A brilliant and devastating portrait of Marilyn Monroe
Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Blonde’ translates as a grim, depressing and tragic anti-fairytale, writes Tymon Smith
If you want to know about the biographical facts of the life of Marilyn Monroe you can read one of the dozens of biographies written about the actress since her death in 1962 or watch one of the many lurid, conspiracy theory-tinged documentaries about her life and death and how the “Kennedys did it”, on the Discovery Channel and elsewhere. You can also enjoy the very good fictionalised biographical film My Week With Marilyn starring the excellent Michelle Williams.
If you want to see how Marilyn Monroe, the star into whom Norma Jean Baker was transformed by Hollywood, became a mythic and symbolic canvas for the projection of mostly male American desire you can read Norman Mailer’s maddeningly egocentric, sometimes uncomfortably misogynist but often brilliant 1973 pictorial essay. If you want a more sensitive take in the battle of the sexes there is feminist icon Gloria Steinem’s angry 1986 rebuttal to Mailer, Marilyn: Norma Jean...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.