists
- Hoax management
- Narrative management
References
Fakeologist