Fictionalizing Real People

Here is an article in the Guardian that deals (somewhat) with the ethics of representing real people in fiction. This is particularly interesting for me right now because I currently am working on several things that are based on real people, one of which involves fictionalized scenes from the life of composer, John Cage. The author of the piece, Meg Rosoff, dismisses the subject with a "do what you want, but do it well" kind of position, but to that I would add that he who writes about real people also needs to be aware of the work's political ramifications. Whatever one chooses to say is fine, but to represent real people without giving any thought to how it makes them look, or what that representation says about them seems to me irresponsible. Praise them, burn them, put words into their mouths or take words out... anything goes, but do be aware of the work's relationship to the lives it represents.