Kate’s Cancer Commercial
How Did They Get It So Wrong…
“Did you see Kate’s video?” a friend asked via whatsapp. It’s still weird, but I knew exactly what she meant. I had seen various posts about it popping into my Instagram feed, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. It took me two days to watch the video and then another two to respond to my friend. It completely did my head in and literally left me at a loss for words.
As I live down the road from one of King Charles’s Transylvanian properties and his annual visit was cancelled, I was not able to ignore that. I briefly discussed it with a neighbour. I told her that I heard of the King’s decision not to come. And that I also thought he should come, as the air does not get much cleaner than what we have in Zalanpatak. Breathe it in, dear Charles, it would do you the world of good.
I don’t know him personally, but I know he is not an alien. He is a human being who enjoys talking to my other neighbour about talking to plants, which they both seem to do. I prefer to pour my heart out to tall trees, but I love picturing the King having a conversation with a pretty wildflower.
We share a real love for Transylvania and in that I consider him a bit of a kindred spirit. I also recognize that I use this common interest to humanize King Charles, as the power of the monarchy to me is both archaic and somewhat terrifying. Even more scary of course is the English press. I understand that after the way they mercilessly destroyed and then glorified Princess Diana with the zealous enthusiasm of a borderliner/narcissist, Kate kept schtumm. It did not stop anyone from using her as clickbait anyway. Even The Cut was writing about her daily from any odd angle.
Quickly declared dead by the global tinfoil hat wearing crowd, she magically resurrected in what seems to be a very controlled stream of carefully curated words and images. The optimistic human in me hopes that it is what Kate wanted. If there ever is a time in your life where you handle things exactly as you want, it is when you have cancer. Your life is on the line and you are the only one who has the right to decide how you want to approach it. The cynic in me questions whose decision this was. Either way, I hope she can’t care less about what anyone else, including me, thinks. Her healing comes first.
‘Is it me or does it look like a cancer commercial?’
I have even more in common with Kate than with the King as we are both women, and we both had abdominal (uterine?) cancer. Yet, I could not relate. I wanted to, I tried, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t even detect a hint of compassion. It just looked all too polished, felt too precious to conjure any real feelings. I could not find anything remotely relatable, which is extremely rare to me when it concerns someone with cancer. I know not all cancer scenarios play out the same. Some get off lightly, others die. But the video. That video. “Is it me or does it look like a cancer commercial?” my friend asked when I finally engaged on the topic. Whatever it is, it is a missed opportunity.
Halfway through I did hear myself cynically say out loud “I can highly recommend it to anyone.” What SEO and Google Analytics genius created the keyword checklist that Kate is rambling off…. humbling… the little things… empathy… blahblahblah.
I could elaborate endlessly and dissect the video (and other related content). I am not going to but just to make one point I will highlight my “favourite faux pas”. I am no expert, but to whoever concocted this outrageously ridiculous video: Maybe do not time the frame of Kate’s long and luscious locks shot from the back with the word CHEMOTHERAPY. That particular cancer treatment usually results in severe hair damage and hair loss that takes a lot more than a mere few months to recover from. Not this.