{"id":38767,"date":"2023-10-27T14:59:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T12:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1915404"},"modified":"2023-10-28T04:52:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T02:52:18","slug":"is-cat-person-based-on-a-true-story-director-discusses-viral-story","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/is-cat-person-based-on-a-true-story-director-discusses-viral-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Cat Person based on a true story? Director discusses viral story"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s complicated. <\/p>

By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 27 October 2023 at 12:59 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Kristen Roupenian\u2019s short story Cat Person boasts the unusual distinction of having created not just one major viral moment but two.<\/p>\n

When it was first published in The New Yorker<\/a> in 2017, it almost instantly led to a wealth of online discourse, with the story\u2019s themes having particularly resonated with young women.<\/p>\n

But then, almost four years later, it became a talking point again for a very different reason.<\/p>\n

A writer named Alexis Nowicki penned an essay in Slate<\/a> that claimed sections of Cat Person had been taken wholesale from her own life and her relationship with a former partner, leading to a lengthy online discussion about the nature of fiction and the ethics of using real people as inspiration.<\/p>\n

So with a film adaptation now arriving in UK cinemas, we spoke to director Susanna Fogel all about that original short story and the subsequent backlash \u2013 read on for everything you need to know.<\/p>

Is Cat Person based on a book?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As alluded to above, the film is not based on a book per se, but a short story that was written by Kristen Roupenian and published in The New Yorker in 2017.<\/p>\n

Fogel read the short story at the time when it was first making a splash and said her initial reactions were: \u201cThis is an incredible short story, why is everyone so angry about it?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot about the fact that it was the medium in which it was published,\u201d she told RadioTimes.com<\/a> during an exclusive interview. \u201cThe New Yorker is not known for publishing stories about 20-year-old women dating. Those stories are usually dismissed, or at least relegated to the chick-lit canon section of the bookstore.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cSo I think the fact that it was written in this precise literary way but it was about something that was so emotionally astute to women, but then literary enough to be in The New Yorker, sort of forced the female experience into the airspace of a lot of men and older people that then caused a lot of drama.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Cat Person based on a true story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Emilia\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Emilia Jones as Margot and Nicholas Braun as Robert in Cat Person.<\/span><\/figcaption> StudioCanal<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Now, this is where things get a little more complicated.<\/p>\n

Although Cat Person the short story was not explicitly based on true events, Alexis Nowicki noted several consistencies with her own life and a previous relationship \u2013 one which she had claimed was actually largely a positive experience.<\/p>\n

Roupenian later admitted that she had been aware of Nowicki and details she\u2019d learned about her on social media had served as a \u201cjumping-off point\u201d for the story, but maintained that it was largely a work of fiction.<\/p>\n

This is even more so the case in the film, which further alters and expands details from the short story.<\/p>\n

As Fogel puts it: \u201cKristen\u2019s story is a piece of fiction that is inspired by experiences she had, like any piece of fiction. Then Michelle [Ashford, screenwriter] adapted Kristen\u2019s story and then I adapted Michelle\u2019s script of Kristen\u2019s story. So there\u2019s like many, many levels of distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m sure that this fifth-generation adaptation has very little to do with anything Kristen experienced or [Nowicki] experienced. It\u2019s like a whole other thing at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking more generally about the debate that ensued following the publication of Nowicki\u2019s article, she added: \u201cI mean, to me that was like a meditation on the nature of fiction writing. I think that people really saw Cat Person as\u2026 it\u2019s almost like people had a block about seeing it as a piece of fiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike they saw it as the writer just writing. People still refer to the story as an \u2018article\u2019 all the time, constantly. I\u2019ve even done it. I just forget. Everybody calls it an article because they think it\u2019s just kind of a woman\u2019s blog post, not a piece of fiction by a woman in her mid-30s who is culling some experiences from her young life.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the notion that it\u2019s just an expose on one person is sort of not what it ever was. And so it\u2019s interesting to me that that sort of became the narrative afterward, and I think that\u2019s why it sort of actually just raised questions about where fiction writers draw inspiration from.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as someone who\u2019s written a book, I\u2019m taking little bits and pieces from people, things, the world, Instagram, Google, you know \u2013 that\u2019s kind of like the process. But I think because this story is so triggering for people when there\u2019s someone else who sort of crossed on the Venn diagram a little bit, it just felt like there was a sense of ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n

How different is Cat Person from the original short story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n