Greetings,
If there is one thing I value in the work of an artist, it is their authenticity. No matter what they are creating, it has to be rooted in some kind of truth. If it isn't, the fraud can be easily detected. The problem is that few people are concerned with authenticity anymore, or they choose to see it coming from the wrong angle. I thought about this a lot as I watched the documentary I will be reviewing today, Author: The JT LeRoy Story.
This 2016 film tells the story of - surprise - JT LeRoy. But the real story is who exactly is JT LeRoy? I suppose, despite what is revealed in the trailer and what has been revealed in real life, I should say "Spoiler Alert", but most people already know what happened with this situation. Still, if you don't and you want to find out by way of this film, there is your warning.
So, a while back, a writer by the name of JT LeRoy burst on to the literary scene with his debut novel, Sarah, which told the brutally detailed story of a prostitute and her son. People were praising the book all over the place, as they did with all the subsequent work from this author. But there was such a level of secrecy from him, until finally he revealed himself, albeit reluctantly, to the world. All of this led to his having quite a prominent fan base full of celebrities and his becoming a celebrity in his own right. In fact, one might venture to say that the fame aspect of JT LeRoy slowly but surely became more important than the writing. And as a writer, this did not set well with me.
Now as we all know, the more famous someone becomes, the more the public wants and, in come cases, demands to know about them. But if someone in the spotlight tries to hide things, they usually are found out. Well, as it happens, this famous person had kind of a big secret. Again, spoilers, I guess. Turns out, the person who everyone knew as JT LeRoy in the flesh was not JT LeRoy. Technically speaking, he never even existed, though to say that seems a bit cruel and untrue once you know the whole story. The true author is a woman named Laura Albert, who was part of JT LeRoy's entourage and adopted family of sorts, while her sister-in-law was acting as the writer in public. Albert had taken on the persona years earlier whilst seeking help from a doctor, because being herself was far too difficult as she talked about the horrible things she had been through. The doctor encouraged her to write, something she credits with saving her life. I can relate. Then, one thing led to another and we got a phenomenon. And one very fascinating story.
I really found this documentary very compelling, even though I knew most of the things about the incident already. And since I did, the film maker would have to find a way to keep me interested. That happened through the way it was shot. First, there was quite a bit of voice over, done by Laura Albert (I assume) in the voice she used when she posed as JT, and it was heard over some cool visual artwork. Second, since several of the phone conversations that JT had with people were recorded, they added those in with the sounds of an old tape recorder, making it seem as though we were getting some underground info that we weren't supposed to be hearing. Lastly, I liked the way they filmed Laura Albert's interview. Normally, when you watch a "talking head" in a documentary, they're looking off to the side, at the interviewer, but here, she is looking straight at the camera, at the audience, at us. Ultimately, what this is being presented as is something of a full on confession. She is here to tell the story and she is telling it directly to us.
If there is any fault I find in this thing, it's one that others have noticed as well. I kind of wish they delved deeper into the reactions from people who were in the JT LeRoy circle and who felt very deceived and betrayed after everything was revealed. They did tackle it a bit, but they could have done more, if for no other reason than to more seriously show the consequences of doing something like this. On the other hand, while I am hardcore not a fan of lying, I don't see Laura Albert as someone like Stephen Glass or James Frey, who intentionally set out to deceive the public for personal gain. She was just trying to recover from her past by any means necessary, and those means got out of her control. And to be fair, as she says, the books always said fiction, and she's not the first person to use a pseudonym. While I don't want to call why she did what she did an excuse, it is certainly a reason, and a pretty valid one. In the end, it's a tough situation to figure out.
Also, this film truly does give a fascinating look at how we see fame and how enamored we are with it. Seriously, why was it not enough that these books were good? Why did there have to be a celebrity figure attached to them to give them credibility? I'd like to think that artists, especially writers, share enough about themselves through their work. Why do we have to know so much more? I don't know, but this film can certainly make us think about that.
So, as a person who like films about writers and documentary, I found this to be a very well made film. It was great to hear, not only the story of the author, but how the idea of fame tied in to the whole thing. Perhaps, it will teach us all that, when we find a good book to read, the writer has done their job, and we should demand no more from them. Not even themselves.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
