More than a dumb blonde or a tragic victim, Monroe was a genuinely brilliant actress. In order to counter the one note of “Blonde” I would recommend watching some of Monroe’s movies. Monroe is further turned into a statue by Andrew Dominick’s new Netflix film “Blonde.” A movie that has been referred to as “necrophiliac entertainment” vulgarly designed to exploit Monroe by Mahnola Dargis of The New York Times.Īccording to Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times, “Blonde” is a remarkably cruel movie that “lays the most betrayed, abused and vulnerable parts of her out across the screen and chucks the rest away: her talent, her magnetism, her smarts, her guts.” Richard Brody of the New Yorker writes that “the film has a single idea - that Monroe was a victim - and is happy to victimize her, over and over again.” At the 2022 Met Gala, Kim Kardashian wore the Bob Mackie dress that Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. Photos of her can be found on aesthetic Pinterest boards and instagram accounts. Monroe has been parodied and referenced, turned into a Halloween costume and slapped onto cardboard cut-outs. She has become a symbol of female sexuality, female madness, Old Hollywood glamour and the romanticized tragedy of movie stardom. Monroe has become a statue, an icon, someone who is engaged with in static images. Even if one has never seen a Monroe movie you know what she looks like, you know that she sang “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” and had her skirt lifted up while standing over a subway grate. If you haven’t spent your life underneath a rock you will have seen images of Marilyn Monroe in these two scenes. The blonde bursts into song proclaiming that “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Marilyn Monroe, the icon She wears matching opera gloves, a diamond necklace and diamond bracelets around each of her wrists. The blonde is clad in a tight, hot pink satin dress with a large bow in the back. All of the men rush toward her, offering boxes of chocolates and jewelry. Couples waltz until a beautiful blonde appears on the stage. Stairs raise from the center of the stage. She laughs and giggles in delight.Ī stage lit with a fire engine red background. The young woman is standing over a subway grating and the wind created by passing trains is lifting up her dress. Suddenly, the young woman stops in her tracks, gasping in surprise. She is wearing a stark white halter sundress almost the same shade as her platinum blonde hair, and her lips are kissed by red lipstick.

A young woman walks down a Manhattan street.

Black satin opera gloves