Abstract

To craft a narrative with a dramatic arc out of an onerous battle with illness, when no sure recovery is in sight: this was the task facing Will Kate Survive Kate? producer Masako Fukui when she set out to document a year in the life of 'Kate'—a 29-year-old Australian woman battling—and at times tightly holding on to—anorexia nervosa. Kate’s family wants her to eat—to triumph over her illness—and for complicated and frustrating reasons, she can’t bring herself to do it. For Kate, this is a matter of life and death. At the heart of Kate’s story is the acknowledgment that none of us can control this will in each other, and an exploration of what happens when we try. The story lays bare the bonds between Kate and her family, allowing us to see their hope as something equally irrational as her illness—and also something we would all go to great lengths to preserve in their place. The largest challenge of Kate’s story for the listener is that there is no 'why'. She is still making the small, incremental steps towards recovery, and is nowhere near the later stage of making meaning of her ordeal.

Keywords: anorexia, mental illness, personal narrative

How to Cite:

Starecheski, L., (2014) “Will Kate Survive Kate? Review 1”, RadioDoc Review 1(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.14453/rdr.v1i2.2