dumbed down for women
By shag carpet bomb • Sep 5th, 2009 • Category: Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sicknesstoward the conclusion of Christopher Lane’s book, Shyness, he writes about the 2005 discovery that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America had been caught offering 6 figures to Michael Viner, publisher of Phoenix Books (tabloid publications on themes such as O.J. Simpson, Heidi Fleiss, etc.). The deal was that he was to have a political thriller written that would “scare the daylights out of folks who might buy cheap drugs from Canada.” One of the authors, Kenin Spivak, reportedly said that “they wanted is somewhat dumbed down for women, with a lot more fluff in it.”
It reminded me of this lifetime channel movie I lazily watched in the early morning hours last weekend. It was about a young woman who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Nothing worked until she took a new drug. Everything got better and she got the love of her life back, too. I thought it was really weird that the closing of the movie indicated that it was based on a true story and that the drug, which they named (but I’ve forgotten), was helpful for 25% of patients. Which is great. The ex-beau’s father was schizophrenic and that disease tore apart their family. He was medicated and, as far as I was concerned, appeared to be a pretty functional member of society — although it was too delusional to work at a job and then too spaced out on treatment drugs to work at a job too, so he was on disability.
But it got me to wondering *why* the drug needed to be named. It’s especially curious because it’s the first time I’ve consciously watched a movie on Lifetime. and I’m curious because B, from LBO list, is fascinated with the gender politics of that channel.
At any rate, now I’m really wondering because, if PhRMA is capable of trying to influence politics by planting scary stories about Canadian drugs in order to block any legalization of the purchase of drugs from Canada, then surely the companies themselves wouldn’t think twice about dropping a lousy 6 figures to get screenplays that dramatize miraculous recoveries from drugs, without ever once having to mention the people who took those drugs and had horrible side effects or who weren’t helped at all or, worse, who became sicker, were injured, or who died.
It’d be interesting if someone digs into that one a little. I sincerely doubt the pharmaceutical lobbying association came up with the idea out of thin air.
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