Top 10 Famous Women Done Dirty By Their Fictional Adaptations

These famous women were done dirty by their fictional adaptations. For this list, we’ll be looking at historical women whose real lives were reduced to caricature or fictionalized to the point of blatant disrespect. Our countdown includes "Amelia," "Blonde," "Diana," and more! Which of these fictional portrayals was most egregious to YOU? Let us know in the comments!
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MsMojo is a leading producer of reference online video content of Top 10 Lists, Origins, Biographies, Commentary and more on Pop Culture, Celebrity, Movies, Music, TV, Film, Video Games, Politics, News, Comics, Superheroes. Your trusted authority on ranking Pop Culture.
#Women #Biopics #Adaptation #Fictional #Fail

[@MsMojo]

Which of these fictional portrayals was most egregious to YOU? Let us know below, and check out our video of the Top 10 Movies with Historically Inaccurate Premises - kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJfNqWyZoNeUnqc

[@DanGamingFan2846]

I'll never understand why Disney ever thought adapting the story of Pocahontas in such was a good idea. The way the movie handles story, and how much it "Disneyfies" it is just egregious.

[@bbsy1]

Hardly the worst whitewashing oh history, especially now.

[@velociraptor4you3291]

I *_respectfully disagree._*

[@base21]

It wasn't really made to be a documentary so cut it some slack

[@meahdahlgren5875]

Danganingfan2846❤❤❤

[@velociraptor4you3291]

@@base21 Exactly. Well put (👍).

[@hhtptai]

Who in the actual hell would make a Broadway musical about Princess Diana…?

[@annbrookens945]

I know, right???

[@giancarlofelicianocastaned9316]

People who don't have a working brain.

[@itscherylplayz8925]

Out of anything else they choose A BROADWAY MUSICAL

[@kamsismith]

Aaliyah, Cleopatra, Marilyn Monroe, Nina Simone, and Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth Taylor and Nina Simone were treated like SNL sketches more than real people.

[@PerfectlyImperfect93]

Marie Antoinette shouldn’t be up here even as an honorable mention. Kirsten Dunst did a great job portraying her as a young girl ill prepared to be a Queen to a foreign Kingdom. You sympathize with her because she wasn’t ready and was only 14, yet when she became Queen and a Mother, she really did her best and tried but by then it was too late.

[@myheartiswriting]

Marie Antoinette, the person, was done dirty by life and history. The more I learn about her, the more I conclude she was the scapegoat of France. Everything she did was villainized to absurdity and although she was under no circumstances perfect, and she deserved to be somewhat blamed for France's downfall, (she was still the Queen, it's part of the job title to be blamed) the amount of hate she received for being human was disproportionate to the actual crimes she committed. I don't think any film can make her a realistically sympathetic character when even her most iconic catchphrase is a piece of fabricated propaganda made by revolutionists who were so consumed with the compulsion to dismantle corruption, they executed each other. I feel much too strongly about this, I'm sorry.

[@lindildeev5721]

You wanna see the real Amelia and Sacagawea? Watch Night in the Museum (Amelia is in the second): they're totally awesome and exactly how they were described in the video.

[@AdamIshak01]

YES I LOVE THAT TRILOGY!

[@user-lb9xw4xf2q]

Funny a fantasy family film does it better than a "based on a true story" movies.

[@Kiraiko44]

That Diana musical... what the hell... I didn't know that was a thing, and I don't know who thought that was a good idea

[@Iggystar71]

You took the words straight from my head!!!! My jaw dropped!!!

[@lonellfletcher]

I can't believe NO ONE came in to stop this from coming to fruition.

[@wandamaximoff1789]

The Pam and Tommy series, it's just so weird to me because no one asked Pamela, and she herself has said that it was salt on the wound, they portray her like a victim something she says she isn’t

[@NebulaB]

And then they had the nerve to say they were "giving her a voice" while promoting the show.

[@dorianr4770]

After Pocahontas and Marilyn Monroe, I was thinking Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie, and Cleopatra. It's almost as if Hollywood doesn't want to show that historical women could actually be competent or something....

[@meagtaylor3392]

It infuriates me how many amazing, complicated, brilliant, fascinating women have been misrepresented in movies and TV!

[@lilletrille1892]

Agree!

[@trinaq]

Ana De Armas was possibly one of the only redeeming things about the Blonde misfire. She gave a lot of depth to her performance, deservedly getting her first Oscar nomination.

[@kamsismith]

Andrew Dominik admitted that he didn't care about Marilyn Monroe or her accomplishments and only cared about her body. He was also very misogynistic as he claimed people didn't watch Marilyn Monroe movies anymore, which is BS.

[@Kevin-rg3yc]

she did i learned through her interviews she was the only one in the film BTS crew who genuinely cared about Marilyn, ana did massive amount of research to know personally more about norma jean/marilyn monroe as well as she barely read the blonde book that the film was based on, i hope ana does more films with greater directors/screenwriters

[@motor4X4kombat]

Still she stole Mia Goth nomination from Pearl. Seriously Mia in that film makes Anna look like amber heard.

[@jeffersonhassan4558]

​@@kamsismithso you are blaming the director but not the writer of the book the movie is based on who was a woman?

[@nestorsifuentesaguirre2722]

​@@jeffersonhassan4558Yes. Considering he thought the world stopped caring. Yeah right

[@EmB61491]

Cleopatra was a force to be reckoned with in real life! She was a badass in real life! She wasn't the first female pharaoh, but she was her own person, plus she was married when she started her affair with Marc Antony, of Rome.

[@superandrew2000]

most people only talk about the last Cleopatra, there were several Cleopatras

[@EmB61491]

@@superandrew2000 Cool! I knew that, because didn't they only have select names for their kids when they were royalty? And they were fewer for women? But wasn't she the most famous today, in our world?

[@yoanastoyanova]

Yes, she was married to her brother

[@OcarinaSapphr-]

​@@EmB61491 Ptolemy (16 who were Pharaohs, plus a couple who either never ruled, or ruled portions of the Ptolemaic empire, like Cyrene & Cyprus) & occasionally Alexander - Berenice (4), Arsinoe (4), Cleopatra (7), & Selene (2). There were a couple of other names earlier on in the dynasty. But the Alexander's & Selene's still had Ptolemy or Cleopatra attached. The Ptolemies were known by epithets back in the day, rather than the Roman numerals of later - Cleopatra's father was Ptolemy {XII} _Theos Philopater_ (the father-loving god), & _Neos Dionysus_ (the New Dionysus)- the Alexandrian mob, in their typical style called him, _Nothos_ (Greek for 'bastard', as a statement of his illegitimacy)- & an only slightly less insulting name for him was _Auletes_ ('the flute-player'), but it still hinted to his drunken antics.

[@OcarinaSapphr-]

​@@yoanastoyanova Both of her younger half-brothers

[@robbinruffino1201]

John Smith made up A LOT of stories in his journals about being saved from death by a Princess in different countries! Also, I loved The Greatest Showman but the real Barnhum was an ugly man-inside and out and almost everything was made up! He didn’t have a good relationship with his ‘oddities’!

[@erynpoulin8151]

I loved Mommy Dearest and watched it with my own mom. Even if she wasn’t portrayed as she could be, her lack of motherhood and how she treated people seemed pretty accurate though she could’ve received a tad more depth. Clearly she needed therapy and probably more backstory.

[@raniahaverkotte9933]

Absolutely done with seeing other actresses portray Marilyn. Let the woman rest. And give her more credits than some weak psychotic woman. Furthermore; most are terrible portraits of mostly brilliant women !

[@sparrowwilson4514]

Omg. I cannot stop laughing at the Diana musical. 😂😂 that is in such poor taste it’s honestly hilarious. Whoever came up with that idea earned their salary that day.

[@sheboyganshovel5920]

I was born in 64. Marilyn Monroe was always part of the conversation. Sex symbol, glamor girl, president's mistress, trainwreck. I was in my 50s when I finally saw one of her movies. Nobody ever told me she could act.

[@samuelcollantes1175]

I never thought Pocahontas would end on this top (but then i remembered, she was a real woman , like Mulan) what a great top this was. Thanks Ms Mojo, have a happy tuesday morning and God bless you, greetings from Colombia to you as well.

[@Da1WhoKnoxx]

13:01 I honestly think the Disney movie is entertaining for its audience (children) but parents should gradually introduce the actual events regarding her

[@chelseacanales8763]

Ana de Armas nailed Marilyn Monroe perfectly; I mean sure the late Marilyn had enough crapped in her life, so the best thing is that Hollywood ought to stopped with the biopic and memoirs

[@Boobalopbop]

I agree with the picks but I feel like the Pocahontas one isn’t as disrespectful as say they Nina Simone one because of the fact that we don’t know the truth of her life, so creative license is granted. I adore Zoe Saldana, but that was just awful. Facial prosthetics are OK, but a woman like Simone who so much of her art and cultural impact was about her blackness, and African features it is just plain disrespectful to cast a latina with straight hair, western model type to play her. I didn’t even see the movie but the reviews were abysmal. I hope a biopic of Nina’s life is made someday and I hope she’s played by Michaela Cole. She is Nina’s spitting image.

[@richandfrancescaarriola5965]

They asked what Viola thought of the movie and she said something like I can’t comment on it because I don’t know what that is. I literally don’t know what I’m looking at.

[@clarencewalker3925]

Let's not forget the absurd portrayal of Anne Boleyn by Jodie Turner-Smith. Anne Boleyn is not Black. I believe we can all agree on that, considering the number of paintings of her. If stupidity was a food, we'd all be grossly overweight.

[@Firebender554]

I think that came from accounts in Anne’s life calling her “swarthy.” But those were said by an England whose standards of light-skinned were basically pure white, so I'd take it with a grain of salt.

[@annbrookens945]

I complained about Pocahontas from the beginning, going so far as to read more accurate biographies to my children. The fact that she was a child when she met the British and never had a romance with John Smith seems too important to change. On the other hand, the Disney movie was a good time, if it only hadn't been pushing inaccurate history! I had similar objections about The Greatest Showman. I know that Jenny Lind was a famous soprano, so why did they cast an alto? There must be many gorgeous soprano voices they could have cast, but deliberately did not. I also know that PT Barnum was not an admirable man but with Hugh Jackman cast in the role, well! Hard not to love him!

[@justineves3588]

Very very great epic list I like it a lot very very great job mis mojo one of my absolute favorite list ever 😊❤

[@nixeleth]

Not just Pocahontas: Kocoum, too.

[@oldkitten8598]

For once, I'd like to see one of these lists get more in depth about how robbed the audience was of the real story of theae real life figures. Give an example or 2 of what the portrayal was lacking instead of just echoing what others have said.

[@justapeacefulmanwhosbornin7291]

We understand the true story of Pocahontas, we can’t trust the Disney animated story version anymore.

[@meahdahlgren5875]

❤❤❤

[@justineves3588]

Did you ever see the movie the new world

[@mintybadger6905]

Blonde was a horrible movie. It was like a train wreck you I could t look away from and it left me feeling gross.

[@user-lv5zz7wv6l]

Given Pocahontas controversy that’s probably why from the start of legos Disney princess theme in 2014 Pocahontas took until this year to be a Lego mini figure and minidoll both of which I own but maybe give the reality of Pocahontas makes sense she took so long to be an Lego fig

[@QueenCallisto]

It would seem many of the actresses do not do enough research into the person they are going to portray.

[@EllieC130]

I think the only way to watch Pocahontus without feeling super uncomfortable it's just to tell yourself it's about a completely made up person who happened to have the same name as the historical figure. With the differences, I don't even know that it'd be that hard to convince yourself.

[@Jheavenly95]

6:04 The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe (2015) is a great biopic series and accurate portrayal of Marilyn!

[@seantlewis376]

All of these movies were a discredit to actual history and real people, so thank you for making this video. Braveheart was a great movie, but complete fiction. The real story of the life of William Wallace could have been as engaging, but they messed it up. Sacajawea and Pocahontas have both been harmed by not only movies, but history. The stories we were told as children were almost entirely false. Cleopatra was a Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt, and the presentation of her in pretty much every movie shows her as simply a seductress. There's so much more to the story. I could dissect every one of these mentions, but you've done a good enough job of it that I don't have to.

[@ilcanedaguardiabaybayaew]

I would add Toni Storm too. (Who knows knows)

[@LarryDevaun]

Makes me think about how goddesses are negatively depicted in media. Like how aphrodiedy is treated more like the goddess of lust instead of the goddess of love.

[@Hestia90]

She's the goddess of physical love. Eros (her son) is the God of emotional love.

[@beccagregory3586]

I didn't know The Greatest Showman was a true story

[@ashleessingingsensations7294]

What about Elizabeth Taylor from Liz and Dick? Or Aretha Franklin from Respect?

[@pazuzu126]

With all the honorable mentions, this really should have been a top 20 list.

[@Courtneybenson907]

Elizabeth of York in The White Queen, White Princess, and The Spanish Princes.

[@liamn.watson4867]

How does Urban Myths: It’s Me Sugar compare to Blonde (To those who watched the whole episode, not just read the summary)?

[@n.y.174]

Marie Antoinette shouldn't be in this video. The movie depicted her early years in France very well. Political savvy didn't really come until it was too late.

[@andyliu1296]

I think I still remember how mojo channel praised and made several videos surrounding Blonde, 2 facing much?

[@lovefromwonderland]

I don't understand why anyone would make a MUSICAL out of Diana's life... I mean, that's the definition of tone-deaf.

[@beansprout9046]

Next could you do musician’s because David Bowie got it so bad😭

[@user-lb9xw4xf2q]

A musical about Princess Diana sounds like it should be a fake trailer in Tropic Thunder.

[@danaarmas956]

Lupita as Tiana in princess and the frog 🐸 Live action

[@danaarmas956]

this warms my heart 💘❤️💘❤️💘❤️💘❤️💘 ☄️✨

[@multichannel4274]

Pocahontas's real name was Matoaka or something, right? Never watched the movie tho.

[@itscherylplayz8925]

Pocahontas and Blonde were so disrespectful to Matoaka and Marilyn it’s insane.

[@sheilaholmes996]

I hated Pocahantes and Anastasia. Big lies, both of them.

[@justapeacefulmanwhosbornin7291]

The real Marilyn Monroe, may she rest in peace. 😢 ‘Blonde’ became one of 100+ worst Hollywood movies ever made. 😒

[@abellewis3062]

I'm surprised Judy Garland is not on this list. Enough said.

[@parakeet8157]

Sometimes they tend to overromaticize stories to make them apear more interesting. Stick with the facts. Often far more interesting.

[@polishalastor142]

Pocahontas

[@emberskelly4524]

To be fair all of the Disney movies are Disneyfied including Walt's first princess: Snow White, but I do get the importance that unlike Snow White, Pocahontas did actually exist and that she wasn't a grown woman when she married John despite him being an adult and that it was a marriage to basically stop the fighting between their people and when he died she married John Rolfe(The other john) I think, I'm remembering this from a high school history book.

[@maryfischer875]

She did not marry John Smith.

[@annbrookens945]

@emberskelly4524, please read an accurate account of her life. She was not married to John Smith EVER, was kidnapped as a girl and trained by the colonists. Converted to Christianity, married to John Rolfe at 17 and had a son, sent to England with him to show off the "civilized savage" and died there at the age of 21. She had a very strange, short life.

[@emberskelly4524]

@@annbrookens945like i said i was just remembering from a school textbook.

[@GoRicky15]

The "She-Wolf of France", deserves more than Braveheart made of her. Her real story deserves a series, it's a fascinating tale.

[@MilasMixMedia]

Yeah ahhh,i tried to watch that Blonde movie on Netflix after seeing reviews of the movie, it freaked me out and it was like sooo cringy and unfaithful to the original Marilyn Monroe that i that i had to turn it off, there was a scene in particular that her mother drowned Marilyn now i am not if that’s true or not, but it just freaked me out and the way they did that scene was awful it made me a bit uncomfortable as i was watching it. I don’t understand why it’s okay for a white skin actress to put brown paint on herself and call her black that’s seem discrimination to the black community and even if there are black why would you need to edit there skin so they are much darker like it dosen’t make sense. Also it’s not on your top 10 list of famous women done dirty by their fictional adaptations, i watched the cleopatra movie with Elizabeth Taylor when i was watching that i was like this is white washing and it was like the movie was in two parts, but yeah i would also say that version of Cleopatra has also got done dirty from the movie Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor.

[@lonellfletcher]

A pop-rock musical (or musical comedy depending on how you look at it) about Diana was always gonna fail. It wasn't serious enough to pay any kind of respect to her.

[@elinesvendsen8046]

So many exciting women being reduced to primarily romantic interests of a male character.

[@firstname__lastname]

What allot of people don't realise in Pocahontas is an actual Native American woman voiced her. They could have easily used a more recognised voice actor or a white woman.

[@annbrookens945]

Yes, Disney made a big point of using indigenous actors to speak the indigenous roles.

[@lovelyyolie2793]

The cleopatra one had 100000000 things wrong starting with she was not Caucasian. I hate how every time a historical Egyptian movie is made black people are only slaves. Yes there were some European people in Egypt and yes there were multiracial people in Egypt but come on…. When they need slaves black people appear in every subordinate role and the stories when there are kings and queens, powerhouse warriors and leaders there is all a sudden nation and abundance of Caucasian people smh just too much. 1930-1950s movies are extremely inaccurate and is what society continues to based movies on.

[@letolethe3344]

Pocohontas is one of the most racist movies ever made.

[@syria0110]

Aaliyah for sure

[@janmildenberger5133]

How is Mommie Dearest Not number one?

[@SupergirlUK]

Oof Rome! Thats a blast from the past! So much historically wrong with that series, Octavia and Octavian for starters 😬😬

[@maytalacedo2942]

Yeah I agree with #1 it just feels wrong

[@Hippielove90]

Another badly portrayed Marilyn Monroe movie is Norma Jean and Marilyn where her former self is constantly harassing her about never being good enough

[@divamh10]

I find it is more indicative of a person with severe mental illness particularly audio/visual hallucinations

[@faboul467]

Lifetime movie about Britney speakers and Aaliyah

[@everettabor1372]

If "Feud" bastardized Olivia de Havilland, then why does it have a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes?🤨

[@lynnevetter]

Poor Zoe.

[@neildickson5394]

Poor Marilyn...depression YES, mental illness NO! Lies, lies, lies.

[@tfe1788]

I liked Nina….

[@SaintMTi]

I Wanna Dance With Somebody should’ve made the list. Whitney Houston was one of the most beautiful women of her time but they clearly didn’t care about that with casting!

[@nicholasdearden331]

Winnie madela movie is a very bad movie because they didn't have any South African actors playing the lead roles in the first place as a south Africa it made me mad because we have alot of great South Africa actors

[@SyIe12]

👍⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@cherleprevost9186]

I love the Greatest Showman the way it is ❤

[@annbrookens945]

I do love the movie! Hugh Jackman is so likeable that one doesn't realize the real Barnum was not benevolent.

[@samanthaoreilly9196]

Nahhh Blonde is accurate. Marilyn been a side chick

[@steveguti6452]

Urgent emergency Please join me in prayer for Family friend Terri not able to walk emergency surgery removed massive brain tumor she desperately need your prayers for full recovery praying for everyone everyday God bless you all.

[@divamh10]

Who

[@sarahhey7804]

Hi hey likeit

[@generic_ornament]

Anna Nicole Smith - both biopics and the opera. ew

[@TheDigitalWoman]

I have to point this out - anyone who thought Blonde by Joyce Carol Oats was a memoir or a biography of her and her life, then they are stupid. And yes, I’m gonna use that word cause even the writer herself has stated that Blonde is FICTION. It’s not supposed to be an accurate portrait of her or her life and the author can take as many liberties as she wants, just like those who write fan fiction. She wrote a FICTIONAL BOOK about Marilyn Monroe. It’s not supposed to be accurate 🤦🏻‍♀️ THATS WHY IT‘S CALLED FICTION!!!

[@davidlance5310]

Dianna the musical was cringe but it’s what she would’ve wanted

[@steveguti6452]

Never underestimate the power of prayer it could have been someone's prayer that God answered that saved your Life Praise God Praying for Everyone Everyday God bless you all 🙏🙏🙏

[@steveguti6452]

Jesus Christ died for our Sins According to the scriptures and that he was Buried and that he rose again the third day praying for everyone everyday God bless you all.

[@antonellaserra7232]

Sorry, i do not agree with you. Too much criticism. I kind of enjoyed these films. This video is too negative… Joe Saldana is black, why she cannot portray a black person… Sorry, but it sounds too complicated for me. She was not the exact skin tone? Seriously! I agree that the film with Charlton Heston was too much, a white person should not play a black or native person… But Joe Saldana can only play certain skin type of black person? Exaggerated! I think also that Ana de Armas look amazing as Marilyn Monroe… and yes, Marilyn suffered a lot, so for what to hide that fact? Also Cleopatra looks amazing…It is a pity that nowadays everything has to be soooo exact that you lose the enjoyment of just watch a good film. Please don’t hit me. It is just my humble opinion.

[@sharyageorge]

Let me help you understand. She’s Afro-Latina and much of Nina’s identity and experience came from being a black woman. There’s PLENTY of dark skinned women that could have been used for that role but they chose to over look them. This has been happening to people of color more specifically dark skinned people of color for a very long time. It’s tiring and it pisses people off and it’s a spit in the face of Nina’s legacy. She was unapologetically black, dark skinned and proud. She deserved to be honestly portrayed by someone as such. They essentially put Zoe in black face when all they had to do was get a dark skinned actress. In Nina’s story, her looked mattered. My question to you is this, if they got Marilyn Monroe’s looks in a movie wrong, would this be too complicated for you? Would that be too negative?

[@DoYouSalut]

I'd also like to add that at the time of Nina, Zoe didn't identify as a black woman or afro-latina. And is from the Dominican Republic which has a history of anti-black rhetoric. So it would upset people that this happened.

[@BroadwayGuy]

Rene Zellweger as Judy Garland is a DISGRACE!!! BEYOND DISRESPECTFUL!!!!!! Unconscionable desecration of Judy Garland as a human being and a world-class artist.