History Main / RippedFromTheHeadlines

* ''Film/{{Orphan}}'': It's about an American family who adopts Esther, a 9-year-old Russian girl, who's in reality [[spoiler: a thirty-three-year-old [[AxCrazy psycho]] who suffers from a disease that makes her seem [[OlderThanTheyLook younger than she actually is]]]]. The plot of the movie is quite similar to the Barbora Skrlová case, with the exception that there isn't any [[NauseaFuel underage cannibalism]] in the film.

** ''Literature/TheMirrorCrackdFromSideToSide'' borrows its pivotal backstory from the real life of [[spoiler: actress Creator/GeneTierney]], to the extent that if you happen to be familiar with it, the crime is not terribly difficult to solve before Literature/MissMarple solves it. However, Christie denied doing so, saying that she'd never heard of [[spoiler: Gene Tierney's tragedy]] until after the book was written; given the PR stranglehold Hollywood studios had on their stars at the time, and that people really didn't talk about that sort of thing, [[spoiler: disabled and mentally deficient children]] it's quite possible she was telling the truth.

* "Delial", the girl Navidson frequently mentions in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'', turns out to be [[spoiler: the name he mentally gave to the subject of his award-winning photograph [[http://www.fanpop.com/spots/house-of-leaves/images/1180150/title/real-delial-photo of a starving orphan girl in Africa in the view of a vulture.]] The book actually mentions the RealLife version and the photographer by name]].

** Season 13, In a plot that seems to be blatantly following this trope, basketball player Miles and his best friend are shown taking photos of and carrying Zoë (who is inebriated and unconscious) into the pool house where she is later recorded being raped by unknown assailants, resembling the Steubenville rape case. [[spoiler: The rapists turn out to be members of the hockey team, again similar to the Steubenville case (in which they were football players).]]

* Regularly inverted in ''Series/TheThickOfIt'', which has become [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19908366 infamous for predicting real life political policies and gaffes]]. However, played straight in Series 4 [[spoiler: with the Goolding Inquiry, which is largely based off of the 2011-12 Leveson Inquiry which came as a result of the News Inrernational phone hacking scandal]].

* The plot of ''VideoGame/YIIKAPostmodernRPG'' kicks off with the mysterious death of a beautiful young Asian woman who is last seen on an elevator security camera video. Creator Brian Allanston has admitted this was based on the highly publicized death of Elisa Lam, which many people [[OvershadowedByControversy denounced as disrespectful]] (predictably so to anyone familiar with Allanston's life and work).

* Princess Cadence of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', being essentially Kate Middleton with hooves, has had two stories ripped from the headlines, albeit several months late due to production schedules: the Royal Wedding, and [[spoiler: her pregnancy]].

The EvilTwin of this trope is CouldThisHappenToYou Done poorly, this can come across as WereStillRelevantDammit.

* TheReveal of the M segment of ''Film/ABCsOfDeath2'' will be familiar to anyone who is aware of the [[spoiler:bath salt cannibalism incidents in Florida]].
* The plot of ''Film/AceInTheHole'' was inspired by two real-life events. Cave explorer W. Floyd Collins was trapped in a cave in 1925, and a three-year-old girl, Kathy Fiscus fell into an abandoned well in 1949. Just like in the film, the victims became media sensations and died before they were rescued.

* The "Northstar Gets Married" issue of ComicBook/XMen, where Jean-Paul and his partner Kyle Jinadu tie the knot. It came out in 2012 when an increasing number of American states were legalizing same-sex marriage; this was Marvel's extremely unsubtle way of voicing their support. The problem is that Kyle is just a minor character whose relationship with Northstar--himself just an on-and-off member of the X-Men--mostly developed off-panel. For them to have the full-blown "Superhero Wedding" treatment would have made no sense if Kyle were Kylie instead.

** Slightly more cynical readers might point out that the Twin Towers were destroyed multiple times in Marvel Comics, often by the same villains shown crying in the aforementioned ''Spider-Man'' issue. ComicBook/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}} in particular once smashed through the base of one of the Towers and expressed amusement at the idea he might've killed someone, whereas both Characters/{{Ma|rvelComicsMagneto}}gneto and Characters/DoctorDoom have done far worse in-universe.
*** Marvel published the Crisis Crossover ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' a short time later, a FantasyConflictCounterpart of 9/11 and the consequences of it. It had the "How would it have impacted in the superhero community?" angle, which would be [[DudeNotFunny completely out of place]] if done with the real event.

* ''Series/{{Bones}}''

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E23ThirtyMinutesOverTokyo Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo]]", the "Battling Seizure Robots" scene is a reference to the controversy over the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' episode [[Recap/PokemonS1E38ElectricSoldierPorygon "Electric Soldier Porygon"]], which gave nearly 700 viewers seizures.

* Michael Fay being sentenced to punishment by caning in Singapore in 1994 led to the Singapore Cane match held by Wrestling/{{ECW}} between Wrestling/TommyDreamer and [[Wrestling/JimFullington Sandman]].

** ''Literature/TheMirrorCrackdFromSideToSide'' borrows its pivotal backstory from the real life of [[spoiler: actress Creator/GeneTierney]], to the extent that if you happen to be familiar with it, the crime is not terribly difficult to solve before Literature/MissMarple solves it. However, Christie denied doing so, saying that she'd never heard of [[spoiler: Gene Tierney's tragedy]] until after the book was written; given the PR stranglehold Hollywood studios had on their stars at the time, and that people really didn't talk about that sort of thing [[spoiler: disabled and mentally deficient children]] it's quite possible she was telling the truth.

* Joyce Carol Oates is very fond of fictionalizing real cases of murder and violent death, sometimes sticking very close to actual events but going inside the minds of the people involved, sometimes [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory departing much farther]]. Some examples are ''My Sister My Love'' (Jon Benet Ramsey), ''Zombie'' (Jeffrey Dahmer), ''Literature/WhereAreYouGoingWhereHaveYouBeen'' ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Schmid Charles Schmid]]), "Dear Husband" (Andrea Yates), "Landfill" ([[http://www.phillymag.com/scripts/print/article.php?asset_idx=228955 John Fiocco]]), and ''Black Water'' ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jo_Kopechne Mary Jo Kopechne]]).

* The backstory behind the Castle of Wax Murder Case arc in ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'' is based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_million_yen_robbery the 300 million yen robbery]], which took place in 1968. The largest heist in Japanese history at the time, it has remained unsolved.

** Slightly more cynical readers might point out that the Twin Towers were destroyed multiple times in Marvel Comics, often by the same villains shown crying in the aforementioned ''Spider-Man'' issue. Characters/{{Juggernaut}} in particular once smashed through the base of one of the Towers and expressed amusement at the idea he might've killed someone, whereas both Characters/{{Ma|rvelComicsMagneto}}gneto and Characters/DoctorDoom have done far worse in-universe.

* The "Northstar Gets Married" issue of X-Men, where [[Characters/AlphaFlightTitleTeam Jean-Paul]] and his partner Kyle Jinadu tie the knot. It came out in 2012 when an increasing number of American states were legalizing same-sex marriage; this was Marvel's extremely unsubtle way of voicing their support. The problem is that Kyle is just a minor character whose relationship with Northstar--himself just an on-and-off member of the X-Men--mostly developed off-panel. For them to have the full-blown "Superhero Wedding" treatment would have made no sense if Kyle were Kylie instead.

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E1PlanetOfGiants Planet of Giants]]" is rooted in the then-recent release of the book ''Silent Spring'', which exposed the damage DDT was doing to bird populations. The story concerns an ecologically-devastating pesticide.

* An odd [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] / [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of the trope: While it is believed by some that ''Film/{{Joe}}'' was based on the HonorRelatedAbuse killing by Arville Garland of his 17-year-old daughter Sandy, her boyfriend and two of their friends, it was actually an instance of a horrible RealLife CoincidenceMagnet. The Garland murders occurred while the film was in post-production. The film became a low-budget box office smash because of the Garland murders.

** The first episode of the final season of ''Series/StrongMedicine'' had a storyline that referenced the 2005 Glendale train derailment (where a guy left a truck on the track). They made the suspect in the episode female...and bipolar.

** One episode takes the pregnancy pact reportedly taken by a group of Mass. girls and incorporates it into the storyline. Bones herself thought it was a good idea for the girls to band together; meanwhile, in RealLife, the "pact" turned out to be a huge coincidence fanned by rumors and probably more than a little snarking.
** Another episode was inspired by the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty_murder Hello Kitty Murder]].

* All the school shooting films (like ''Film/ZeroDay'' or ''Film/{{Elephant}}'') released in the wake of UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}}.

* ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'': [[spoiler:[[BigBad Doctor Beruga]] successfully unleashing the [[ThePlague Asmodeus virus]] in Neotokyo, killing the entire population of the city save for a young girl has been compared to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack Tokyo subway sarin attack]] that took place early on the same year that the game was published]]. Along with the religious overtones and some [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath rather disturbing deaths]], it's theorized it's one reason as to why the game never made it to America despite being released in Europe.

* The motive behind the ''Kogoro Mouri's Impostor'' case from ''Manga/CaseClosed'' involves a falling out between the two culprits of a several million yen extortion case. The company they exploited is specifically identified as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glico_Morinaga_case a confectionary company]].

* ''Film/DirtyHarry'' doing this is lampshaded in ''Film/{{Zodiac}}'' (2007) with the obvious Aesop that RealLife crimes aren't always solved by shooting someone.

%%* Mainstream {{comic book}}s don't do this too often (save for major events like UsefulNotes/WorldWarII or 9/11) to avoid dating themselves, but in ''Comicbook/XMen'', one of the reasons [[Characters/XMen70sMembers Nightcrawler]] quit his divinity studies was the rash of child abuse cases surrounding the Catholic Church in the early 2000s. He wondered how God could allow such a thing.

** ''[[Recap/FuturamaS7E13Naturama Naturama]]'' is a non-controversy-related example. One of the fake documentary segments involves Professor Farnsworth as the last Pinta Island Tortoise, known as "Lonesome Hubert". It aired only months after Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island Tortoise in real life, died.

** ''[[FuturamaS7E13Naturama {{Naturama}}]]'' is a non-controversy-related example. One of the fake documentary segments involves Professor Farnsworth as the last Pinta Island Tortoise, known as "Lonesome Hubert". It aired only months after Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island Tortoise in real life, died.

** ''[[FuturamaS7E13Naturama Naturama]]'' is a non-controversy-related example. One of the fake documentary segments involves Professor Farnsworth as the last Pinta Island Tortoise, known as "Lonesome Hubert". It aired only months after Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island Tortoise in real life, died.