I watched “Farrah’s Story” on NBC. I was expecting the worst. I watched, I guess, because Farrah Fawcett was such an icon.
There is already in-fighting over the production. To be expected.
The film follows Farrah’s diary, which is both poignant and quite well-written.
In its review, the New York Post makes a point I expected to echo here, but I’m not, because I did not get the sense that,
“It does not register with [Farrah] that her wealth and fame, which afford her private jets to Germany and an international team of doctors, are unavailable to the vast majority of cancer sufferers, and that, if not for her station in life, she would not have had extra time. She does not seem to wrestle, at all, with the notion that there may be some experiences best kept private, that the unintended consequences of oversharing can be a cheapening and coarsening of the most meaningful moments.”
Fair enough. (Update: May 17) The docudrama is in the tradition described above. However, one need not resort to such a formulaic verdict when the overall effect departs from the usual Oprah menagerie of moral degenerates. Fawcett is a nice lady; she was not over-dramatic or emotional.
One of the idiots that writes at Fox News.com dubbed Fawcett a “starlet” in what was a “straightforward” news story. The woman who pulled off “Extremities” and “Burning Bed” had become a bit more than a “starlet.” So, that was not entirely warranted, but maybe I just have a soft spot for someone who “came across as a nice Texan girl.”
Farrah’s Story was so obviously Farrah’s trip—her tribute to herself—and it worked.
However, if Fawcett meant to be an advocate for American patients, she failed miserably. The treatment modalities she availed herself of in Germany are banned in the US by the fascistic FDA. In the United States, legitimate, medical procedures are thus labeled “alternative treatments.” Decent advocacy would have broached this aspect of the disease and the treatment. I have no doubt that the problem of FDA approval—a process that kills—applies to other diseases and treatment options.
But mostly, not a word was said about the horrible, yet extremely rare, disease Farrah has: anal cancer.
Without wading into this indelicate topic, risk factors include:
* Being over 50 years old.
* Being infected with human papillomavirus (HPV).
* Having many sexual partners.
* Having receptive anal intercourse (anal sex).*
* Smoking cigarettes.
In 2008, there were only 5,070 new cases, and 680 Deaths. That would have been an important bit of information to impart to viewers. (Update: May 17) The FDA kills more people in a year by proscribing new treatments and new drugs.
Prevention follows from the risk factors.
* I first found out that heterosexuals engage in this perversion when I arrived in North America. I was already a married woman with a 12-year-old daughter. South Africa was a blissfully conservative country.
