Duplicate Keywords - List #42 (Proposals for Permanent Merger and Auto-Conversion) ("based-on-" keywords)

@rootsmusic​ 

A novel and a book are not the same thing. A book can have many different forms, one of which is a novel. Other types include biographies, anthologies, memoirs, and self-help books. Given that "novel" and "book" are not the same thing, keywords with these words are not duplicates and should not be merged into each other.

I would also not recommend adding "young-adult-novel" to a title based on a young adult novel. The keyword "young-adult-novel" should be reserved for titles where a young adult novel is a plot element. A good example is the title Young Adult (2011). In fact, I have just added "young-adult-novel" to that title. 

You do raise a good point about "inspired-by-." Seems like several of the "inspired-by-actual-events" type keywords should be merged into "loosely-based-on-a-true-story." I will adjust the list accordingly:

inspired-by-true-events (294 titles)  -->   inspired-by-real-events (29 titles)  -->   inspired-by-actual-events (14 titles)  -->  inspired-by-a-true-incident (2 titles)  -->  loosely-based-on-a-true-story (149 titles)

Ok, I agree that "book" is a nondescript keyword about the contents.  But I interpret keywords using "literary" as referring to classics and not to novels.  So those keywords shouldn't be merged with based-on-novel-or-book.

P.S. I suggest adding loosely-based-on-historical-events (43 titles) and inspired-by-a-historical-event (3 titles) .

@rootsmusic​

When in doubt, I consult the dictionary. Here, words like "literary" and "literature" usually refer to classics, but technically they could refer to pretty much anything published in written form. 

lit·er·ar·y 
1. pertaining to or of the nature of books and writings, esp. those classed as literature: literary history.

lit·er·a·ture 
1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays.
2. the entire body of writings of a specific language, period, people, etc.: the literature of England.
3. the writings dealing with a particular subject: the literature of ornithology.

Descriptions like inspired by are sometimes written on screen, in which case I think it makes sense to use that form in a keyword.

Peter wrote:

Descriptions like inspired by are sometimes written on screen, in which case I think it makes sense to use that form in a keyword.

@keyword_expert, I agree with Peter that this idea's direction of the arrows should be merging unpopular keywords into ever more popular ones.  I've also edited my original comment to separate books from novels in my keywords under "I suggest:"

P.S. I think fiction-based-on-facts is explicitly fictionalized, but based-on-fact isn't describing fiction.

@rootsmusic​ 

Let me take a look at this list. We have to be very careful here to make sure these keywords are true synonyms/duplicates, because once the mass mergers are made, they can't be undone. 

For example, I have sometimes added "historical-event" to titles that include a historical event as a plot element or backdrop, but don't focus on the historical event (i.e., the historical event is not the main subject or theme), or titles that fictionalize or alter the historical event. The keyword "historical-event" often works well in combination with other keywords like "historical-setting," "historical-figure," "alternate-history," "historical-fiction," "period-piece," and "period-drama." 

Even the keyword "based-on-historical-event" is distinct from "based-on-true-story," in my opinion, because the former implies something from a while back, while a title based on a true story could be something that happened very recently (not really "historical"). 

Some of the other keywords you listed could probably be merged into "based-on-true-story," which has become the catch-all keyword for situations like this. Again, I will take a look.

@rootsmusic​ Here is an example of a title where I changed the keyword "historical" to "historical-event." Would it make sense to now change "historical-event" to "based-on-true-story?" I really doubt it.

Sedition (2021- )

Also, keep in mind that the keyword "historical-event" can be applied to non-fiction titles like documentaries. I would rarely if ever apply "based-on-true-story" to a documentary. 

@rootsmusic​ 

After looking through the keywords on your list, I discovered that most of these keywords have been applied to Documentaries:

true-life (13 titles

true-life-adventure (45 titles)

real-incident (4 titles)

real-life-incident (3 titles)

true-event (15 titles)

true-events (17 titles)

true-stories (6 titles)

true-life-story (3 titles)

real-life-story (8 titles)

For example, of the 45 titles that currently have the keyword "true-life-adventure," 37 of those 45 titles (82%) are Documentaries.

Compare that to based-on-true-story, where only 35 of 7,659 titles (0.5%) are Documentaries. (It should be 0%.)

In most cases, the "true-life" keywords do not seem to imply that the titles are based on true life (or true events), but rather that they are non-fiction Documentaries that depict true life.

And if I am correct about that, I believe rather than merging these keywords into "based-on-true-story," the more appropriate solution is to "audit" these keywords to manually change some of the titles to "based-on-true-story" (as appropriate), and then delete and block these keywords altogether, because they are de facto substitute keywords for the Documentary genre (and genre keywords are not allowed on IMDb, except for subgenre keywords of course). 

I will add these "true life" keywords to the list of substitute genre keywords that need to be audited and then blocked. 

@keyword_expert​ wrote:

Even the keyword "based-on-historical-event" is distinct from "based-on-true-story," in my opinion, because the former implies something from a while back, while a title based on a true story could be something that happened very recently (not really "historical"). 

To me, these keywords aren't defined by time (a few titles in the "history" genre are very recent events).  Both keywords describe nonfictional plots, where the true story or historical event is a main subject.  While based-on-true-story is limited in scope to a personal experience, based-on-a-historical-events are newsworthy events widely known within a community.

P.S. my comment added real-stories (8 titles).

@rootsmusic​ 

these keywords aren't defined by time (a few titles in the "history" genre are very recent events). 

That is probably correct in theory (i.e., it is possible to use a "historical" or "historical-event" keyword for something that happened last year), but in practice I don't think either of these keywords have been used for recent events:

based-on-historical-event (38 titles)

loosely-based-on-historical-events (43 titles)

I added "real-stories" to the list of substitute genre keywords that need to be audited and then blocked. 

@rootsmusic​ 

What do you think of the keyword "literature-on-screen?" 

This is a very, very popular keyword, and there are also hundreds of variants of it, like european-literature-on-screen.

Given those facts, I edited my proposed list to make that the preferred keyword for this merger:

based-on-literary (15 titles)  -->  based-on-novel-or-book (18 titles)  -->  literary-adaptation (117 titles) -->  literature-on-screen (2501 titles)

Argh!  I haven't searched with "literary" keywords, because I've been associating those (rightly or wrongly) with classics.  Like "book", literary/literature keywords are nondescript about the literary medium.

Literary/literature keywords seem too specific about every way to categorize, except by medium.  I'm not against specific keywords, but being too specific becomes esoteric (proven by low popularity in tagging).  Hopefully, literature-on-screen is the catchall keyword for all of its variants and my search doesn't need to be more specific in order to catch all titles that were adapted from literature.

Popular or just a pet project of a frequent contributor?

@Peter_pbn​ Either is fine, as long as a popular keyword is consistent (in tagging), understandable and descriptive (correct).

@Peter_pbn​ The "literature on screen" keywords do seem to be a pet project of a (very prolific) contributor. Although I would not have chosen the "on screen" wording myself, I do respect the dedication of this contributor and will defer to that wording. 

R-e-s-p-e-c-t, @keyword_expert.  If it's a lone contributor, then all of the variants should be internally consistent within the literature-on-screen keyword universe.  Or it could be lit majors who have united in a years-long campaign toward restoring the "literature" section for title pages via the keyword page.

Just so you know, I have NEVER submitted, corrected NOR edited ANY of the literature keywords.  Personally, I find them useless, but understand where they are coming from.

@keyword_expert   Shouldn't based-on-historical-event be deleted as a keyword and change to the "history" genre?

@rootsmusic​

I don't think so.

A title can be based on an historical event without falling within the strict definition of the History genre:

Titles based on historical events but not fitting within the History genre could include titles with additional keywords like "based-on-true-story," "alternate-history," "historical-setting," etc. 

"based-on-historical-event" is not a top-quality keyword, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't (or can't) exist. 

@bradley_kent​ If someone has a problem with a title being described as "inspired by" a true story rather than "loosely based on" a true story, they can just delete the keyword.