Saturday, March 28, 2015

The Fault in "The Fault in Our Stars"

I know this is a lot of people's favorite book, including some very close friends of mine, but I need to spew my feelings for a minute.  I absolutely refuse to read this book or see the corresponding film; I realize that some may find my critique (for lack of a better word) unfounded because of this and those people can feel free to correct me if they are so moved.  Also, just a warning, I'm going to swear, possibly a lot.

I refuse to support the "Fault in Our Stars" industry because it seems to romanticize cancer and make it somehow seem poetically tragic.  There is nothing poetic or romantic about cancer, it's ugly and horrible.  I assume that the book points these things out, but that's not enough, the book uses the premise of terminal cancer for a tragically moving love story, a girl is loved in a rather perfect way before she dies (and her friends die?).  Bully for her.  In reality cancer is a curse that slowly saps the life and breath from beautiful mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, and uncles.  It's not something to celebrate, life is what you celebrate.  Cancer doesn't help people find love, it tears them away from their loved ones, it doesn't bring people together, it rips their hearts out.  Family comes together out of love in spite of cancer, cancer didn't change or strengthen their love, the love was already there.  Cancer is not a fun thing that allows you to go on lavish international trips with Nicolas Sparks unicorn men, it's a disgusting thing that saps all of your money in medical bills till you have nothing left.  Cancer is a ball of stress that steals people's lives, there is nothing fun or mystical about it.

As someone dealing directly with cancer in my family right now, I'm a little pokey on the subject (and not as pretentiously fluid in oversized words as the characters in the book).  I realize that the book/film is also sad, contains heartbreak, etc, but it's also glamorizing cancer in the same way that the "Twilight" franchise glamorized vampires, and "50 Shades" glamorized domestic abuse.  Murder, domestic abuse, and cancer are not cool things that we need more of in this world so just stop.  I also hate it when people speak in ridiculously poetic ways just to seem intelligent, or well-read, or whatever, I'm not impressed, I kind of think you're being a douchebag.  Cancer doesn't bring anyone joy, cancer is the equivalent of sh*t on a sh*tcake, it f*cking sucks.

Sorry this rant was ill-organized and perhaps not logically sound as far as the argument went, but I don't really care, I'm in a foul mood and needed to attack something.  I realize that fans of the book don't think cancer is a jolly good time, but I felt I needed to attempt to bring the book down a peg as it's currently pissing me off.

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