History Main / ThisIsAWorkOfFiction

* Habitually used verbatim at the start of ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' games (re-)released in the west from ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'' onwards, with a [[https://i.imgur.com/YWH9Pd4.jpg specific form of words used]] as both a ContentWarning, a means of setting the scene for the player and also a legal disclaimer - which is ''very'' necessary given that the games feature numerous people, in a relatively realistic portrayal of the yakuza world, habitually committing many, many violent criminal acts.

-->"This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real, people, events, locations and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers supernatural beings]] is purely coincidental."

* Frequently used in DC's Imaginary Stories, which are usually prefaced with "which may never happen, but then again may." Perhaps the best known example is Creator/AlanMoore's classic ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'':

---> My subject is, then, what I have neither seen, experienced, nor been told, what neither exists nor could conceivably do so. [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief I humbly solicit my readers' incredulity]].

* Used at the beginning of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' (and that game alone), because it was written in 1999, depicted terrorist attacks in New York and [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents was completed only two months after September 11, 2001]].

** In the last episode they go so far as to claim that any similarity with their own show is purely coincidental. [[WidgetSeries Given the type]] [[MindScrew of show this is]], [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs they're not far off]].

* ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' begins with the notice: "Any resemblance between Hynkel the dictator and the Jewish barber is purely co-incidental". (They are played by the same actor.) The movie is very clearly and emphatically a parody and satire of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, and the {{subverted|Trope}} disclaimer only underlines how it's completely unapologetic and unsubtle about it.

Some form of this disclaimer can be found at the front of nearly every novel out there as well as in the credits of most films and TV episodes. It's an attempt to stave off libel suits; it seems to have originated as a response to a suit against the makers of the 1932 film ''Rasputin and the Empress'' by a Russian princess who believed one of the characters to have been modeled on her.[[note]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Yusupov More precisely Princess Irina of Russia, the only niece of the last tsar, who was married to Rasputin's murderer, Prince Felix Yusupov]] [[/note]] Think of it as the more professional equivalent of IDoNotOwn, though with more legal force.[[note]]IDoNotOwn admits that the characters, etc. portrayed are someone else's intellectual property and used without permission: it's basically saying "It's UsefulNotes/FairUse because I don't pretend it's mine" and it doesn't do much legally. This trope has nothing to do with intellectual property, and it's basically saying "if some of this seems RippedFromTheHeadlines, it wasn't intentional", so it has more legal significance.[[/note]]

* Subverted in Creator/MichaelCrichton's ''Literature/{{Next}}'', an AuthorTract about the dangers of genetic engineering loosely based on some real events.

* It's repurposed in ''The Melancholy of LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''; the SOS movie includes a version of it so that [[TheOmnipotent Haruhi]] won't inadvertently make everything in the movie real.

::In the last episode they go so far as to claim that any similarity with their own show is purely coincidental. [[WidgetSeries Given the type]] [[MindScrew of show this is]], [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs they're not far off]].
* ''Anime/NightRaid1931'', which is set in China in 1931 and deals in a great part with the events leading up to the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar, has one such disclaimer at the end of every episode. Unlike most anime that use this trope, this one is deadly serious, considering that [[WrittenByTheWinners historical revisionism of World War II]] is a ''very'' touchy subject in East Asia.
-->''"This is a work of fiction. Although it is based on real historical events, the characters have been created for the sake of this story. We are not trying to present a new interpretation of the era and its events."''
** This is pretty gutsy from a series that in fact goes against the popular (in Japan) interpretation by not ignoring Japan's role in what happened and presenting it as a bad thing.
* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': "This work of fiction is not intended as an accurate historical portrayal... LIKE YOU GIVE A %#@&!"
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', specifically the anime, the writing just below the bounties that would normally have details of the wanted persons is actually said disclaimer written in romanji.
* In one chapter of ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'', a note between panels mentions: "The characters in this story are fictional. Any similarities to people living or dead is completely coincidental and quite bizarre." Another chapter mentions "Any resemblance to people or events in your life means you're an extremely strange individual."

[[folder: Podcasts]]

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in [[Literature/SherlockHolmesOfBakerStreet Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street]], purportedly a biography of [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Sherlock Holmes.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

->''[[VideoGame/{{Persona5}} ...I see.]] Everything that happens from here on in is real... Is that your cognition of this? [[ButThouMust ...Then unfortunately, I cannot allow you to partake of this website.]] [[http://www.mentalhealth.gov I must ask that you leave...]]''

* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'', Gru is reading a storybook he wrote to the three girls. When Edith points out that the kittens in the story look like the three of them (specifically how one wears a pink hat like hers), he denies the correlation.

* Inverted in the 1969 film ''Film/{{Z}}'', which satirizes the military dictatorship ruling Greece at that time. It has this notice: "Any resemblance to actual events, to persons living or dead, is not the result of chance. It is DELIBERATE."[[labelnote:Original French]]''Toute ressemblance avec des évènements réels, des personnes mortes ou vivantes n'est pas le fait du hasard. Elle est VOLONTAIRE''[[/labelnote]]

** The sequel,"[[Film/IllNeverHeilAgain I'll Never Heil Again]]" has a similar intro: "The characters in this picture are fictitious. [[ThoseWackyNazis Anyone resembling them]] is better off dead."

* Appears at the end of ''Videogame/{{Normality}}''. The first half is played straight, reading "The characters portrayed in this game are totally fictitious." The latter half is where it gets snarky and self-aware. "Any resemblance to any persons dead or alive is rather unfortunate and disturbing." This either relates to the early 3D modeling causing an UncannyValley effect with its often grotesque character models, or the characters themselves exhibiting unpleasant behavior.

Contrast DanBrowned, where you have a work of fiction that the author tries to pass off as true or accurate.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has gone out of its way to assure everyone that it's simply a work of fiction, especially in the wake of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man_stabbing Slender Man stabbing]].

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Rozemyne's mentor, Ferdinand, is quite popular among noble ladies, to the point that most of the adult female population of the Noble's Quarter has a CelebCrush of sorts on him. Rozemyne, who's using her PastLifeMemories from Earth to introduce printing to the setting, tries to make money by selling mass-produced illustrations of Ferdinand in the Noble's Quarter, but quickly gets discovered and Ferdinand's veto on the activity. Rozemyne continues via all the LoopholeAbuse she can think of, including illustrating printed stories with a ComicBookFantasyCasting version of Ferdinand. For the occasion, she also introduces a common disclaimer from Earth:

Do not confuse with the... [[http://armorgames.com/play/11103/this-is-a-work-of-fiction unusual game]] which shares a name with this trope. Or with any form of PostModernism.

* The Creator/LaurelAndHardy feature ''Block-Heads'' has a message from Stan and Ollie reading "The events and character depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. And similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not our fault!"

** The sequel,"[[Recap/TheThreeStoogesIllNeverHeilAgain I'll Never Heil Again]]" has a similar intro: "The characters in this picture are fictitious. [[ThoseWackyNazis Anyone resembling them]] is better off dead."

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy''. The Lady Katapillar and Vira form has a description talking about how Katalina was transformed into "an ancient and magnificent tool of destruction", and is now a "slave to Vira's will" sent on a path to [[KillEmAll kill everyone she meets]]. Under this is a notice:

* ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' and ''Series/AdamTwelve'' also did this with the revelation that the events were based on real cases since Jack Webb had a good relationship with the LAPD. It might have been the first, or one of the first, police procedurals to use RippedFromTheHeadlines stories.