From Girl to Grotesque: Exploring the Intersection of Ageing, Illness, and Agency in Auto/biographical Narratives About Seventies Icon Farrah Fawcett

ABSTRACT

This article examines life narratives by and about seventies television celebrity Farrah Fawcett (1947–2009). It begins by examining how Fawcett’s success at the height of her popularity is connected to life narratives which present her as perpetually young, or girlish, an image which bolsters the heteropatriarchy while undermining feminist work being done to counter gender inequality. By tracing Fawcett’s celebrity construction throughout a selection of auto/biographical narratives over her career, including some coinciding with the rise of postfeminism, I situate my analysis of her girlish persona within discussions about celebrity culture and ageism. In this way, I argue that Fawcett’s girlish persona, once a source of her power, deeply complicates her ageing process, particularly when she sets about to create an illness narrative titled Farrah’s Story (2009), a television documentary depicting her experiences with terminal cancer. While there has been some tendency to interpret Farrah’s Story as evidence that Fawcett was a victim of celebrity culture, I locate Fawcett’s agency in my interpretation of this work, to argue that Farrah’s Story is strategically created to depict Fawcett’s personal growth as she begins to question what constitutes social accountability within an invasive media culture known for its negative treatment of women.

KEYWORDS:

• Ageing in mass media
• celebrity in mass media
• postfeminism
• Farrah Fawcett

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Lucinda Rasmussen, PhD, is a lecturer with the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on the representation and dissemination of narratives by and about women in literature and mass media, with a particular interest in explorations of American women’s auto/biography, women and ageing, postfeminism, and, most recently, the problem of white feminism. She has published work on Bridget Jones as an ageing postfeminist icon, postfeminist breast cancer memoirs and the importance of decolonising the auto/biography studies classroom.

Notes

1 In 1977, Fawcett was known as Farrah Fawcett-Majors, marking her high-profile marriage to actor Lee Majors. When the couple divorced, she became Farrah Fawcett.

2 In addition to Farrah: An Unauthorized Biography, at least two other biographies about Fawcett were published at about the same time. Farrah & Lee by Connie Berman discusses Fawcett’s marriage to Lee Majors describing them as “this golden duo” (1977, 145), while Welcome to Farrah’s World by Claire Susans presents the story of “the hottest actress in the country” (1977, 11).

3 Alleged disputes between Fawcett’s romantic partner Ryan O’Neal and the producer of Farrah’s Story Craig Nevius contribute to concerns that Fawcett may not have had full creative control of her documentary. See Shain (2009).

4 In Both of Us: My Life with Farrah, O’Neal tends to regard Fawcett in ageist terms, particularly when referring to Fawcett’s menopause as “nature unleashed [with] Farrah headed toward the eye of that storm” (2012, 118). O’Neal’s comments are made after Fawcett’s death, and with respect to the dissolution of his and Fawcett’s relationship, which he ties to Fawcett’s ageing body as it “[began] to rebel with recurring maladies” (118). The fact that O’Neal thinks of Fawcett this way further suggests the extent to which ageist rhetoric is naturalised as a part of the story told about her.

5 In Farrah & Lee, Berman likewise refers to Fawcett as a “Total Woman,” noting that Farrah’s attitudes toward marriage are not “fashioned according to the dictates of women’s lib” (1977, 36).

6 See American Legends: Farrah Fawcett (2014).

7 Fawcett’s appearance on David Letterman took place on 6 June 1997. It was derided by critics and has been referred to as a “lights-out appearance” (Justin 2015). For footage of that interview, see also, “Farrah Fawcett Drugged on Letterman” (2009), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYo7u6GUTEY.

8 Chasing Farrah was a short-lived reality television show featuring Fawcett: its premise was that cameras would follow Fawcett during her daily activities. It premiered in 2005.

9 Fawcett’s hairstyle from her Charlie’s Angels days is iconic. Burstein summarizes it best stating that Fawcett’s hair is “that fresh sporty feeling that really spells 1977” (1977, 73).

10 Dr Lawrence Piro explains that initially treatments were chosen “that were likely to work on the tumour, but that were [also] likely to spare her hair.” After the cancer progressed, he goes on to state that eventually Fawcett “knew we needed to bring our best A game to the fight that we had at this moment” (Farrah’s Story 2009).