Why does nobody ever talk about how Marilyn had her own production studio in Hollywood?!? Tidbits like that are MUCH more interesting to me than Blonde.
I've read and learned so much about her and nobody has ever mentioned this to the point where I forgot. Marilyn was a complete badass - way ahead of her time in so many ways. Thank you for reminding me of this fact. ❤️
Oates and Dominik are like two college freshmen who just discovered Marilyn Monroe and think they're blowing everyone's minds by telling them she was, like, really sad all the time. Lol
@@r.a.r.1981 I wasn't aware of that comment. That's so disgusting and disrespectful of her. I hate how detached from reality some of these celebrities are to the point of saying such nonsensical things about a person whose legacy has already been exploited enough...
"Art's not meant to be comfortable!" So rich of them to say when they're not the ones being caricatured, degraded, violated onscreen, or stereotyped as a gender.
When the actress portraying Marilyn complained that people were putting clips from this movie on porn hub and that that was disrespecting her right to control how her own image would be portrayed, without realizing that making explicit sex scenes while impersonating another woman who fought her entire career to be acknowledged as more than a sex symbol was the same kind of fucked, I realized this movie would be a problem. I refused to give it a chance so I didn't know if I was right, but now I see my suspicions were confirmed
@@alatielinara Some crazy claims out about this movie. Like, this is not filmed sexily. It is uncomfortable movie and I think anyone getting aroused by it has the problem, not the filmmakers
That whole quote about women not being empowered if they killed themselves made me feel so sick. Not only as a women that deals with depression but because I admire so many women writers that had taken their own lives. What they did while alive was wonderful, killing yourself doesn’t make you less
Same here, and I think the same quote said it was irresponsible to celebrate someone who killed themselves? This struck me as quite sexist because I've never heard anyone say its irresponsible to celebrate the lives/accomplishments of male stars who have ended things.
Murdering oneself may indeed rather make oneself a lesser being. The such is a fact whether thy person doth rather welcome or unwelcome this. A narcissist might rather not relish the such fact.
You know which scene truly pissed me off? The one in DiMaggio's place with his relatives, they ask her something about being famous, maybe, and Marilyn responds: "Oh, I'm just the blonde from the movies." Then someone goes "So the hair is real?" And she says, aloof, "No." When they all laugh she just looks confused and doe-eyed, like, you mean to tell me that Marilyn "I just wear Chanel no 5 to bed" Monroe wouldn't have made that joke on purpose???
She also says she didn't know spaghetti noodles were made by people and acts like she's never seen an egg in her life when they hand one to her. This movie sucks, lol.
Right?! Marilyn was so funny and witty but none of that was shown in this movie…I guess her sense of humor wasn’t sexy or tragic enough for their liking.
@@r.a.r.1981 What's even more egregious about this scene is that the real Marilyn worked in a factory before she was an actress. Like she would know where those food are from lmao
I can't get over the scene in Musso and Franks where DiMaggio asks her how she "got her start" and confused Marilyn flashes back to being raped in Zanuck's office. As if she became one of the most successful women of the 20th Century the day after a powerful man raped her. The real Norma Jeane; who painstakingly crafted herself into Marilyn over a decade of hard work and sacrifice, would have had a good laugh at that.
Yeah. This movie is a complete joke. I can't wait for a real biopic of Marilyn Monroe with the actress who also goes by the name Marilyn her name is "Marilyn More" and she actually does look identical to Marilyn Monroe I mean for real. She also submitted a self tape audition for the same role in this movie but she wasn't cast. Now we know why...
Also, Andrew and Joyce keep saying “killed herself” when in reality we do not know if it was an accidental overdose or not. Not to mention filming in the actual spot where she died just feels so exploitive.
Oh it was not accidental. Barbiturates are lethal above 40 micrograms per mililiter of blood. She had 125 mcg/mL and a lot more had been filtered by her liver. Basically she downed two bottles of medicine before going to bed.
@@prawtism Okay, I can see that as a perspective. "What does the persona of Marilyn Monroe mean, and how does this persona differ from the real person of Norma Jeane Mortenson?" Fair enough.
Even if Marilyn Monroe was a stage name, she was still a person. The idea that Marilyn Monroe was any less of a person or worthy of being treated with respect because Norma Jean chose to be who she needed to be to succeed is wild.
Just before the Oscars this year, Turner Classic Movies put out a video where the nominated artists reflected on their favorite films and performances. Guillermo del Toro talked about "Some Like It Hot" and spoke so admiringly of Marilyn's knowledge of literature and how well she understood acting in front of a camera. It's a short snippet, only 28 seconds, but it treats Marilyn with more respect than Blonde does in 3 hours.
You nailed it on the head. The whole movie is based on a book that was literally fictional in most parts. Written by a woman no less, who clearly did not like Marilyn Monroe for whatever reason.
@@ntbored7727 So she liked her and wrote that defaming trashy smut about her? Okay.. Fictional or not, it still takes actual pieces of Monroe’s life and twists them into weird sexual fantasies and speculation, which some people might actually believe is real. It did nothing helpful to the public perception of her, quite the contrary actually. She clearly wanted to make money of a dead woman by making shitty fan fiction that doesn’t put her in a good light at all.
@@merlinho0t because women are often as bad as men towards good looking women or even women that are desirable for other reasons. Why? Because they fear male attention, which they see as a coveted price even though the average man would F a tin can as long as it’s not too cold to the touch, will be taken away from them and given onto the other woman. JCO was rather fug, so it definitely adds up.
It amazes me that people still don't realize how much part Marilyn had in shaping her image and persona. There was an intelligence and subversion in how she portrayed herself, knowing and self-aware in ways most stars during that era couldn't possibly fathom. And why must we always magnify the tragedy? These would-be chroniclers never talk about her incredible wit, her desire to sharpen her skills with Strasberg, or even the creation of her film production company. She was a focused, dedicated actor with a budding business sense. If we must constantly speak her name, then let's speak of her as the complex, multifaceted being that she was.
She also had a big hand in creating her signature makeup look, it wasn’t just typical film makeup from the 50s. she often wore multiple shades of red lipstick, and purposely used light colored eyeshadow to add dimension to her eyes. And while this hasn’t been confirmed anywhere my personal theory is that she also has a signature pose and “Marilyn the moviestar” smile, she kind of parodies it herself in the scene in 7 year Itch when she ls advertising the toothpaste. She was just way more aware than she came off. Many people call her “smart” and I’m not saying she wasn’t but I think it’s too general. She was smart in the sense that she was way more aware of her image and very aware of the idea of publicity and the impact having an image could have, she knew the power she wielded and she used it to her advantage, and THAT is almost never talked about.
People feed off her trauma so much, they can’t get enough they need to invent more. it’s so disgusting and morbid. Judy arguably had a more tragic life, she was quite literally “put on the treadmill” but she doesn’t get this treatment. I never see “goodbye frances gumm 😢” Neither does Elvis. It’s insane when you realize how tough she actually was.
I find an it weird when people such as Joyce Carol Oates say that unless we frame women as victims we're ignoring the hard truth of sexism and choosing instead to just see the palatable image that we want to see. I think you can acknowledge sexism and violence towards women without reducing women to mere victims. In fact, framing women like Marilyn, who endured assault and abuse, as simply victims is another way of disempowering them. 'Blonde' could have told a nuanced story about Marilyn's skills, intelligence and her fight to be taken seriously as an actor rather than merely as a sex symbol, but instead the film reduced her to her body and her treatment at the hands of men. It entirely portrayed her through the male gaze and ignored her personality. Perhaps the film feels uncomfortable to watch because in a sense it mirrors those assaults; it objectifies her and makes her suffering into an unnuanced spectacle that reduces her to a symbol rather than a person.
This is well said...she's a body in this. This was watching bad things happen to a body and feeling the revulsion of seeing a body endure the trauma ... but there's no 'there' there in terms of a person.
Is anyone else very disturbed by the claim that anyone who dies by suicide can not and should not be an empowering icon or a feminist icon? Like, if she did, in fact, die by choice/urge and not accident (which is not a given), then she *lived* with that pain for a long time before it overwhelmed her. That would make her a hell of a survivor, I think, totally separate from her professional accomplishments.
My thoughts exactly. Her mother was committed to a mental institution & her father would never acknowledge her. By age 7 she filtered through 10-12 foster homes & when her Aunt took her in she was sexually abused by here Uncle,. She was then married off at sixteen to keep her from being a ward of the state. Seriously, to accomplish what she did in just 36 yrs! She was talented, a shapeshifter & a powerbroker. I agree, the pain caught up w/her & overcame her eventually. Sexual abuse was a taboo subject in the 1950's & it would have been nearly impossible for her to receive the help that is available today. R.I.P Marilyn. Your place in history warranted ❤
It would actually be more tragic to see a hardworking, self-aware, self-made woman eventually lose her battle with drug abuse and mental health. Instead of just constant tragedy. It’s got a much less impactful end because really when the woman’s life is just one abuse after another where’s the tragedy in her death? What has she actually lost?
Calling her performance in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes “romanticized whoredom” says everything you need to know about the director. GPB is (first of all amazing) but more interestingly, about two women who do what they want, enjoy sex, have fun, give smart and convincing justifications for why it isn’t wrong to want nice things, and ultimately *are not punished for it*. Like how do you watch a movie like that and get to “sad prostitute, I’d rather watch her be sad, hate everything, and die”. It’s borderline Puritanical. Also serious but rhetorical question for the culture: would any of these straight men (and I’m looking at Sam Levinson rn) make media about women with addictions and mental illness if the women in question weren’t conventionally gorgeous? Because sometimes it feels like intellectually they’re operating on the level of “Nooo don’t kill urself ur too sexy 😭”.
Basically, what's wrong with being a whore or slut? So long as everyone apart of it consents and is aware of the status in the relationship and agrees, there is no issue. So I say, romanticize the whoredom for days in women, in men, in nb's or anyone who wants to be that way. Take back those words to just plain mean easy/open (with out the negative connotations both those terms already have to the topic) and that it's fine to be so if a person wants to and there is consent. In the same breath, don't put down people who are prudish or more reserved. Let people be people and stop policing them doing things that hurt no one. Your last sentence is something I sadly agree with. It's very base level thought train and doesn't see a human on the other side of it.
Yeah man I have no problem with stuff like Irreversible but this movie was just so cringey and misguided honestly. And I even enjoy Jesse James. I just have no clue maybe COVID and Hollywood destroyed Dominiks brain functions.
@@owyemen9367I think her comments actually doing the opposite ironically, saying you don't have to be coming from a gender critical perspective to hate this turd. I think it's important to point that out lest the filmmakers dismiss criticism as just a bunch of offended woke people, which I'm basically the furthest thing from.
I grew up thinking she was a ditzy bombshell. But when I started watching her films, I noticed how funny she was and how good her acting was. She had great comedic timing. Marilyn deserves to be seen as a full human being, instead of becoming an idea filtered through the male gaze over and over again.
What I find interesting about this whole fascination with Norma vs Marilyn and "who was she really" is that pretty much every star during that era had a persona. This was not unique to her and she was not the only person who struggled. I also think operating on this idea that she was doomed or destined to die because she had mental health and addiction issues flattens her just as much as any "girl boss" biopic would. Also, that perspective is also just very gross and disrespectful.
100%! Archie Leech talked about Cary Grant like another person. In fact, he famously said something like, of course everyone wants to be Cary Grant, so do I! 🤷♀️
I disagree, most stars did not have a persona, a fake little girl voice, etc. All stars, including ones today, will throw on the charm in an interview (even if they are normally an arsehole), but that's not actually a persona, per se - that's just putting on the charm to the media, they don't change their voice and walk, etc.
@@bingonamo7520 That's true, but there's a lot more emphasis on authenticity in celebs today than the glamour machines during Hollywood's golden era. I think it just comes down to the definition of "persona". Does it mean creating and cultivating an image that is entirely separate from one's "real" identity or is it simply a distinction between the self and the perfect, glossy image portrayed to the public?
I’m going in having not even watched blonde, partially because I love this channel that much, and partially because I just refuse. Can we please let Marilyn Monroe *rest?* The poor woman spent her whole life being exploited and not even death could end it for her
@@do9138 discuss =/= make up things about said celebrity, paint them as a 1D character to satisfy someone's sadistic "artistic taste." i.e. EXPLOITATION
The ectopic pregnancy bit made me cry and laugh at the same time. It was framed very badly by the film and I hate it, but I think a lot of people are framing it as ‘well it wasn’t that bad for marilyn, it wasn’t even an actual pregnancy or a grown fetus yet.’ And that’s very untrue, it really hurt her.
She endured much pain with her endometriosis. She couldn't even have children that she wanted so badly. You'd think her life couldn't get any worse, and they are still destroying her reputation and image making Blonde.
I hate that even in biopics they only talk about/or show Marilyn in a sexual way. I also hate the abortion scene when Marilyn talked on multiple occasions about her dream of being a mom. She was so much more then her sexuality she was smart, poetic, and an all around good person.
What makes me eyeroll at blonde's director is that he acts like the audience is not aware of how exploited women are in Hollywood, and that what he's making is a revolutionary reveal to the viewers. If anything it just makes me go "no duh, dude".
I’m so pleased someone has mentioned Dominik’s own ever changing interpretation of what the film ultimately is about on the press tour. I feel like it really highlights he had no vision of what he wanted to say, and it shows in the final product.
Yes. It's as if every time he was asked what he was trying to say, it was the first time he had ever been asked that, and he had to invent an answer on the spot.
Honestly, I’m disappointed in Ana de Armas for thinking this was the biopic that we’ve been waiting for. All her talk of “visiting her grave” and feeling Marilyn’s presence in her while shooting seems equally as exploitative as whatever this director thought he was doing. I hope this (and Elvis) get few to join awards and turn studios off these weird, needlessly hyper-sexual “biopics”
Also so interesting that she received a positive sign or answer or whatever. Always so interesting people always seem to get the answer they already wanted in the first place😒. I wish Marilyn’s spirit came down just said NO gave the finger and left.
I have never found ANYTHING remotely interesting about this de Armas woman. Her involvement with this dumpster fire of a film has killed any respect as an actress I might have had for her.
it wasn't a real bio-epic it is based on a fiction with lots of true elemtens about the real person. This is newest trending excuse in everything "oh it is just fiction and not authentic, we never claimed so":
I’m just going to pretend this movie didn’t exist for the sake of Ana. she has a helluva lot of potential and it’s too early at least for me to write her off just because of this mess, I will however be keeping an eye out on what she says / works on bcuz in order to take this role youd also have to have a semi warped understanding of Marilyn Monroe
May i also add, i think one of the reasons why her fans are so protective of her is because of films like Blonde. Marilyn is a tragic figure. And thats all anyone ever talks about. No one does care about her and who she really was, we want to rescue her because we hate seeing her tragety, her pain, be - once again - monotized by another man for HIS sake. Not hers. The woman was so sexualized that EVEN IN HER OWN GRAVE she is buried between two men, one of whom is supposedly entombed face down so that he could "always be on top of her." When a woman like Marilyn, who i believe never had the chance to actually achive the Dolly Parton style fame, is constantly redused to just her tragity a film like Blonde is just tragity porn and does nothing but continue that narrative of her only being tragic. Its frustrating and only encourages us to protect her.
im not easily shaken by sexual violence scenes in movies (im normally kinda uncomfortable but can sit thru it just fine, it registers in my mind the same way as movie gore), but I fully had to look away when anything like that happened. it always caught me off guard, and the fact that this is supposed to be about a real person just made my stomach turn. for the record I did not stream this movie on Netflix bc there was no way that shit was getting my watch time.
I think the urge to "rescue" Marilyn is a frustration and desire to see her be respected and understood as a complex person - because if she's not, then they can just as easily do the same to any other woman, including yourself. It's a feeling of solidarity to me.
so glad someone said this. literally the most interesting dimensions to Marilyn`s character were revealed to me through what Ella Fitzgerald shared about her.
This is truly such a wholesome and wonderful part of Marilyn’s life that speaks volumes and sadly is constantly neglected when she is brought up. Thank you for bringing this up 💖
What irritates me about any discussion of Marilyn is the dismissal of her “dumb blond” roles. She was a talented comedienne who had a deft touch so much so that people assume she actually is dumb. You can’t tell a joke without getting the joke. Yes, she made more traditional dramas but always assuming that comedies are lesser is still pervasive today and I find it deeply irritating.
I find it interesting that all the people who she sought to help her get better roles did no such thing. She was paying heaps of money to keep the strasbergs in her corner, and she had Arthur Miller ( an award winning playwright) as the president of her company for a while after Milton Greene led her to Newyork with the promise of better roles and to be taken more seriously.... I would hardly consider roles like Bus Stop, prince and the showgirl and some like it hot , even the misfits character Roslyn as any more sophisticated than those of her earlier years. These are good movies , dont doubt but they are nowhere near to what what she wanted to achieve.Those people did nothing to help her. They lured her in with the promise of helping her achieve her goals but They all just took her money and rode on her coat tails and enjoyed basking in her glow... she didnt realise that she had it all along , the desire to be better and do more. She was already that serious actress.. It was always there. The people around her only fueled her dependency on them...making her obsessed with her own shortcomings , keeping her fragile, recommending her to psychotherapists that made her attend multiple sessions daily which she was paying for so that they could maintain their control over her and her money. If you look at all the people around her , they all knew each other, all recommended eachother. They are almost like a gang
The “Old Hollywood Tragedy about abused star” is practically its own genre at this point. Oates et al. could have made Blonde without using Marilyn’s name, likeness, or iconography. There will be people who watch or read Blonde and think it’s a fairly accurate and well-researched biopic. I believe you owe it to the real people to use caution when using their names.
Shelley Winters, in one of her memoirs, said that she didn't get the narrative of Monroe as a tragedy figure (or just as a tragedy figure). They had been roommates early on, and Winters said they had lots of fun. At any rate, much thanks for the review! You showed enough that I don't need to bother watching it!
Andrew Dominic saw her as a prop, a product, not an actual person. a prop he could dress up in his own product, and sell to the public. I doubt he gave the film anymore thought than that. its shot fantastically, with a known "brand name". all shine and no substance
He didn't only expl0it marilyn but also ana in this movie. He's such a creep and even said that the moment he saw her on knock knock he saw marilyn in her. I'm sorry what?
I really feel like Dominic hates Marilyn cause wow. It was terrible. Damn let the woman Rest In Peace. I hate that they say it’s not biographical but uses real moments in life and mix fiction with it blurring the lines of real and fake.
THANK YOU!!! That's the impression I had as well watching this "film"-that Dominik not only didn't like Marilyn or have any sympathy for her, but that he wishes he had been one of the many, many men who took advantage of her/violated her in her lifetime and this movie is how he can achieve his disgusting goals.
@some people deserve to be humbled no she wasn't she gushes over the film and how she 'channeled' Marilyn and was fully aware of what this role was and what it entailed before signing to do the role. Are you claiming Ana has no agency over her own decisions or roles she chooses?
There's that Amy Greene quote that talks about the way Marilyn could switch the persona on and off at will, did so one time in front of her walking down the street in New York, going from a regular stroll down 5th to suddenly turning heads and stopping traffic just by removing her scarf and shifting something in her bearing ("want me to be her?")... to be able to control the way people perceive you in such an active way is an incredible skill, it takes so much charisma and poise and emotional intelligence. Sex appeal isn't only about looking good, and people's admiration for Marilyn wasn't only based in her sex appeal. The ability to draw people in, charm them, keep their attention, that's not something that comes naturally to a lot of people. Are we supposed to dismiss this thing that she was incredibly good at and probably put a lot of work into just because it was associated with sex?
I love that quote it gives me so much respect for marilyn. she was so in control of her image and she was goddamnn good at it. i'd much rather remember marilyn for her skills, talent, and charm
Except no one knows anything about her except what she physically looked like after plastic surgery...so the whole sex appeal thing is shallow all around.
I've heard or read people who knew Garland and Monroe that they are frustrated that everything written or created about them emphasize their unhappiness when their personalities were so much more than that. Of course, their lives had sad endings but don't all lives have sad endings? If a person dies of cancer, are their lives all about cancer or did they simply end because of it?
So many old screen icons became alcoholics but don't get that brought up as a way of denying their obvious greatness at what they did at their peak. So many creative people have died young, of diseases such as AIDS or from eating disorders or from accidental overdoses or mental illness episodes that ended in suicide. This guy would have us write of half of the literary, musical and screen canon because they had abuse or sadness or addiction on their lives. God! The work is the thing. Only the work. Dying or killing yourself doesn't erase the work, and never will. Unless you're Marliyn Monroe, apparently.
I also like "The Prince and the Showgirl" as she's depicted as a woman who is widely thought of as a bit of fluff, an airhead and she turns out to be the smartest person in the room. Monroe produced the film and, when you view it now, is still as fresh, sly and contemporary as when it was shot, whereas everyone else seems rather stiff and stagey. I think it's one of her very best.
How she maneuvered through Hollywood and the cost to her mental health would've been a better movie. I'd love to see a fully realized, fully human Monroe on screen or in a series.
Everytime I hear about this move I can't stop myself from asking "Why was it necessary to use Marilyn as the vehicle for this movie?" especially considering we still have not gotten a film about Marilyn that is from her lens and not one from a male gaze. It feels like Marilyn is being constantly exploited as a character to drive a plot and in the process she is losing more and more of her unique aspects and what made her wonderful in the public eye in the popular culture. I remember finding out all this information about her that contradicted what the pop culture was telling me to the point that it blew my mind when I found out she has a memoir that she wrote and that no one seems to talk about it.
@@do9138 I know the novel isnt but the movie is and it focuses on her relationships with other men for a majority of the movie. We know that a lot of the novel was not included in the movie either, only the parts the director deemed worth keeping. Additionally, I was speaking generally where a majority of her depictions are through a male gaze.
@@do9138 lol just cause the novel is about her doesn't mean this man had to adapt the novel to explore this rtagic topic that could be about anyone. The male gaze first and foremost is a product of visual art (hence the gaze) so the novel being written by a woman is completely irrelevant. Plus anyone, of any gender, can write or direct using the male gaze, you just don't know what it is.
I think you're absolutely right. Blonde just felt so exploitative, and completely ignored things like MM crafting her own image, absconding from Fox, creating her own production company, negotiating contracts which were not at all common at the time, etc, etc, which was much to its detriment. (Also - I absolutely loved Amanda Konkle's book; it was an extra pleasure to hear her comments).
You know what? I think I would really love a proper Marilyn Monroe biopic - not something that looks at her sideways through the male gaze, but a proper, earnest look at what an amazing comic gift she had and how charismatic she was, even in still photographs. A depiction that, yes, portrays her abuse sympathetically and takes it into account as shaping her, but also celebrates her fight against the studio system, her remarkable performances on screen, her dedication to the craft of acting, and her amazing friendships with the women who recognised her as an equal. Could we just make a rule that filmmakers cannot touch Marilyn's legacy unless they actually appreicate her work as an actress?
Nah I think they need to leave MM ALONE. They never get it right and at this point what else is there to say? She left behind a beautiful body of work she created while battling enormous inner demons and exploitation. People need to be content with what she left behind and say “thank you”. Let Marilyn rip! She was one of a kind
@@do9138 The film was written and directed by a man though, and I think it would have turned out very differently with a female perspective at the helm.
Ironically, the Blonde miniseries 20 years ago was pretty good. I also liked Norma Jean & Marilyn. Also, listen to the Bombshell soundtrack from Smash - I learned more about Marilyn from that show than I have in loads of biopics!
Can we just leave Marilyn biopics in the past now. The retelling and reimagining of her life, using her as a symbol of a female martyr for the audience and giving actresses the opportunity to raise their profile by getting into Marilyn drag and wear her life like a costume. It's honestly becoming grotesque. We keep resurrecting her only to watch her tragic demise again and again. I love Marilyn's films, not this tripe.
It's especially upsetting because people are engaging in endless lurid voyeurism about her personal life, obsessed with her, but refuse to even watch her movies. Many of them are surprisingly hard to access, some never released on home video, and most not given any critical attention. Everyone wants to exploit her image, to use her as their own avatar, to the point that the idea of her (created by others) is starting to completely overshadow her actual work and what she created.
I just hate the idea of biopics, or twists on them, in general. They seem really disingenuous and a weird way of cashing in on a popular name recognition (like Disney live-action remakes ya’ know), with some weird motive to force an actual person into an imagined narrative. Just bizarre stuff.
As a video game fan, I would always complain about how the cinematic adaptations of video game franchises would always fail because the people writing/producing/directing the movies weren't actually fans of the original games and wanted to bizarrely portray the content different, portray it in a manner how -they- see fit, not necessarily how the original games functioned and why they succeeded. For every Detective Pikachu, there are dozens of Uncharted and Prince of Persias. Blonde reminds me of this, because it just feels like its a movie made by people that didn't really appreciate or like Marilyn Monroe in the first place. Its one thing to -research- her life and its another to -appreciate- her life, appreciate her gifts, talent, and what she gave to the world even if the world didn't deserve her. I had zero hope for this movie, it never felt like they were even trying to be sensible towards Marilyn Monroe and her roller coaster life, even if the film is based off a novel that also seems to be written by someone who didn't quite appreciate Monroe and wanted to simply use her brand, her imagery, to tell a story and make money.
I'm curious about your opinion on Silent Hill (2006.) It didn't really follow the original story, but I thought they really nailed the production design and atmosphere.
I also think it's odd that we haven't had one real adaptation of Resident Evil. I wonder if it's because the first game is thought of as too simple because it's set in one house.
The main issue with film adaptations of games is they try to adapt the game's story outright. Instead of keying in on a detail or background story that the writer has a passion for, they just bluntly copy the game's story with their own uninspired deviations. For instance, if he have to have a Gears adaptation, I would prefer it to be an E day film or about the mission that led to Fenix's incarceration. Do something interesting rather than just doing the game's story worse.
As a huge Marilyn fan i want to thank you for filling the holes in the Blonde book and movie that you exposed and doing what the writer and director didn't bother to do, maybe because you actually see her as a complete human being and not just the iconic object available for exploitation and projection of twisted fantasies disguised as "artistic vision", you got yourself a new subscriber.
I thought her death was accidental? She didn’t intend to harm herself? In either case tho, the “man makes movie about myth of a woman and not actual woman” trope is tiring. I wish someone made a movie about the person Marilyn, not the myth.
It was not accidental. Barbiturates are lethal above 40 micrograms per mililiter of blood. She had 125 mcg/mL and a lot more had been filtered by her liver. Basically she downed two bottles of medicine before going to bed.
No one will ever know. But her autopsies all show that it mostly may have been accidental, especially knowing the fact that she had no reason to commit suicide - she was finally living the life she so desperately wanted to live and was finally starting to feel truly happy and fulfilled (both in her career and personal life).
@@AntonioKatan two investigations into her death and both times they could not call it a definitive suicide. MM barbiturate intake tolerance was high. She had accidentally ODd several times. I believe her mixing it with chloral hydrate sealed her fate. Her doctors shouldve been prosecuted for negligence but everyone were too busy focused on tHe KeNeDdYs mUrdEreD hEr.
Hollywood wants to keep portraying Marilyn as a dumb over sexualized helpless girl, they don’t have the nuance to create a movie about who she actually was and a movie that fully appreciates all of her qualities like how smart she was and how deep thinking she was. It makes me so upset that this is still being fed into and they are too eager to put a big name in the movie as well rather than choose someone who embodies the real Marilyn with her delicacy and her strength and determination and kindness. Not just a sexy woman
Irl she got the plastic surgery...she slept with tons of guys (married and not)...that's gross of the men but she knew a lot of the guys were married too. She's not a role model.
I don't think that a man who clearly doesn't see Marilyn as a person, but as a some sort of a vessel or symbol, is the right choice to direct a film about Marilyn's suffering DUE TO her being treated as a symbol. Normally I don't think that an out-group person can't empathise with an in-group experience, but I do think that in this case a female director would be a better choice - Marilyn has been delegated to such an idol status that it can be really hard to make the audiences see her behind the facade, and while women are just as guilty of idolising her as men, I think that it's easier for women to empathise with her sexualisation and therefore understand her better. Maybe most of us are not objectified to the same extent, but I think a lot of us has been in or at least witnessed the exact same situation that she described: where a man mirrors his own desire onto her and then acts as if she's the one responsible for it. So I think a female director would be much subtler. I would love to see a movie about Marilyn directed by, let's say, Sophia Coppola.
He's making her a martyr. I think showing the micro agressions would have made a similar effect without being crude, she was respected but not taken seriously. Also she did say something that implied she didn't like being sexual that much, at least with men. Some people theorize that she could have been asexual/lesbian which is pure speculation but would be an interesting writing start, what if she wasn't a sexual being? There is a difference between liking something and liking how people react to it.
@@tdelioncourt1268 I think because even as a teenager she was always taken advantage of for her looks. her beauty and her “sex appeal” was alway front and center so she got used to it and it just came naturally to her bc the whole world told her that’s what she was. And all of this before even becoming a movie star
@@tdelioncourt1268 Yeah, I think this director doesn't understand that a woman (or any person for that matter) doesn't have to be physically abused all the time in order to feel objectified or threatened etc. It's the incessant continuation of little things that make you feel diminished - and because they can be so subtle, often even genuinely well-meant, you end up doubting your own sanity and gaslight yourself: why am I feeling this way if no one is _actually_ hurting me. What is wrong _with me_? Much more subtle and I think it would be a more powerful story, but clearly this type of dynamics is completely lost on this director.
Hm, I wouldn't necessarily say that "women would do it better" - just look at Joyce Carol Oates, whose work set this train in motion. I agree that probably most women directors would do much more balanced job, but it's not guaranteed. Some women have "interesting views"; some men can create incredibly nuanced and empathetic portrayals of women's experience. I'm thinking of films like Set It Off through Moana through Thelma and Louise.
@@Trixtah Yeah, in general I absolutely agree, one's gender cannot be taken as a guarantee that you'll do a good or bad job. But in case of Marilyn, we've just had so many cliched representations by male directors that I really think a female director should finally get a shot, because there are some amazing female directors out there who can bring so much nuance. By which I mean specifically someone top-tier like Sophia Coppola, Greta Gerwig or Autumn de Wilde (but NOT the female director - forget her name - of the newest "Persuasion" adaptation on Netflix haha) - I would be very interested in seeing their take on Marilyn's story (and yeah, probably not based on Oates' book haha).
I just felt sorry for Marilyn after watching this movie. Not because of what was portrayed, but because of how Hollywood, yet again, took advantage of her as an icon long after her death. Doing the very thing portrayed in the movie under the excuse of “art”.
Funny how I keep hearing both "Well, it's not supposed to be a real depiction of her life! It's fiction!" and also "She really did endure a lot of abuse, the filmmakers are just daring to be honest!"
16:55, very insightful observation. That really made it click why Spencer fundamentally works far more than Blonde does. Spencer does not shy away from showing really painful and shameful moments in its subject's life, but it also allows us to spend time with Diana during the earnestly joyous moments of her life.
Examining her whole life as a prelude to her suicide is a mindset that literally belongs in the 60’s. The book Red Comet (about Sylvia Plath) goes over the aftermath with everyone trying to figure out what went wrong with Plath, even as far back as her potty training.
@@tatehildyard5332 Oh no, it wasn’t meant to be derogatory! Just that Red Comet describes the mindset of those who wanted to find meaning in Plath’s suicide. The book is EXCELLENT, very well researched both over Plath’s life and the evolution of her art. It also doesn’t treat Ted Hughes as either a saint or a villain, which I appreciate.
@@This1sS0Stup1d Why do you appreciate a literal domestic abuser who encouraged her to go through with committing suicide being portrayed in a neutral light? Have you read Plath’s journal entries about him beating her?
I hate that when a person dies by suicide, society assumes that that is all that there was about that person's life. Everything becomes a prelude to that one end, as you said in you comment. :(
I think Marilyn was an intelligent actress! She worked hard in her performances. If you wanted comedy, she would give you comedy. Drama? She could do that too! A musical? HELL YES! Movies like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Misfits, Some Like It Hot, and Don't Bother To Knock showed how diverse her skills were even in roles that still unfortunately relied on her looks
she put all her first hard earned money in more education in acting, dancing and even fencing. She wanted to be a serious actress and definitly had the potential.
There are scenes from her last unfinished movie floating around and I can help but think of one of them. The movie was a remake comedy about a man whose wife played by Monroe disappeared after a plan crash only to come back just before he is going to get married. The scene is her talking to the two kids who don't know she's there mother and she is asking them about if they remember her or think about her. All you see is her face and you can see the emotions she is going throw and it is not over down but it is amazing. You clearly see how she had honed her skills in that one scene.
@@stephennootens916 Do you know the name of that movie or is it just unfinished? I know that she was expected to star in Something's Gotta Give until her unfortunate and untimely death
It was something's gotta to give. They filmed some of the movie but there were problems such as her health they fired and rehired her for the film and were going to replace the director with the director that filmed her movie bus stop who she had a good working relationship with. If she had not died they would have started to shoot agian.
@@stephennootens916 I figured it was that movie. I would've loved to be wrong because I would've been interested in finding those clips, but it indeed was that movie. I have seen the screen tests from that movie
Nice parallel to Dolly, it is very interesting how she maintained control of herself and her career. I'm sure Marilyn and other women who were popular in the entertainment industry and taken advantage of by it helped her exponentially in her cleverness. Very smart business woman.
P.s. Not saying Marilyn or others weren't smart, just probably did not have the same clarity about the nasty side of the entertainment industry as they rose to fame.
Very brilliant essay. It’s not the art in Blonde that makes me uncomfortable, it’s the one sided perspective of Marilyn Monroe that made me uncomfortable. The woman had the full range of emotions and life events.
22:33 this made me think of Margot Robbie. Incredibly savvy when it comes to business, made iTonya and other films and is a well renounced producer, yet still is a sex symbol in many other ways and suggests nudity when it comes to other roles such as wolf of Wall Street. Considering todays climate is way more understanding and willing to see women in Hollywood as multifaceted I really hope Robbie can cement herself as that for future generations and everything in regards to how Marilyn has been categorized is not pushed onto future actresses the way it is onto her.
@@rebeccassweetmusic4632 she did the best that she could in that film, but I think Anya Taylor Joy overshadowed her at least imo. but it’s not her fault cuz that script sucked and the director is kind of a terrible person. but i agree with OP I’m totally rooting for her bcuz she is very much able to handle being both a “sex symbol” in roles like harley quinn and naomi lapaglia (twows) and also a critically acclaimed actress in roles such as tonya harding (I personally didn’t care for it as it was just too much for me but if ur a Robbie fan it’s an absolute must-watch) and that bombshell movie.
The smartest move she made career wise was Goodbye Christopher Robin. Where she played a woman who by all accounts was a terrible mother and turned her child into a sideshow. At the same time she was doing things like Peter Rabbit and Harley Quinn. Showing the audiences she had dimensions
Joyce is shoving Marilyn inside a box that she can understand. She has made herself a god who decides what a person can and cannot be, probably because it's easier to write. A complex character is difficult to achieve because it is reality.
I already knew what time it was when I saw that scene of Marilyn in her so-called "throuple" with Charlie Chaplin Jr. and Eddy Robinson Jr., with everyone pawing and groping each other in the movie theater like some unhinged exhibitionists. I mentally tapped out after that.
Every time I hear something about this movie, all I can think about is the part of Candle in the Wind where Elton John sings, “all the papers had to say was that Marilyn was found in the nude.” That song was released in 1973 and it’s still true.
I don't want to just rescue Marilyn -- who is almost always rendered as a stereotype, if a tragic one, rather than a complex human -- I want to rescue 90% of women portrayed in films, where they are always one dimensional girlfriends, best friends, assistants or other wallpaper to the "real" people, the male characters.
As a person who works in the industry, the women in the industry matter as well. Me too was just the tip of the iceberg. Nothing has changed for us. We're still things to be polished and put on screen, or a box to tick to get your movie funded behind the scenes. I'm not just talking about the A listers who can buy their way out of contracts, I'm talking about the poc, the little people who need to eat.
I fell down a UA-cam rabbit hole, I think it was after your last Marilyn video and watched all those old interviews with her former roomate, Shelly Winters. Shelly spoke with great fondness, and forcefulness, probably because she was used to pushback on this, of the amount of fun they used to have together. And that struck me, because in most of the media around Marilyn you don't think of her as having fun, or being able to have fun. That her persona may have been arduous, but there were times when it was also fun, and she had a good time. That's just kind of absent in the discussion of her.
The movie reminded me of something my dad said about film back in the 70's. "Im tired of coming out of a theater and feeling like I have been shit on."
I hate the way people put Marilyn Monroe on a pedestal and forget she was a real person. The thing I love about her is her almost child like quality she brings to the screen a type of innocence at the same time being a sex symbol it's a dual persona that her fans love about her. I've not watched blonde however I have saw most of the other biopics about her life such as the blonde mini series and Marilyn and norma jean. It's interests me why people treat her like a goddess not a human being which she was. The fact she was so human and complicated is what I love about her. I notice photo of her that had not been air brushed and the comments where saying this is not her she did not have wrinkles. They seem to totally forget she was a human being. It's very interesting why she has been put on a pedestal in such as way
The side by side of 'diamonds are a girl's best friend,' for me, really spotlight's Monroe and why she is so captivating. While the aesthetics are exact between Blonde and GPB - Monroe never looks down, she always looks out. Her angles, how she held her face, even in profile, you can see her eyes. It's so simple but it is incredibly effective and ultimately ... happens once.
I love how you say “so called tragic women” because that’s so true! Highlighting a person’s trauma is a way of looking down at them. Marylin was magnetic because she had a girlish playfulness that was genuine and vulnerable. A winning smile that blossomed from within. And of course her underlying hardships which contrasted with it, created dimension, mystery and awe. It’s not just inaccurate to paint her as pure trauma and pain, but it’s bad art. An indulgent easy way out 🤷♀️
I don't remember feeling so angry at a movie in my entire life as I was after watching Blonde. And yes I admit that by the end of the film, I was crying, not by how sad the story was but by how angry I felt. Blonde is so hopeless and deprived of empathy that I am not able to see the point of it. Yes, we can make art about everything and everyone but I just don't think it's fair for the subject when you choose to exclude part of her experience just because you want to make some sort of point about her pain. And sorry but I feel very uncomfortable seeing a man talking about her experience, especially about the experience of someone who suffered on such a public level.
I felt like I was being harassed watching this film . So for them to create this make me so sad for Marilyn she deserves so much better. Can we just let her rest in peace 🕊️
I really like what you said about wanting to protect her. I think the movie looked good and Ana acted her ass off but it was definitely trauma porn. I also don't like the director's attitude 🙄 Why did he even take on this project? Love your videos 💕
Trauma porn is honestly the best way to describe this movie. Her being sad but constantly having her breast out felt like I was watching Cassie from Euphoria.
in scriptwriting the first thing we teach is do not judge your characters when developing your story. The problem here is that he came in with a judgement and one that did not change as they made the film, but rather got worse and deeper about just the pain.
Wow, it's so weird, I remember my dad saying that sentiment when I was young, "If I'd met her, I could have saved her." Amazing how pervasive that thought pattern is around her persona.
I have not seen this film, and it’s infuriating to think that the tv show SMASH and its Marilyn bio-musical did more to accurately reflect Marilyn’s life and how she was perceived. SMASH.
Funny you brought up Smash because I remember this one line from a comedic review of a show making fun of the “What did she yearn for?” scene and the dude just screamed, “Oh my God. Do some research! Marilyn Monroe was a real person! Books have been written about her! There is one in your apartment, right there! It’s what inspired this dam musical in the first place! Have you even read it!?”. That review line has been floating in my brain every time I see someone try to take this movie on.
Newsflash for you: Marilyn is dead. She can't feel anything. She can't feel pain, humiliation, disrespect or any other negative emotion. Why? because she's blissfully in paradise, happy. She's in heaven. She doesn't care anymore about how people disprespect her or tarnish her. If she had kids and grandkids that hear how their beloved mother or grandmother had her reputation tarnished time and time again to this day, then that's a different story. She has no one. She's happy and she doesn't care anymore. She's finally painless and in eternal bliss. idk why ya'll always act dead stars are still living. There are actual living people who are going through hell right now like she did and even worse, yet no one advocates for them. That's what she truly wants for society to do. she no longer cares what people perceive of her anymore because she had her fame. She's not your best friend. So WHY are people still obsessed over her? she's dead. move on. she's happy now and she'll never have a painful moment ever again. and no, this is not me egging on people who continue to ruin her image, this is me spitting out common sense and logic that dead people don't care anymore. People who complain about her tarnished reputation are the same obsessed folks that continue to tarnish her reputation
Thank you for speaking for Judy Garland! I have been a fan for 25 years and her movies and music made me fall in love with art and English. I am not a fan of Marilyn, but I was infuriated by the lack of respect that biopic is showing her memory...
I feel like what you're describing is the Star 80 problem--the characterization of the tragedy of a life disrespected without attempting seriously to respect that life.
I couldn't watch too much of "Blonde". I could see pretty early on the tack the director was taking, and I thought it was a real disservice to Marilyn. She was an extremely intelligent woman, and unlike many much more well educated and lettered people, had something that most of them didn't really possess -- real intellectual curiosity. She read constantly and voraciously, and not novels, either. She was also a terrific actress who worked hard to create the character of Marilyn that Hollywood loved and that made her rich and famous. She was a tireless champion for African Americans and other discriminated against people.
I wondered if you were going to make a video about this because it was SUCH a ghastly insult to Marilyn herself AND Marilyn's legacy. It's great to hear your thoughts and I love that you looped back to Dolly Parton about how to distinguish (or not) between ~The Sexy Entertainer~ and ~The Person~. Wonderful video!
Misogyny and objectification aside, one of the biggest issues with Blonde is that it just has too damn much plot. When it comes to biopics, I feel like you can either do a play by play of the events of their life, or you can do a character study. I can't really think of many/any examples where trying to do both was especially successful. I don't feel like Marilyn's life is really conducive to "and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened." She suffered a great deal, and the only way to make a story out of that is to really amplify it. And that's what you get with Blonde. I don't think it's an especially interesting way to look at Marilyn because she herself is far more interesting than any of the events in her life. She's a very emotionally complex woman, and trying to make a narrative ark out of a string of people abusing her is going to be incredibly reductive. I hate to say this because these women are so frequently compared, and that's really not my intent, but I feel like a movie in the realm of Jackie would have been far more successful. Jackie has almost no plot. All of the events depicted really just serve as a backdrop for an in depth character study of a fascinating and complex woman. That's really the treatment Marilyn deserved.
As a side note I also feel like Blonde really does a poor job representing the real tragedies of her life. 1. She was a deeply intelligent, multi-talented woman, and very few people recognized that. 2. She was an incredibly caring, loving woman, and very few people cared about her as much as she cared about them. Like, you see her wedding press conference with Arthur Miller, but you don't see that she's wearing that incredibly plain outfit because she stopped to help an injured motorist who had driven off the road on the way there, ended up covered in blood, and changed into what she had in the car. Blonde doesn't portray how hard it is to be an incredibly generous person, only to have people repeatedly use you.
@@lynnsmith4 A lot of good biopics have a ton of fabrications in them. That doesn't bother me. They're there to move the story along, condense multiple events into one, show something about the subject's character, etc. (Honestly, I tend to prefer the more character driven approach. Generally, leave the play by play of the person's life to documentarians.) Having said that, you need a lot of space for character work if you're going to go that route. You can't have as much plot as Blonde has. You need space for the characters to interact with each other, have in depth conversations, space for the character to just be themselves, etc. You can't just jump from plot point to plot every three minutes. I don't want to make any moral judgements about Blonde, as I don't feel like morality needs to be a part of art or entertainment at all. Some of the more grotesque parts reminded me of Perfect Blue, which is spectacular. I roughly get where they were going, how they wanted to hold up a mirror to celebrity culture through the lens of Marilyn Monroe. So she's almost more of an avatar or concept. I'm 100% on board with that idea, but not so much the execution.
@@Bunny-ch2ul So they shouldn't get to use a persons life as a concept or avatar. She was a real person. Not sure who owns her image or estate but this shouldn't be allowed. They should be sued. I care 0% about artistry at someone else's expense. Make up a character. Using her was the only way they could get views.
Really enjoyed hearing your measured response on this film. I’m not sure where I stand with it yet, but I would say the quote at the end about how the audience is forced to watch helplessly as she navigates a world where no one cares about her feelings does seem to be the crux of something. In other words, even the “good” men, or people, in her life took the stance to pity and belittle, where they should have recognized she, like every person, has a limit as to how well they can articulate what’s going on in their heads, and more patiently considered her needs, strengths, vulnerabilities, and passions. Oh course there’s an immediate counter-play here in that the viewer sort of has to figure out for themselves whether or not they are complicit in this misjudgment, for the reason that the film suggests being complicit extends to far more of us than we’d like to believe. I think every self respecting person should already know that Merilyn’s real life was not just sex appeal and trauma, but that doesn’t make it any less depressing to watch nor do I think it excuses every questionable choice the film makes. As a piece about Merilyn, it fails. But seen as a criticism of Hollywood, a culture of fetishism, and people’s (namely men’s) inability (or disregard) to actively try to understand another person… there might be something there.
Thank you Stephanie Marrie . When I watched "Blonde" as a fan of Marlyn Monroe movies and the Icon herself..... it broke something inside of me on an emotional level.... I felt hollow from watching it . There were moments where the videography was absolutely stunning and I was is awe but then mostly through out the rest of the movie Marlyn was hated, betrayed, and dragged into the gutter . The only reason I watched until the end was I hoped for some redemption arc for not only Marlyn ,Ana , other cast members but for the whole movie but No redemption ever came and I was left feeling numb for what I had just seen . I was not expecting an accurate portrayal in scene by scene or even something close to the truth but I saw the artless degradation of someone many see as beloved heartless and done in sheer malicious intent . How many actors have songs written about them.... mentioning how admired they are ....such as "Candle In The Wind" ? Naming Marlyn a Legend and later this Blonde movie was made .... if I had known her this would be heartbreaking . I very much appreciate the narration here for mentioning some fictional moments and I appreciate this channel .
I felt this for a while that maybe part of the reason so many women feel like impostors, especially creatively, is because we are so used to disregard women's work and overestimate "inate" qualities like charisma, beauty and charm. Blonde argues for exactly that when it comes to Monroe, she is almost supernaturaly magnetic but there is no though, no examination. The moment that made me give up on it was the horrified reaction she had to Gentleman Prefer Blondes. Firstly because I can't imagine a person watching Marilyn perform Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend without a huge smile on their face, but sure, that might just be me. Secondly, because that sequence is so expressive and meticulously crafted that it calls upon inspection of it's own artifice, there is so much thought in it, you can see it her eyes. Lorelei's confidence, her sense of humor, her inteligence and worldlyness. I can see that in Niagara too, she is almost cartoony. It takes skill to make it look natural and easy. And honestly I feel like this movie kinda serves as proof because the scene recreations felt so forced to me. It felt so good to hear Amanda saying the same thing I said to my dad a couple of days ago when we were discussing the film: the singing! Singing isn't easy and Marilyn put a lot of effort in her style, it is beyond me why you would portray that as an embarassment to her.
Personally I have seen Marilyn Monroe as a warm woman who never got what she really wanted in life. She just happened to be one of the most famous human beings in modern times. I don't think I'll ever see a film that is really true to her real life. It wouldn't be sexy, gritty or controversial enough to get made.
People who defend Blonde by saying "It's MEANT to be fictionalized!" are missing the point. We're used to parts of biographies being 'fictionalized,' in the sense of filling in the factual and/or emotional gaps in the subject's life with made-up details extrapolated from the facts we DO know. That's what we typically think of as 'fictionalization' of a real person's life. This is NOT what happens in 'Blonde.' Instead, we get the incredibly biased and condescendingly-focused worldview of a person who had already decided his subject was a morally erratic, dysfunctional trauma victim who somehow became a world-renowned sex xymbol, and that those were the only interesting things about her. That in itself puts a very judgemental slant on how they decide to paint those 'fictionalized' parts - which in turn makes the audience question the nuance behind the real-life, factual events and, in many cases, re-evaluate them from the same negative and judgemental viewpoint. And of course Marilyn's dead now, so she can't even defend herself from the nastier and more misogynistic 'fictionalization.' If they'd really wanted to achieve 'honest' filmmaking and storytelling, they should've included the GOOD stuff in her life as well as the bad. People with mental illness from trauma CAN still achieve things, have fun, be successful - heck, they can even be HAPPY sometimes! To depict those who've suffered in that way, by default, as these perpetually powerless, emotional punching bags who stagger from bad decision to exploitative situation is not just false, it's insulting. It's like a rollercoaster that only goes down - the lows are just wearing and hollow without the highs to contrast them.
This is FUCKING brilliant. This content should not be confined to UA-cam. I'm new here, whoever is behind this beyond Netflix quality research, I salute you 💙
Blonde was awful and traumatizing to watch. Geez and Ana sounded nothing like Marilyn. It’s the trauma porn (literally) and the lack of believability for me. This is exactly why men shouldn’t try to do Marilyn movies.
@@iknowexactlywhoyouare8701 yes literally. It was pornographic for the sake of it (the movie) all based around inflicting horrific trauma on Ana for almost three hours.
@@do9138 if someone criticises a film having watched it then people like you say "nobody made you watch it! Just ignore it if you don't like it!", but if they criticise a film **without** watching it then you'll say "how can you fairly criticise it if you haven't watched the whole thing?" Just say what you mean: "nobody can criticise this film because I like it."
Completely agreed. I can't ignore that Ana de Armas did a great job with her emotions, I first saw her in Knives Out. However, it's unfortunate that they continue to use Marilyn even after her death. I hope someday, if they're going to continue with the "biopics", they make one that isn't just about her suffering. They include everything about her, how she came to fame, how her actual personality was, how she fought for Ella Fitzgerald (her good friend) to sit at the same award show with her when they didn't allow POC there at the time, how badly she wanted to be a mother. She had so much more than her suffering. There should be a film that balances both her struggles but also her good times too. She deserves that.
@@do9138 because I have liked and studied Marilyn Monroe (née Norma Jean Baker) for many years, long before it was mainstream cool to like her, as it has become in the past year or so. And I’ve seen most films and documentaries made about her, as well as most of the films she has starred in herself, from Don’t Bother To Knock and beyond. (She was excellent in that film’s dramatic role). I’ve watched most clips of her interviews, and read several books about her life. I wanted to understand her unique allure, and how her life experience formed who she was. So given the talent & dedication that Ana De Armas brought to the screen, I was hopeful. The costumes looked good, too, though not nearly structured enough/tailored enough for the era they were attempting to replicate. Also, this director appears to have disdain for Marilyn, despite (at times) claiming otherwise. He wants to claim this is art? It’s trauma and abuse p0rn. It’s a disorganized collection of snippets of MM’s life, but redone poorly, aside from the literal snapshots (photos) he replicated. They didn’t even think to change her hair shade/color/style enough to match the moments properly, it was the same wig almost the whole way through. And MM went through a variety of looks, with her hair being as memorable as her makeup & lipstick application. Aside from a few artistic moments & a second or two where she looked redeemed and happy, the director positions her as a helpless, fumbling victim nearly all the way through. Then to claim that he’s showing us ‘what her persona stood for’?? How in H3LL did he think she got as far as she did in the machine known as Hollywood (and she’s not a nepotism baby) if she wasn’t intelligent, business-minded and highly conscious about branding? We’re still replicating her look today. Her likeness is constantly used to sell products (sadly). Other than that, I agree with the commenters above, in that I cannot fully critique a film without watching it all the way through. I won’t lie, I fast forwarded through a few minutes of the gratuitous or violent moments, where there wasn’t dialogue but there was perhaps assault or some redundant actions. But yes, I did my best to view it ‘til the end. And I feel frustrated that millions went into a project this pointless, when so many lesser-known filmmakers could have created something actually worth watching, something meaningful, with that change. Ana’s hard work deserved a better display. And I’m grateful BKR explained why this movie made so many people feel uneasy/ill, why, regardless of our personal opinion, it failed to achieve what it set out to do.
I got as far as the 'I killed my baby for this ' when my friend decided to repeat this line, his impersonation of Ana shitty low effort spainish Marilyn's voice was better than Anas entire performance. This film is a corny shallow movie that is a struggle to watch as it moves between horror porn and boring uninspired wish washy perfume advert style drivel. A 'art movie' for people who have never watched nor enjoy 'art movie's.'
I think this is why Smash works so much better than other media at portraying her story cause it’s all about finding someone who holds all the parts of her and the push and pull of that is really what her life was
Maybe it’s because I’m getting older… but I knew from the previews that I would not enjoy or appreciate the writer/director’s attempts. Usually a trailer gives the audience teasers of the “best bits” of a film as an enticement.. when I saw the trailer for Blonde it felt like a teaser for torture porn. I love your videos, and I respect, and admire your efforts. I’m always in agreement with your take on things, so thank you for sparing me the displeasure of watching that film. After viewing your assessment I’m really confident I made the right call to give Blonde a hard pass
Marilyn has joined the pantheon of legendary women already occupied by figures like Helen of Troy, Cleopatra VII, and Nefertiti. We have images of them--at least paintings--and so we still adore them. Even though the images of Cleo shows that she was not beautiful, but the image of her that dwells in our collective mind's eye has made her stunning.
👍best comment. Marilyn has stopped being a person and has been elevated to the Olympus of heroes, superheroes and gods. Like Spiderman and batman, at every new remake the director gives his/her own rendition of the character, with varying results. Not even much point arguing about it. Bad movies won’t tarnish her myth.
Why does nobody ever talk about how Marilyn had her own production studio in Hollywood?!? Tidbits like that are MUCH more interesting to me than Blonde.
I've read and learned so much about her and nobody has ever mentioned this to the point where I forgot. Marilyn was a complete badass - way ahead of her time in so many ways. Thank you for reminding me of this fact. ❤️
I think she was one of the first ones if not the first to help destroy the controlling Hollywood machine.
This. She was a badass. I love her. As a woman, she is so inspiring.
Bc if they tell her real story it will kill the Marilyn Monroe myth, and that myth makes a lot of people a lot of money.
she also propped up other women like Ella Fitzgerald, she's not a ditzy girl
Oates and Dominik are like two college freshmen who just discovered Marilyn Monroe and think they're blowing everyone's minds by telling them she was, like, really sad all the time. Lol
The Mean Girls act is a bad look for older people.
Add Ana in to that list too, don't know why anyone is giving her ham sandwich of a performance a pass.
Haahahahaha, well said!
@@beeben5260 Saying the spirit of Marilyn spoke to you and gave you her blessing is the height of arrogance.
@@r.a.r.1981 I wasn't aware of that comment. That's so disgusting and disrespectful of her. I hate how detached from reality some of these celebrities are to the point of saying such nonsensical things about a person whose legacy has already been exploited enough...
"Art's not meant to be comfortable!" So rich of them to say when they're not the ones being caricatured, degraded, violated onscreen, or stereotyped as a gender.
It is a mistake to view this as a biopic. It is a film of Joyce Carol Oates's novel.
@@do9138 are you just not watching the video?
@@guadalupevenegas8466 They're not.
@@do9138 you clearly haven't watched the video as she addresses that very response
good point!!!!
When the actress portraying Marilyn complained that people were putting clips from this movie on porn hub and that that was disrespecting her right to control how her own image would be portrayed, without realizing that making explicit sex scenes while impersonating another woman who fought her entire career to be acknowledged as more than a sex symbol was the same kind of fucked, I realized this movie would be a problem.
I refused to give it a chance so I didn't know if I was right, but now I see my suspicions were confirmed
RIGHT ON! celebs who do this just illustrate they live in THEIR own world…
The whole movie feels kinda like it is a sex fantasy not some big smart commentary its director claims it to be
@@alatielinara
Some crazy claims out about this movie. Like, this is not filmed sexily. It is uncomfortable movie and I think anyone getting aroused by it has the problem, not the filmmakers
"Fought her entire career to be acknowledged as more than a sex symbol"
Marilyn, IRL:
"Boo-boo-pi-doo, Mr. President!"
"I refused to give it a chance..."
**doesn't see movie**
"...my suspicions are confirmed!"
😂😂😂
That whole quote about women not being empowered if they killed themselves made me feel so sick. Not only as a women that deals with depression but because I admire so many women writers that had taken their own lives. What they did while alive was wonderful, killing yourself doesn’t make you less
Same here, and I think the same quote said it was irresponsible to celebrate someone who killed themselves? This struck me as quite sexist because I've never heard anyone say its irresponsible to celebrate the lives/accomplishments of male stars who have ended things.
Murdering oneself may indeed rather make oneself a lesser being. The such is a fact whether thy person doth rather welcome or unwelcome this. A narcissist might rather not relish the such fact.
@@bectoons I do rather not mind sexism. Naturally I do rather love the MEN. I am a Real Woman. Rather. Opposites do rather attract.
I do not compete with the Men. Rather. I simply do rather Love the MEN.
It's never about the concern or why's they ended up that way.
You know which scene truly pissed me off? The one in DiMaggio's place with his relatives, they ask her something about being famous, maybe, and Marilyn responds: "Oh, I'm just the blonde from the movies." Then someone goes "So the hair is real?" And she says, aloof, "No." When they all laugh she just looks confused and doe-eyed, like, you mean to tell me that Marilyn "I just wear Chanel no 5 to bed" Monroe wouldn't have made that joke on purpose???
She also says she didn't know spaghetti noodles were made by people and acts like she's never seen an egg in her life when they hand one to her.
This movie sucks, lol.
Right?! Marilyn was so funny and witty but none of that was shown in this movie…I guess her sense of humor wasn’t sexy or tragic enough for their liking.
@@r.a.r.1981 What's even more egregious about this scene is that the real Marilyn worked in a factory before she was an actress. Like she would know where those food are from lmao
I can't get over the scene in Musso and Franks where DiMaggio asks her how she "got her start" and confused Marilyn flashes back to being raped in Zanuck's office. As if she became one of the most successful women of the 20th Century the day after a powerful man raped her. The real Norma Jeane; who painstakingly crafted herself into Marilyn over a decade of hard work and sacrifice, would have had a good laugh at that.
Yeah. This movie is a complete joke. I can't wait for a real biopic of Marilyn Monroe with the actress who also goes by the name Marilyn her name is "Marilyn More" and she actually does look identical to Marilyn Monroe I mean for real. She also submitted a self tape audition for the same role in this movie but she wasn't cast. Now we know why...
Also, Andrew and Joyce keep saying “killed herself” when in reality we do not know if it was an accidental overdose or not. Not to mention filming in the actual spot where she died just feels so exploitive.
Even if she did killed herself, it wouldn’t be like this horrible film
Oh it was not accidental. Barbiturates are lethal above 40 micrograms per mililiter of blood. She had 125 mcg/mL and a lot more had been filtered by her liver. Basically she downed two bottles of medicine before going to bed.
She was murdered.
@@beeben5260 Enough of the conspiracy theories
@@MichaelChong100 sure Hun 🙄
"What does Marilyn Monroe mean?"
Bruh, she's a person, not a vocabulary word.
my thoughts exactly!!!
That's literally a stage name, the fakest version of what a person can be
@@prawtism Okay, I can see that as a perspective. "What does the persona of Marilyn Monroe mean, and how does this persona differ from the real person of Norma Jeane Mortenson?" Fair enough.
She's actually a persona. The person was Norma Jean
Even if Marilyn Monroe was a stage name, she was still a person. The idea that Marilyn Monroe was any less of a person or worthy of being treated with respect because Norma Jean chose to be who she needed to be to succeed is wild.
Just before the Oscars this year, Turner Classic Movies put out a video where the nominated artists reflected on their favorite films and performances. Guillermo del Toro talked about "Some Like It Hot" and spoke so admiringly of Marilyn's knowledge of literature and how well she understood acting in front of a camera. It's a short snippet, only 28 seconds, but it treats Marilyn with more respect than Blonde does in 3 hours.
OMG, we stan this man, I swear to god. ❤️ Thank you, I hadn't heard about that!
Found it. It’s on UA-cam if you look for “2023 Oscar Nominees discuss their favorite movies” and maybe “Turner Classic Movies”
We love a respectful king❤
Blonde felt like someone's Wattpad version of Marilyn.
Because IT WAS. Literally originally a fucking fanfic
You nailed it on the head. The whole movie is based on a book that was literally fictional in most parts. Written by a woman no less, who clearly did not like Marilyn Monroe for whatever reason.
@@merlinho0t it’s a fictional version of her. You can’t really say “clearly she didn’t like her”.
I was fiction!
@@ntbored7727 So she liked her and wrote that defaming trashy smut about her? Okay.. Fictional or not, it still takes actual pieces of Monroe’s life and twists them into weird sexual fantasies and speculation, which some people might actually believe is real. It did nothing helpful to the public perception of her, quite the contrary actually. She clearly wanted to make money of a dead woman by making shitty fan fiction that doesn’t put her in a good light at all.
@@merlinho0t because women are often as bad as men towards good looking women or even women that are desirable for other reasons.
Why? Because they fear male attention, which they see as a coveted price even though the average man would F a tin can as long as it’s not too cold to the touch, will be taken away from them and given onto the other woman.
JCO was rather fug, so it definitely adds up.
It amazes me that people still don't realize how much part Marilyn had in shaping her image and persona. There was an intelligence and subversion in how she portrayed herself, knowing and self-aware in ways most stars during that era couldn't possibly fathom. And why must we always magnify the tragedy? These would-be chroniclers never talk about her incredible wit, her desire to sharpen her skills with Strasberg, or even the creation of her film production company. She was a focused, dedicated actor with a budding business sense. If we must constantly speak her name, then let's speak of her as the complex, multifaceted being that she was.
She also had a big hand in creating her signature makeup look, it wasn’t just typical film makeup from the 50s. she often wore multiple shades of red lipstick, and purposely used light colored eyeshadow to add dimension to her eyes. And while this hasn’t been confirmed anywhere my personal theory is that she also has a signature pose and “Marilyn the moviestar” smile, she kind of parodies it herself in the scene in 7 year Itch when she ls advertising the toothpaste. She was just way more aware than she came off. Many people call her “smart” and I’m not saying she wasn’t but I think it’s too general. She was smart in the sense that she was way more aware of her image and very aware of the idea of publicity and the impact having an image could have, she knew the power she wielded and she used it to her advantage, and THAT is almost never talked about.
@@stxrstrxckmxteo515 in fact it's ALWAYS talked about
People feed off her trauma so much, they can’t get enough they need to invent more. it’s so disgusting and morbid. Judy arguably had a more tragic life, she was quite literally “put on the treadmill” but she doesn’t get this treatment. I never see “goodbye frances gumm 😢” Neither does Elvis. It’s insane when you realize how tough she actually was.
Not only that, but she had such a skillset to produce this persona on screen that most actors today would give a right arm to have - and don't.
THIS!...thank you and yes. They missed the biggest part of her story focusing on fame and sex. The irony is thick.
I find an it weird when people such as Joyce Carol Oates say that unless we frame women as victims we're ignoring the hard truth of sexism and choosing instead to just see the palatable image that we want to see. I think you can acknowledge sexism and violence towards women without reducing women to mere victims. In fact, framing women like Marilyn, who endured assault and abuse, as simply victims is another way of disempowering them. 'Blonde' could have told a nuanced story about Marilyn's skills, intelligence and her fight to be taken seriously as an actor rather than merely as a sex symbol, but instead the film reduced her to her body and her treatment at the hands of men. It entirely portrayed her through the male gaze and ignored her personality. Perhaps the film feels uncomfortable to watch because in a sense it mirrors those assaults; it objectifies her and makes her suffering into an unnuanced spectacle that reduces her to a symbol rather than a person.
It’s a very second wave feminist perspective… overly simplistic and antiquated.
It is... telling that they purposefully left out any of her moments of agency, control, or activism. Because there was only misery. Nothing else.
Yes, & the fact that MM was sexualized & so to show that, they choose to sexualize the actress playing her as well.
Couldn't have been said any better. 👏👏👏
This is well said...she's a body in this. This was watching bad things happen to a body and feeling the revulsion of seeing a body endure the trauma ... but there's no 'there' there in terms of a person.
Is anyone else very disturbed by the claim that anyone who dies by suicide can not and should not be an empowering icon or a feminist icon? Like, if she did, in fact, die by choice/urge and not accident (which is not a given), then she *lived* with that pain for a long time before it overwhelmed her. That would make her a hell of a survivor, I think, totally separate from her professional accomplishments.
Exactly, my eyebrows almost flew out of my face when i heard it. What a fucking bigot
My thoughts exactly. Her mother was committed to a mental institution & her father would never acknowledge her. By age 7 she filtered through 10-12 foster homes & when her Aunt took her in she was sexually abused by here Uncle,. She was then married off at sixteen to keep her from being a ward of the state. Seriously, to accomplish what she did in just 36 yrs! She was talented, a shapeshifter & a powerbroker. I agree, the pain caught up w/her & overcame her eventually. Sexual abuse was a taboo subject in the 1950's & it would have been nearly impossible for her to receive the help that is available today. R.I.P Marilyn. Your place in history warranted ❤
English majors are crying in Sylvia Plath
@@valeriyavarnavskaya4081 we are
It would actually be more tragic to see a hardworking, self-aware, self-made woman eventually lose her battle with drug abuse and mental health. Instead of just constant tragedy. It’s got a much less impactful end because really when the woman’s life is just one abuse after another where’s the tragedy in her death? What has she actually lost?
Calling her performance in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes “romanticized whoredom” says everything you need to know about the director. GPB is (first of all amazing) but more interestingly, about two women who do what they want, enjoy sex, have fun, give smart and convincing justifications for why it isn’t wrong to want nice things, and ultimately *are not punished for it*. Like how do you watch a movie like that and get to “sad prostitute, I’d rather watch her be sad, hate everything, and die”. It’s borderline Puritanical.
Also serious but rhetorical question for the culture: would any of these straight men (and I’m looking at Sam Levinson rn) make media about women with addictions and mental illness if the women in question weren’t conventionally gorgeous? Because sometimes it feels like intellectually they’re operating on the level of “Nooo don’t kill urself ur too sexy 😭”.
Love this
I agree 100%. Women's mental health is almost never taken seriously already, these shows and movies make it so much worse
Very well said.
Basically, what's wrong with being a whore or slut? So long as everyone apart of it consents and is aware of the status in the relationship and agrees, there is no issue. So I say, romanticize the whoredom for days in women, in men, in nb's or anyone who wants to be that way. Take back those words to just plain mean easy/open (with out the negative connotations both those terms already have to the topic) and that it's fine to be so if a person wants to and there is consent.
In the same breath, don't put down people who are prudish or more reserved. Let people be people and stop policing them doing things that hurt no one.
Your last sentence is something I sadly agree with. It's very base level thought train and doesn't see a human on the other side of it.
Wow. You're so sexist that you're justifying using people and demonizing half the population's attraction. That's enough internet for you
even my boyfriend wanted to turn off the movie...even a man couldn't stand it. he admires Marilyn and just remarked "I'll just stick with her movies."
He lasted longer than me. I only watched 30 minutes.
Why are you making it so important he's a man? It's not a gender thing
@@owyemen9367 Perhaps it is to demonstrate that not all men are supportive of this.
Yeah man I have no problem with stuff like Irreversible but this movie was just so cringey and misguided honestly. And I even enjoy Jesse James. I just have no clue maybe COVID and Hollywood destroyed Dominiks brain functions.
@@owyemen9367I think her comments actually doing the opposite ironically, saying you don't have to be coming from a gender critical perspective to hate this turd. I think it's important to point that out lest the filmmakers dismiss criticism as just a bunch of offended woke people, which I'm basically the furthest thing from.
I grew up thinking she was a ditzy bombshell. But when I started watching her films, I noticed how funny she was and how good her acting was. She had great comedic timing. Marilyn deserves to be seen as a full human being, instead of becoming an idea filtered through the male gaze over and over again.
She put herself through that filter too. There is nothing empowering about being a sex object for dudes.
Can we get Gerwig and Robbie on this?
@@bryna7Expressing your sexuality does not automatically mean "being a sex object FOR dudes", let's not victim blame chile
What I find interesting about this whole fascination with Norma vs Marilyn and "who was she really" is that pretty much every star during that era had a persona. This was not unique to her and she was not the only person who struggled. I also think operating on this idea that she was doomed or destined to die because she had mental health and addiction issues flattens her just as much as any "girl boss" biopic would. Also, that perspective is also just very gross and disrespectful.
100%! Archie Leech talked about Cary Grant like another person. In fact, he famously said something like, of course everyone wants to be Cary Grant, so do I! 🤷♀️
I disagree, most stars did not have a persona, a fake little girl voice, etc. All stars, including ones today, will throw on the charm in an interview (even if they are normally an arsehole), but that's not actually a persona, per se - that's just putting on the charm to the media, they don't change their voice and walk, etc.
@@bingonamo7520 That's true, but there's a lot more emphasis on authenticity in celebs today than the glamour machines during Hollywood's golden era. I think it just comes down to the definition of "persona". Does it mean creating and cultivating an image that is entirely separate from one's "real" identity or is it simply a distinction between the self and the perfect, glossy image portrayed to the public?
Jean Harlow and Joan Crawford, just to name two stars, really struggled with their personas vis a vis their hidden real selves
@@bingonamo7520 wrong. All classic a-listers were a persona.
I’m going in having not even watched blonde, partially because I love this channel that much, and partially because I just refuse. Can we please let Marilyn Monroe *rest?* The poor woman spent her whole life being exploited and not even death could end it for her
Shall we not discuss anyone who is no longer performing?
great choice! it is pure toxic...
@@do9138 At least discuss them with respect instead of EXPLOITATION
@@do9138 discuss =/= make up things about said celebrity, paint them as a 1D character to satisfy someone's sadistic "artistic taste." i.e. EXPLOITATION
@@do9138 Strawman. Next.
The ectopic pregnancy bit made me cry and laugh at the same time. It was framed very badly by the film and I hate it, but I think a lot of people are framing it as ‘well it wasn’t that bad for marilyn, it wasn’t even an actual pregnancy or a grown fetus yet.’ And that’s very untrue, it really hurt her.
The movie overtly blamed marilyn for the d3ath of the fetus and outwardly called her stupid
She endured much pain with her endometriosis. She couldn't even have children that she wanted so badly. You'd think her life couldn't get any worse, and they are still destroying her reputation and image making Blonde.
Idk if it's because I'm cynical in all the abortion debates, but I see this as anti-choice depiction
@@bennyton2560 definitely 😞
@@bennyton2560 anti-choice, how cute. Whatever you say pro-baby killer
I hate that even in biopics they only talk about/or show Marilyn in a sexual way. I also hate the abortion scene when Marilyn talked on multiple occasions about her dream of being a mom. She was so much more then her sexuality she was smart, poetic, and an all around good person.
Sleeping with gross married guys is not being a good person. You guys need to stop pretending like you knew these people personally.
What makes me eyeroll at blonde's director is that he acts like the audience is not aware of how exploited women are in Hollywood, and that what he's making is a revolutionary reveal to the viewers. If anything it just makes me go "no duh, dude".
It would be nice when they make these type of movies they wouldn't do the very thing they're commenting on themselves.
I’m so pleased someone has mentioned Dominik’s own ever changing interpretation of what the film ultimately is about on the press tour. I feel like it really highlights he had no vision of what he wanted to say, and it shows in the final product.
He seems like a huge jerk.
He really did Symbolism 101 but never understood it
Yes. It's as if every time he was asked what he was trying to say, it was the first time he had ever been asked that, and he had to invent an answer on the spot.
His only goal was to make sadistic, misogynistporn
Honestly, I’m disappointed in Ana de Armas for thinking this was the biopic that we’ve been waiting for. All her talk of “visiting her grave” and feeling Marilyn’s presence in her while shooting seems equally as exploitative as whatever this director thought he was doing. I hope this (and Elvis) get few to join awards and turn studios off these weird, needlessly hyper-sexual “biopics”
Also so interesting that she received a positive sign or answer or whatever. Always so interesting people always seem to get the answer they already wanted in the first place😒. I wish Marilyn’s spirit came down just said NO gave the finger and left.
I have never found ANYTHING remotely interesting about this de Armas woman. Her involvement with this dumpster fire of a film has killed any respect as an actress I might have had for her.
it wasn't a real bio-epic it is based on a fiction with lots of true elemtens about the real person. This is newest trending excuse in everything "oh it is just fiction and not authentic, we never claimed so":
@kshamwhizzle
She already accomplished that in Knives Out. Despite the flashy, star studded cast, De Armas more than held her own.
I’m just going to pretend this movie didn’t exist for the sake of Ana. she has a helluva lot of potential and it’s too early at least for me to write her off just because of this mess, I will however be keeping an eye out on what she says / works on bcuz in order to take this role youd also have to have a semi warped understanding of Marilyn Monroe
May i also add, i think one of the reasons why her fans are so protective of her is because of films like Blonde. Marilyn is a tragic figure. And thats all anyone ever talks about. No one does care about her and who she really was, we want to rescue her because we hate seeing her tragety, her pain, be - once again - monotized by another man for HIS sake. Not hers. The woman was so sexualized that EVEN IN HER OWN GRAVE she is buried between two men, one of whom is supposedly entombed face down so that he could "always be on top of her." When a woman like Marilyn, who i believe never had the chance to actually achive the Dolly Parton style fame, is constantly redused to just her tragity a film like Blonde is just tragity porn and does nothing but continue that narrative of her only being tragic. Its frustrating and only encourages us to protect her.
im not easily shaken by sexual violence scenes in movies (im normally kinda uncomfortable but can sit thru it just fine, it registers in my mind the same way as movie gore), but I fully had to look away when anything like that happened. it always caught me off guard, and the fact that this is supposed to be about a real person just made my stomach turn.
for the record I did not stream this movie on Netflix bc there was no way that shit was getting my watch time.
I think the urge to "rescue" Marilyn is a frustration and desire to see her be respected and understood as a complex person - because if she's not, then they can just as easily do the same to any other woman, including yourself. It's a feeling of solidarity to me.
It's also part of her sexuality. She's vulnerable. Being sexy is a complex thing. It's not just having a tight dress.
My favourite story about Marilyn Monroe was her friendship with Ella Fitzgerald.
I'm Not surprised that aspect of her life was ignored in this film.
@@eamonndeane587 Great point. I didn’t think of that.
so glad someone said this. literally the most interesting dimensions to Marilyn`s character were revealed to me through what Ella Fitzgerald shared about her.
This is truly such a wholesome and wonderful part of Marilyn’s life that speaks volumes and sadly is constantly neglected when she is brought up. Thank you for bringing this up 💖
And Eartha Kitt! They weren't as close but it was very sweet
What irritates me about any discussion of Marilyn is the dismissal of her “dumb blond” roles. She was a talented comedienne who had a deft touch so much so that people assume she actually is dumb. You can’t tell a joke without getting the joke. Yes, she made more traditional dramas but always assuming that comedies are lesser is still pervasive today and I find it deeply irritating.
I find it interesting that all the people who she sought to help her get better roles did no such thing. She was paying heaps of money to keep the strasbergs in her corner, and she had Arthur Miller ( an award winning playwright) as the president of her company for a while after Milton Greene led her to Newyork with the promise of better roles and to be taken more seriously.... I would hardly consider roles like Bus Stop, prince and the showgirl and some like it hot , even the misfits character Roslyn as any more sophisticated than those of her earlier years. These are good movies , dont doubt but they are nowhere near to what what she wanted to achieve.Those people did nothing to help her. They lured her in with the promise of helping her achieve her goals but They all just took her money and rode on her coat tails and enjoyed basking in her glow... she didnt realise that she had it all along , the desire to be better and do more. She was already that serious actress.. It was always there. The people around her only fueled her dependency on them...making her obsessed with her own shortcomings , keeping her fragile, recommending her to psychotherapists that made her attend multiple sessions daily which she was paying for so that they could maintain their control over her and her money. If you look at all the people around her , they all knew each other, all recommended eachother. They are almost like a gang
True
The “Old Hollywood Tragedy about abused star” is practically its own genre at this point. Oates et al. could have made Blonde without using Marilyn’s name, likeness, or iconography. There will be people who watch or read Blonde and think it’s a fairly accurate and well-researched biopic. I believe you owe it to the real people to use caution when using their names.
Shelley Winters, in one of her memoirs, said that she didn't get the narrative of Monroe as a tragedy figure (or just as a tragedy figure). They had been roommates early on, and Winters said they had lots of fun.
At any rate, much thanks for the review! You showed enough that I don't need to bother watching it!
Andrew Dominic saw her as a prop, a product, not an actual person. a prop he could dress up in his own product, and sell to the public. I doubt he gave the film anymore thought than that. its shot fantastically, with a known "brand name". all shine and no substance
Totally.
He didn't only expl0it marilyn but also ana in this movie. He's such a creep and even said that the moment he saw her on knock knock he saw marilyn in her. I'm sorry what?
@@puurrrr I hate that guy and Joyce Carol Oates too.
I really feel like Dominic hates Marilyn cause wow. It was terrible. Damn let the woman Rest In Peace. I hate that they say it’s not biographical but uses real moments in life and mix fiction with it blurring the lines of real and fake.
THANK YOU!!! That's the impression I had as well watching this "film"-that Dominik not only didn't like Marilyn or have any sympathy for her, but that he wishes he had been one of the many, many men who took advantage of her/violated her in her lifetime and this movie is how he can achieve his disgusting goals.
Well, he's admitted to it in interviews.
Yep him an Ana their hatred oozes off the screen.
Yup there's disdain all over this movie.
@some people deserve to be humbled no she wasn't she gushes over the film and how she 'channeled' Marilyn and was fully aware of what this role was and what it entailed before signing to do the role.
Are you claiming Ana has no agency over her own decisions or roles she chooses?
There's that Amy Greene quote that talks about the way Marilyn could switch the persona on and off at will, did so one time in front of her walking down the street in New York, going from a regular stroll down 5th to suddenly turning heads and stopping traffic just by removing her scarf and shifting something in her bearing ("want me to be her?")... to be able to control the way people perceive you in such an active way is an incredible skill, it takes so much charisma and poise and emotional intelligence. Sex appeal isn't only about looking good, and people's admiration for Marilyn wasn't only based in her sex appeal. The ability to draw people in, charm them, keep their attention, that's not something that comes naturally to a lot of people. Are we supposed to dismiss this thing that she was incredibly good at and probably put a lot of work into just because it was associated with sex?
I love that quote it gives me so much respect for marilyn. she was so in control of her image and she was goddamnn good at it. i'd much rather remember marilyn for her skills, talent, and charm
Except no one knows anything about her except what she physically looked like after plastic surgery...so the whole sex appeal thing is shallow all around.
To completely change yourself based on what people want is a trauma response. Yes, you could call it a skill, but it’s born of necessity.
@@clevelandplonsey7480It's also called acting.
I've heard or read people who knew Garland and Monroe that they are frustrated that everything written or created about them emphasize their unhappiness when their personalities were so much more than that. Of course, their lives had sad endings but don't all lives have sad endings? If a person dies of cancer, are their lives all about cancer or did they simply end because of it?
Same with Sharon Tate. Let’s be honest, biopics of women either follow the victim or the bitch
Great point
So many old screen icons became alcoholics but don't get that brought up as a way of denying their obvious greatness at what they did at their peak. So many creative people have died young, of diseases such as AIDS or from eating disorders or from accidental overdoses or mental illness episodes that ended in suicide. This guy would have us write of half of the literary, musical and screen canon because they had abuse or sadness or addiction on their lives. God! The work is the thing. Only the work. Dying or killing yourself doesn't erase the work, and never will. Unless you're Marliyn Monroe, apparently.
I also like "The Prince and the Showgirl" as she's depicted as a woman who is widely thought of as a bit of fluff, an airhead and she turns out to be the smartest person in the room. Monroe produced the film and, when you view it now, is still as fresh, sly and contemporary as when it was shot, whereas everyone else seems rather stiff and stagey. I think it's one of her very best.
She came from nothing. She was a hard working woman, savy business woman, who's legacy isn't big simply bcos of her looks but who she was.
Cinema is dead
How she maneuvered through Hollywood and the cost to her mental health would've been a better movie. I'd love to see a fully realized, fully human Monroe on screen or in a series.
She was lazy and stupid.
24:24 “bad things make a person sad” is the perfect summation of how intelligent blonde as a film is
Everytime I hear about this move I can't stop myself from asking "Why was it necessary to use Marilyn as the vehicle for this movie?" especially considering we still have not gotten a film about Marilyn that is from her lens and not one from a male gaze. It feels like Marilyn is being constantly exploited as a character to drive a plot and in the process she is losing more and more of her unique aspects and what made her wonderful in the public eye in the popular culture. I remember finding out all this information about her that contradicted what the pop culture was telling me to the point that it blew my mind when I found out she has a memoir that she wrote and that no one seems to talk about it.
Uh . . . because it's based on a novel about Marilyn Monroe. THE NOVEL IS WRITTEN BY A WOMAN. IT IS NOT A MALE GAZE.
@@do9138 I know the novel isnt but the movie is and it focuses on her relationships with other men for a majority of the movie. We know that a lot of the novel was not included in the movie either, only the parts the director deemed worth keeping. Additionally, I was speaking generally where a majority of her depictions are through a male gaze.
@@do9138 lol just cause the novel is about her doesn't mean this man had to adapt the novel to explore this rtagic topic that could be about anyone. The male gaze first and foremost is a product of visual art (hence the gaze) so the novel being written by a woman is completely irrelevant. Plus anyone, of any gender, can write or direct using the male gaze, you just don't know what it is.
@@do9138 Here’s a 🍪.
@@do9138 You're awfully invested in defending this movie, except you don't understand what other people are saying. Take a hike, mate.
IDK Why but the “what the talking fetus would actually look like” bit honestly made me laugh much harder than it should have
This film is so sad.
I think you're absolutely right. Blonde just felt so exploitative, and completely ignored things like MM crafting her own image, absconding from Fox, creating her own production company, negotiating contracts which were not at all common at the time, etc, etc, which was much to its detriment. (Also - I absolutely loved Amanda Konkle's book; it was an extra pleasure to hear her comments).
You know what? I think I would really love a proper Marilyn Monroe biopic - not something that looks at her sideways through the male gaze, but a proper, earnest look at what an amazing comic gift she had and how charismatic she was, even in still photographs. A depiction that, yes, portrays her abuse sympathetically and takes it into account as shaping her, but also celebrates her fight against the studio system, her remarkable performances on screen, her dedication to the craft of acting, and her amazing friendships with the women who recognised her as an equal. Could we just make a rule that filmmakers cannot touch Marilyn's legacy unless they actually appreicate her work as an actress?
IT IS NOT A MALE GAZE. This film is based on a novel by JOYCE CAROL OATES.
Nah I think they need to leave MM ALONE. They never get it right and at this point what else is there to say?
She left behind a beautiful body of work she created while battling enormous inner demons and exploitation. People need to be content with what she left behind and say “thank you”.
Let Marilyn rip! She was one of a kind
@@do9138 The film was written and directed by a man though, and I think it would have turned out very differently with a female perspective at the helm.
@@do9138 An adaptation made by a man.
Ironically, the Blonde miniseries 20 years ago was pretty good. I also liked Norma Jean & Marilyn. Also, listen to the Bombshell soundtrack from Smash - I learned more about Marilyn from that show than I have in loads of biopics!
Can we just leave Marilyn biopics in the past now. The retelling and reimagining of her life, using her as a symbol of a female martyr for the audience and giving actresses the opportunity to raise their profile by getting into Marilyn drag and wear her life like a costume. It's honestly becoming grotesque. We keep resurrecting her only to watch her tragic demise again and again. I love Marilyn's films, not this tripe.
This is me with the amount of home invasion films based from the Manson Murders.
I wish Hollywood would just leave ALL biopics alone for the time being. Or at least ignore all but the BEST of them come awards season.
It's especially upsetting because people are engaging in endless lurid voyeurism about her personal life, obsessed with her, but refuse to even watch her movies. Many of them are surprisingly hard to access, some never released on home video, and most not given any critical attention. Everyone wants to exploit her image, to use her as their own avatar, to the point that the idea of her (created by others) is starting to completely overshadow her actual work and what she created.
Well said
I just hate the idea of biopics, or twists on them, in general. They seem really disingenuous and a weird way of cashing in on a popular name recognition (like Disney live-action remakes ya’ know), with some weird motive to force an actual person into an imagined narrative. Just bizarre stuff.
As a video game fan, I would always complain about how the cinematic adaptations of video game franchises would always fail because the people writing/producing/directing the movies weren't actually fans of the original games and wanted to bizarrely portray the content different, portray it in a manner how -they- see fit, not necessarily how the original games functioned and why they succeeded. For every Detective Pikachu, there are dozens of Uncharted and Prince of Persias.
Blonde reminds me of this, because it just feels like its a movie made by people that didn't really appreciate or like Marilyn Monroe in the first place. Its one thing to -research- her life and its another to -appreciate- her life, appreciate her gifts, talent, and what she gave to the world even if the world didn't deserve her. I had zero hope for this movie, it never felt like they were even trying to be sensible towards Marilyn Monroe and her roller coaster life, even if the film is based off a novel that also seems to be written by someone who didn't quite appreciate Monroe and wanted to simply use her brand, her imagery, to tell a story and make money.
I'm curious about your opinion on Silent Hill (2006.) It didn't really follow the original story, but I thought they really nailed the production design and atmosphere.
I also think it's odd that we haven't had one real adaptation of Resident Evil. I wonder if it's because the first game is thought of as too simple because it's set in one house.
That's how I felt about uncharted and now tlou hbo series
this is what happened to the witcher
The main issue with film adaptations of games is they try to adapt the game's story outright. Instead of keying in on a detail or background story that the writer has a passion for, they just bluntly copy the game's story with their own uninspired deviations. For instance, if he have to have a Gears adaptation, I would prefer it to be an E day film or about the mission that led to Fenix's incarceration. Do something interesting rather than just doing the game's story worse.
I'm tired of seeing her suffer. Its disturbing to me. She suffered in life and now we keep dragging her ideal not her personhood through the mud.
As a huge Marilyn fan i want to thank you for filling the holes in the Blonde book and movie that you exposed and doing what the writer and director didn't bother to do, maybe because you actually see her as a complete human being and not just the iconic object available for exploitation and projection of twisted fantasies disguised as "artistic vision", you got yourself a new subscriber.
I thought her death was accidental? She didn’t intend to harm herself? In either case tho, the “man makes movie about myth of a woman and not actual woman” trope is tiring. I wish someone made a movie about the person Marilyn, not the myth.
Her death was deemed an accident, although there have been a few conspiracy theories over the years that she was actually killed.
It was not accidental. Barbiturates are lethal above 40 micrograms per mililiter of blood. She had 125 mcg/mL and a lot more had been filtered by her liver. Basically she downed two bottles of medicine before going to bed.
No one will ever know. But her autopsies all show that it mostly may have been accidental, especially knowing the fact that she had no reason to commit suicide - she was finally living the life she so desperately wanted to live and was finally starting to feel truly happy and fulfilled (both in her career and personal life).
@@UnicornPizza Written by someone who hasn’t read a single reliable source about the case.
@@AntonioKatan two investigations into her death and both times they could not call it a definitive suicide. MM barbiturate intake tolerance was high. She had accidentally ODd several times. I believe her mixing it with chloral hydrate sealed her fate. Her doctors shouldve been prosecuted for negligence but everyone were too busy focused on tHe KeNeDdYs mUrdEreD hEr.
Hollywood wants to keep portraying Marilyn as a dumb over sexualized helpless girl, they don’t have the nuance to create a movie about who she actually was and a movie that fully appreciates all of her qualities like how smart she was and how deep thinking she was.
It makes me so upset that this is still being fed into and they are too eager to put a big name in the movie as well rather than choose someone who embodies the real Marilyn with her delicacy and her strength and determination and kindness. Not just a sexy woman
They just made crap that sells, like always 🙄
Irl she got the plastic surgery...she slept with tons of guys (married and not)...that's gross of the men but she knew a lot of the guys were married too. She's not a role model.
I don't think that a man who clearly doesn't see Marilyn as a person, but as a some sort of a vessel or symbol, is the right choice to direct a film about Marilyn's suffering DUE TO her being treated as a symbol. Normally I don't think that an out-group person can't empathise with an in-group experience, but I do think that in this case a female director would be a better choice - Marilyn has been delegated to such an idol status that it can be really hard to make the audiences see her behind the facade, and while women are just as guilty of idolising her as men, I think that it's easier for women to empathise with her sexualisation and therefore understand her better. Maybe most of us are not objectified to the same extent, but I think a lot of us has been in or at least witnessed the exact same situation that she described: where a man mirrors his own desire onto her and then acts as if she's the one responsible for it. So I think a female director would be much subtler. I would love to see a movie about Marilyn directed by, let's say, Sophia Coppola.
He's making her a martyr.
I think showing the micro agressions would have made a similar effect without being crude, she was respected but not taken seriously. Also she did say something that implied she didn't like being sexual that much, at least with men. Some people theorize that she could have been asexual/lesbian which is pure speculation but would be an interesting writing start, what if she wasn't a sexual being? There is a difference between liking something and liking how people react to it.
@@tdelioncourt1268 I think because even as a teenager she was always taken advantage of for her looks. her beauty and her “sex appeal” was alway front and center so she got used to it and it just came naturally to her bc the whole world told her that’s what she was. And all of this before even becoming a movie star
@@tdelioncourt1268 Yeah, I think this director doesn't understand that a woman (or any person for that matter) doesn't have to be physically abused all the time in order to feel objectified or threatened etc. It's the incessant continuation of little things that make you feel diminished - and because they can be so subtle, often even genuinely well-meant, you end up doubting your own sanity and gaslight yourself: why am I feeling this way if no one is _actually_ hurting me. What is wrong _with me_? Much more subtle and I think it would be a more powerful story, but clearly this type of dynamics is completely lost on this director.
Hm, I wouldn't necessarily say that "women would do it better" - just look at Joyce Carol Oates, whose work set this train in motion. I agree that probably most women directors would do much more balanced job, but it's not guaranteed. Some women have "interesting views"; some men can create incredibly nuanced and empathetic portrayals of women's experience. I'm thinking of films like Set It Off through Moana through Thelma and Louise.
@@Trixtah Yeah, in general I absolutely agree, one's gender cannot be taken as a guarantee that you'll do a good or bad job. But in case of Marilyn, we've just had so many cliched representations by male directors that I really think a female director should finally get a shot, because there are some amazing female directors out there who can bring so much nuance. By which I mean specifically someone top-tier like Sophia Coppola, Greta Gerwig or Autumn de Wilde (but NOT the female director - forget her name - of the newest "Persuasion" adaptation on Netflix haha) - I would be very interested in seeing their take on Marilyn's story (and yeah, probably not based on Oates' book haha).
I just felt sorry for Marilyn after watching this movie. Not because of what was portrayed, but because of how Hollywood, yet again, took advantage of her as an icon long after her death. Doing the very thing portrayed in the movie under the excuse of “art”.
Funny how I keep hearing both "Well, it's not supposed to be a real depiction of her life! It's fiction!" and also "She really did endure a lot of abuse, the filmmakers are just daring to be honest!"
16:55, very insightful observation. That really made it click why Spencer fundamentally works far more than Blonde does. Spencer does not shy away from showing really painful and shameful moments in its subject's life, but it also allows us to spend time with Diana during the earnestly joyous moments of her life.
Examining her whole life as a prelude to her suicide is a mindset that literally belongs in the 60’s. The book Red Comet (about Sylvia Plath) goes over the aftermath with everyone trying to figure out what went wrong with Plath, even as far back as her potty training.
I don't want to assume that her marriage was the sole reason, but it probably didn't help.
I know your description of Red Comet is supposed to be derogatory, but it makes me kind of want to read it.
@@tatehildyard5332 Oh no, it wasn’t meant to be derogatory! Just that Red Comet describes the mindset of those who wanted to find meaning in Plath’s suicide. The book is EXCELLENT, very well researched both over Plath’s life and the evolution of her art. It also doesn’t treat Ted Hughes as either a saint or a villain, which I appreciate.
@@This1sS0Stup1d Why do you appreciate a literal domestic abuser who encouraged her to go through with committing suicide being portrayed in a neutral light? Have you read Plath’s journal entries about him beating her?
I hate that when a person dies by suicide, society assumes that that is all that there was about that person's life. Everything becomes a prelude to that one end, as you said in you comment. :(
I think Marilyn was an intelligent actress! She worked hard in her performances. If you wanted comedy, she would give you comedy. Drama? She could do that too! A musical? HELL YES! Movies like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Misfits, Some Like It Hot, and Don't Bother To Knock showed how diverse her skills were even in roles that still unfortunately relied on her looks
she put all her first hard earned money in more education in acting, dancing and even fencing. She wanted to be a serious actress and definitly had the potential.
There are scenes from her last unfinished movie floating around and I can help but think of one of them. The movie was a remake comedy about a man whose wife played by Monroe disappeared after a plan crash only to come back just before he is going to get married. The scene is her talking to the two kids who don't know she's there mother and she is asking them about if they remember her or think about her. All you see is her face and you can see the emotions she is going throw and it is not over down but it is amazing. You clearly see how she had honed her skills in that one scene.
@@stephennootens916 Do you know the name of that movie or is it just unfinished? I know that she was expected to star in Something's Gotta Give until her unfortunate and untimely death
It was something's gotta to give. They filmed some of the movie but there were problems such as her health they fired and rehired her for the film and were going to replace the director with the director that filmed her movie bus stop who she had a good working relationship with. If she had not died they would have started to shoot agian.
@@stephennootens916 I figured it was that movie. I would've loved to be wrong because I would've been interested in finding those clips, but it indeed was that movie. I have seen the screen tests from that movie
Nice parallel to Dolly, it is very interesting how she maintained control of herself and her career. I'm sure Marilyn and other women who were popular in the entertainment industry and taken advantage of by it helped her exponentially in her cleverness. Very smart business woman.
P.s. Not saying Marilyn or others weren't smart, just probably did not have the same clarity about the nasty side of the entertainment industry as they rose to fame.
Very brilliant essay. It’s not the art in Blonde that makes me uncomfortable, it’s the one sided perspective of Marilyn Monroe that made me uncomfortable. The woman had the full range of emotions and life events.
22:33 this made me think of Margot Robbie. Incredibly savvy when it comes to business, made iTonya and other films and is a well renounced producer, yet still is a sex symbol in many other ways and suggests nudity when it comes to other roles such as wolf of Wall Street. Considering todays climate is way more understanding and willing to see women in Hollywood as multifaceted I really hope Robbie can cement herself as that for future generations and everything in regards to how Marilyn has been categorized is not pushed onto future actresses the way it is onto her.
I just watched her in Amsterdam and I thought she was so good in that movie. I still need to see I, Tonya
@@rebeccassweetmusic4632 she did the best that she could in that film, but I think Anya Taylor Joy overshadowed her at least imo. but it’s not her fault cuz that script sucked and the director is kind of a terrible person. but i agree with OP I’m totally rooting for her bcuz she is very much able to handle being both a “sex symbol” in roles like harley quinn and naomi lapaglia (twows) and also a critically acclaimed actress in roles such as tonya harding (I personally didn’t care for it as it was just too much for me but if ur a Robbie fan it’s an absolute must-watch) and that bombshell movie.
The smartest move she made career wise was Goodbye Christopher Robin. Where she played a woman who by all accounts was a terrible mother and turned her child into a sideshow. At the same time she was doing things like Peter Rabbit and Harley Quinn. Showing the audiences she had dimensions
@@c17sam90 and now she’s Barbie, she’s over, peaked and done.
@@BlowinFree in a movie written and. directed by Greta Gerwig and co written by Noah Baumback. This is going to be some sort of satire I feel
Joyce is shoving Marilyn inside a box that she can understand. She has made herself a god who decides what a person can and cannot be, probably because it's easier to write. A complex character is difficult to achieve because it is reality.
Absolutely!
I already knew what time it was when I saw that scene of Marilyn in her so-called "throuple" with Charlie Chaplin Jr. and Eddy Robinson Jr., with everyone pawing and groping each other in the movie theater like some unhinged exhibitionists. I mentally tapped out after that.
Wait wtf? For real?!
@@JFairy189 yes! That happened in the movie AND she got pregnant with their baby which she terminated. This movie was a hot mess of nonstop trauma.
@@LoveK1 wow I must have completely blocked that from my memory. This movie is so fucking dumb I swear.
The more I think about it, the more I realise I really don't like the word "throuple".
@@JFairy189 you’re lucky you forgot about it because I could have gone my entire life without ever seeing it.
Every time I hear something about this movie, all I can think about is the part of Candle in the Wind where Elton John sings, “all the papers had to say was that Marilyn was found in the nude.” That song was released in 1973 and it’s still true.
If a director says "they dislike this film because they are..." it is usually a huge red flag.
“An avatar for suffering” I can’t think of a better way to describe this portrayal…
I don't want to just rescue Marilyn -- who is almost always rendered as a stereotype, if a tragic one, rather than a complex human -- I want to rescue 90% of women portrayed in films, where they are always one dimensional girlfriends, best friends, assistants or other wallpaper to the "real" people, the male characters.
Best comment I've seen on this film.
As a person who works in the industry, the women in the industry matter as well. Me too was just the tip of the iceberg. Nothing has changed for us. We're still things to be polished and put on screen, or a box to tick to get your movie funded behind the scenes. I'm not just talking about the A listers who can buy their way out of contracts, I'm talking about the poc, the little people who need to eat.
you dont watch enough movies, or you have a trashy taste
The fix is more women and of all types have to make more films
Have you not watched any movie or show for the past 20+ years?
I fell down a UA-cam rabbit hole, I think it was after your last Marilyn video and watched all those old interviews with her former roomate, Shelly Winters. Shelly spoke with great fondness, and forcefulness, probably because she was used to pushback on this, of the amount of fun they used to have together. And that struck me, because in most of the media around Marilyn you don't think of her as having fun, or being able to have fun. That her persona may have been arduous, but there were times when it was also fun, and she had a good time. That's just kind of absent in the discussion of her.
The movie reminded me of something my dad said about film back in the 70's. "Im tired of coming out of a theater and feeling like I have been shit on."
I hate the way people put Marilyn Monroe on a pedestal and forget she was a real person. The thing I love about her is her almost child like quality she brings to the screen a type of innocence at the same time being a sex symbol it's a dual persona that her fans love about her. I've not watched blonde however I have saw most of the other biopics about her life such as the blonde mini series and Marilyn and norma jean. It's interests me why people treat her like a goddess not a human being which she was. The fact she was so human and complicated is what I love about her. I notice photo of her that had not been air brushed and the comments where saying this is not her she did not have wrinkles. They seem to totally forget she was a human being. It's very interesting why she has been put on a pedestal in such as way
The side by side of 'diamonds are a girl's best friend,' for me, really spotlight's Monroe and why she is so captivating. While the aesthetics are exact between Blonde and GPB - Monroe never looks down, she always looks out. Her angles, how she held her face, even in profile, you can see her eyes. It's so simple but it is incredibly effective and ultimately ... happens once.
Acting was very different then
Her little expression when the camera pans in! No imitation comes close.
She didn't trip on those stairs either.
I love how you say “so called tragic women” because that’s so true! Highlighting a person’s trauma is a way of looking down at them. Marylin was magnetic because she had a girlish playfulness that was genuine and vulnerable. A winning smile that blossomed from within. And of course her underlying hardships which contrasted with it, created dimension, mystery and awe. It’s not just inaccurate to paint her as pure trauma and pain, but it’s bad art. An indulgent easy way out 🤷♀️
So they portrayed Marilyn Monroe like how she acted characters in movies and not the way she was, in real life?
Yes. The movie's garbage except for some interesting cinematography
I don't remember feeling so angry at a movie in my entire life as I was after watching Blonde. And yes I admit that by the end of the film, I was crying, not by how sad the story was but by how angry I felt. Blonde is so hopeless and deprived of empathy that I am not able to see the point of it. Yes, we can make art about everything and everyone but I just don't think it's fair for the subject when you choose to exclude part of her experience just because you want to make some sort of point about her pain. And sorry but I feel very uncomfortable seeing a man talking about her experience, especially about the experience of someone who suffered on such a public level.
The point is that it is a mirror of the "elites" of our age. It has nothing to do with Marilyn.
So cool that you got Amanda Konkle to participate in this video! She’s brilliant!
Emotional snuff film. I was so sad because I really hoped for more. Can't wait to watch your review of it
I was going with ‘trauma porn’, but I like yours better.
The same day I watched this movie I found out my apartment is infested with mice. Honestly I'm not sure which was the worse experience
This is - no kidding - the most impressive movie critique I've seen in my life. WELL DONE!!!
I felt like I was being harassed watching this film . So for them to create this make me so sad for Marilyn she deserves so much better. Can we just let her rest in peace 🕊️
I really like what you said about wanting to protect her.
I think the movie looked good and Ana acted her ass off but it was definitely trauma porn. I also don't like the director's attitude 🙄 Why did he even take on this project?
Love your videos 💕
Ana was absolutely shit in this movie she played Marilyn like a cheap parody.
Trauma porn is honestly the best way to describe this movie. Her being sad but constantly having her breast out felt like I was watching Cassie from Euphoria.
Hearing the director try to articulate the meaning of the film (7:03) felt like listening to Harry Styles during that DWD interview.
you watch harry styles interviews? XD
@@iknowexactlywhoyouare8701 I wouldn't be able to bear it.
in scriptwriting the first thing we teach is do not judge your characters when developing your story. The problem here is that he came in with a judgement and one that did not change as they made the film, but rather got worse and deeper about just the pain.
Wow, it's so weird, I remember my dad saying that sentiment when I was young, "If I'd met her, I could have saved her." Amazing how pervasive that thought pattern is around her persona.
They should put THIS video on the Blu-Ray. This explains everything I needed and wanted to know about it. Thanks so much for uploading.
I have not seen this film, and it’s infuriating to think that the tv show SMASH and its Marilyn bio-musical did more to accurately reflect Marilyn’s life and how she was perceived. SMASH.
Funny you brought up Smash because I remember this one line from a comedic review of a show making fun of the “What did she yearn for?” scene and the dude just screamed, “Oh my God. Do some research! Marilyn Monroe was a real person! Books have been written about her! There is one in your apartment, right there! It’s what inspired this dam musical in the first place! Have you even read it!?”. That review line has been floating in my brain every time I see someone try to take this movie on.
Newsflash for you: Marilyn is dead. She can't feel anything. She can't feel pain, humiliation, disrespect or any other negative emotion. Why? because she's blissfully in paradise, happy. She's in heaven. She doesn't care anymore about how people disprespect her or tarnish her. If she had kids and grandkids that hear how their beloved mother or grandmother had her reputation tarnished time and time again to this day, then that's a different story. She has no one. She's happy and she doesn't care anymore. She's finally painless and in eternal bliss. idk why ya'll always act dead stars are still living. There are actual living people who are going through hell right now like she did and even worse, yet no one advocates for them. That's what she truly wants for society to do. she no longer cares what people perceive of her anymore because she had her fame. She's not your best friend. So WHY are people still obsessed over her? she's dead. move on. she's happy now and she'll never have a painful moment ever again. and no, this is not me egging on people who continue to ruin her image, this is me spitting out common sense and logic that dead people don't care anymore. People who complain about her tarnished reputation are the same obsessed folks that continue to tarnish her reputation
Thank you for speaking for Judy Garland! I have been a fan for 25 years and her movies and music made me fall in love with art and English. I am not a fan of Marilyn, but I was infuriated by the lack of respect that biopic is showing her memory...
I feel like what you're describing is the Star 80 problem--the characterization of the tragedy of a life disrespected without attempting seriously to respect that life.
well said
I couldn't watch too much of "Blonde". I could see pretty early on the tack the director was taking, and I thought it was a real disservice to Marilyn. She was an extremely intelligent woman, and unlike many much more well educated and lettered people, had something that most of them didn't really possess -- real intellectual curiosity. She read constantly and voraciously, and not novels, either. She was also a terrific actress who worked hard to create the character of Marilyn that Hollywood loved and that made her rich and famous. She was a tireless champion for African Americans and other discriminated against people.
I wondered if you were going to make a video about this because it was SUCH a ghastly insult to Marilyn herself AND Marilyn's legacy. It's great to hear your thoughts and I love that you looped back to Dolly Parton about how to distinguish (or not) between ~The Sexy Entertainer~ and ~The Person~. Wonderful video!
There might be four million videos about "Blonde" but getting one from Be Kind Rewind is what I was most looking for!
Literally said “Ooooooh my god!” when this came out. So hype to hear your thoughts
Misogyny and objectification aside, one of the biggest issues with Blonde is that it just has too damn much plot. When it comes to biopics, I feel like you can either do a play by play of the events of their life, or you can do a character study. I can't really think of many/any examples where trying to do both was especially successful. I don't feel like Marilyn's life is really conducive to "and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened." She suffered a great deal, and the only way to make a story out of that is to really amplify it. And that's what you get with Blonde. I don't think it's an especially interesting way to look at Marilyn because she herself is far more interesting than any of the events in her life. She's a very emotionally complex woman, and trying to make a narrative ark out of a string of people abusing her is going to be incredibly reductive.
I hate to say this because these women are so frequently compared, and that's really not my intent, but I feel like a movie in the realm of Jackie would have been far more successful. Jackie has almost no plot. All of the events depicted really just serve as a backdrop for an in depth character study of a fascinating and complex woman. That's really the treatment Marilyn deserved.
As a side note I also feel like Blonde really does a poor job representing the real tragedies of her life.
1. She was a deeply intelligent, multi-talented woman, and very few people recognized that.
2. She was an incredibly caring, loving woman, and very few people cared about her as much as she cared about them.
Like, you see her wedding press conference with Arthur Miller, but you don't see that she's wearing that incredibly plain outfit because she stopped to help an injured motorist who had driven off the road on the way there, ended up covered in blood, and changed into what she had in the car. Blonde doesn't portray how hard it is to be an incredibly generous person, only to have people repeatedly use you.
That just reminded me that the actor playing JFK in Jackie also played him in Blonde, which makes for a hell of a whiplash.
Well, a lot of the plot were outright lies and some were things no once could know. It was disgusting.
@@lynnsmith4 A lot of good biopics have a ton of fabrications in them. That doesn't bother me. They're there to move the story along, condense multiple events into one, show something about the subject's character, etc. (Honestly, I tend to prefer the more character driven approach. Generally, leave the play by play of the person's life to documentarians.)
Having said that, you need a lot of space for character work if you're going to go that route. You can't have as much plot as Blonde has. You need space for the characters to interact with each other, have in depth conversations, space for the character to just be themselves, etc. You can't just jump from plot point to plot every three minutes.
I don't want to make any moral judgements about Blonde, as I don't feel like morality needs to be a part of art or entertainment at all. Some of the more grotesque parts reminded me of Perfect Blue, which is spectacular. I roughly get where they were going, how they wanted to hold up a mirror to celebrity culture through the lens of Marilyn Monroe. So she's almost more of an avatar or concept. I'm 100% on board with that idea, but not so much the execution.
@@Bunny-ch2ul So they shouldn't get to use a persons life as a concept or avatar. She was a real person. Not sure who owns her image or estate but this shouldn't be allowed. They should be sued. I care 0% about artistry at someone else's expense. Make up a character. Using her was the only way they could get views.
Really enjoyed hearing your measured response on this film. I’m not sure where I stand with it yet, but I would say the quote at the end about how the audience is forced to watch helplessly as she navigates a world where no one cares about her feelings does seem to be the crux of something.
In other words, even the “good” men, or people, in her life took the stance to pity and belittle, where they should have recognized she, like every person, has a limit as to how well they can articulate what’s going on in their heads, and more patiently considered her needs, strengths, vulnerabilities, and passions. Oh course there’s an immediate counter-play here in that the viewer sort of has to figure out for themselves whether or not they are complicit in this misjudgment, for the reason that the film suggests being complicit extends to far more of us than we’d like to believe.
I think every self respecting person should already know that Merilyn’s real life was not just sex appeal and trauma, but that doesn’t make it any less depressing to watch nor do I think it excuses every questionable choice the film makes. As a piece about Merilyn, it fails. But seen as a criticism of Hollywood, a culture of fetishism, and people’s (namely men’s) inability (or disregard) to actively try to understand another person… there might be something there.
Thank you Stephanie Marrie . When I watched "Blonde" as a fan of Marlyn Monroe movies and the Icon herself..... it broke something inside of me on an emotional level.... I felt hollow from watching it . There were moments where the videography was absolutely stunning and I was is awe but then mostly through out the rest of the movie Marlyn was hated, betrayed, and dragged into the gutter . The only reason I watched until the end was I hoped for some redemption arc for not only Marlyn ,Ana , other cast members but for the whole movie but No redemption ever came and I was left feeling numb for what I had just seen .
I was not expecting an accurate portrayal in scene by scene or even something close to the truth but I saw the artless degradation of someone many see as beloved heartless and done in sheer malicious intent . How many actors have songs written about them.... mentioning how admired they are ....such as "Candle In The Wind" ? Naming Marlyn a Legend and later this Blonde movie was made .... if I had known her this would be heartbreaking .
I very much appreciate the narration here for mentioning some fictional moments and I appreciate this channel .
you're so good at making these incredible personal videos and painting a portrait of the people and their landscape.
I felt this for a while that maybe part of the reason so many women feel like impostors, especially creatively, is because we are so used to disregard women's work and overestimate "inate" qualities like charisma, beauty and charm. Blonde argues for exactly that when it comes to Monroe, she is almost supernaturaly magnetic but there is no though, no examination.
The moment that made me give up on it was the horrified reaction she had to Gentleman Prefer Blondes. Firstly because I can't imagine a person watching Marilyn perform Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend without a huge smile on their face, but sure, that might just be me. Secondly, because that sequence is so expressive and meticulously crafted that it calls upon inspection of it's own artifice, there is so much thought in it, you can see it her eyes. Lorelei's confidence, her sense of humor, her inteligence and worldlyness.
I can see that in Niagara too, she is almost cartoony. It takes skill to make it look natural and easy. And honestly I feel like this movie kinda serves as proof because the scene recreations felt so forced to me.
It felt so good to hear Amanda saying the same thing I said to my dad a couple of days ago when we were discussing the film: the singing! Singing isn't easy and Marilyn put a lot of effort in her style, it is beyond me why you would portray that as an embarassment to her.
Personally I have seen Marilyn Monroe as a warm woman who never got what she really wanted in life. She just happened to be one of the most famous human beings in modern times. I don't think I'll ever see a film that is really true to her real life. It wouldn't be sexy, gritty or controversial enough to get made.
People who defend Blonde by saying "It's MEANT to be fictionalized!" are missing the point. We're used to parts of biographies being 'fictionalized,' in the sense of filling in the factual and/or emotional gaps in the subject's life with made-up details extrapolated from the facts we DO know. That's what we typically think of as 'fictionalization' of a real person's life. This is NOT what happens in 'Blonde.' Instead, we get the incredibly biased and condescendingly-focused worldview of a person who had already decided his subject was a morally erratic, dysfunctional trauma victim who somehow became a world-renowned sex xymbol, and that those were the only interesting things about her. That in itself puts a very judgemental slant on how they decide to paint those 'fictionalized' parts - which in turn makes the audience question the nuance behind the real-life, factual events and, in many cases, re-evaluate them from the same negative and judgemental viewpoint. And of course Marilyn's dead now, so she can't even defend herself from the nastier and more misogynistic 'fictionalization.'
If they'd really wanted to achieve 'honest' filmmaking and storytelling, they should've included the GOOD stuff in her life as well as the bad. People with mental illness from trauma CAN still achieve things, have fun, be successful - heck, they can even be HAPPY sometimes! To depict those who've suffered in that way, by default, as these perpetually powerless, emotional punching bags who stagger from bad decision to exploitative situation is not just false, it's insulting. It's like a rollercoaster that only goes down - the lows are just wearing and hollow without the highs to contrast them.
You are an extremely thoughtful, nuanced and thorough researcher. Such high quality work.
This is FUCKING brilliant. This content should not be confined to UA-cam.
I'm new here, whoever is behind this beyond Netflix quality research, I salute you 💙
Blonde was awful and traumatizing to watch. Geez and Ana sounded nothing like Marilyn. It’s the trauma porn (literally) and the lack of believability for me. This is exactly why men shouldn’t try to do Marilyn movies.
Sounded nothing like her ,acted nothing like her and looked nothing like her .
@@beeben5260 yup!
@@beeben5260 shes horribly miscasted
not "literally"
@@iknowexactlywhoyouare8701 yes literally. It was pornographic for the sake of it (the movie) all based around inflicting horrific trauma on Ana for almost three hours.
Oh i loathed this nearly-3-hour hate fest with every part of me. It has so little about it that’s redeeming. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
Then why did you watch it for three hours? I turn off films I don't like.
@@do9138 if someone criticises a film having watched it then people like you say "nobody made you watch it! Just ignore it if you don't like it!", but if they criticise a film **without** watching it then you'll say "how can you fairly criticise it if you haven't watched the whole thing?"
Just say what you mean: "nobody can criticise this film because I like it."
Completely agreed. I can't ignore that Ana de Armas did a great job with her emotions, I first saw her in Knives Out. However, it's unfortunate that they continue to use Marilyn even after her death. I hope someday, if they're going to continue with the "biopics", they make one that isn't just about her suffering. They include everything about her, how she came to fame, how her actual personality was, how she fought for Ella Fitzgerald (her good friend) to sit at the same award show with her when they didn't allow POC there at the time, how badly she wanted to be a mother. She had so much more than her suffering. There should be a film that balances both her struggles but also her good times too. She deserves that.
@@do9138 because I have liked and studied Marilyn Monroe (née Norma Jean Baker) for many years, long before it was mainstream cool to like her, as it has become in the past year or so. And I’ve seen most films and documentaries made about her, as well as most of the films she has starred in herself, from Don’t Bother To Knock and beyond. (She was excellent in that film’s dramatic role). I’ve watched most clips of her interviews, and read several books about her life. I wanted to understand her unique allure, and how her life experience formed who she was.
So given the talent & dedication that Ana De Armas brought to the screen, I was hopeful. The costumes looked good, too, though not nearly structured enough/tailored enough for the era they were attempting to replicate.
Also, this director appears to have disdain for Marilyn, despite (at times) claiming otherwise. He wants to claim this is art? It’s trauma and abuse p0rn. It’s a disorganized collection of snippets of MM’s life, but redone poorly, aside from the literal snapshots (photos) he replicated. They didn’t even think to change her hair shade/color/style enough to match the moments properly, it was the same wig almost the whole way through. And MM went through a variety of looks, with her hair being as memorable as her makeup & lipstick application.
Aside from a few artistic moments & a second or two where she looked redeemed and happy, the director positions her as a helpless, fumbling victim nearly all the way through. Then to claim that he’s showing us ‘what her persona stood for’?? How in H3LL did he think she got as far as she did in the machine known as Hollywood (and she’s not a nepotism baby) if she wasn’t intelligent, business-minded and highly conscious about branding? We’re still replicating her look today. Her likeness is constantly used to sell products (sadly).
Other than that, I agree with the commenters above, in that I cannot fully critique a film without watching it all the way through. I won’t lie, I fast forwarded through a few minutes of the gratuitous or violent moments, where there wasn’t dialogue but there was perhaps assault or some redundant actions. But yes, I did my best to view it ‘til the end. And I feel frustrated that millions went into a project this pointless, when so many lesser-known filmmakers could have created something actually worth watching, something meaningful, with that change. Ana’s hard work deserved a better display. And I’m grateful BKR explained why this movie made so many people feel uneasy/ill, why, regardless of our personal opinion, it failed to achieve what it set out to do.
I got as far as the 'I killed my baby for this ' when my friend decided to repeat this line, his impersonation of Ana shitty low effort spainish Marilyn's voice was better than Anas entire performance.
This film is a corny shallow movie that is a struggle to watch as it moves between horror porn and boring uninspired wish washy perfume advert style drivel. A 'art movie' for people who have never watched nor enjoy 'art movie's.'
I think this is why Smash works so much better than other media at portraying her story cause it’s all about finding someone who holds all the parts of her and the push and pull of that is really what her life was
Maybe it’s because I’m getting older… but I knew from the previews that I would not enjoy or appreciate the writer/director’s attempts. Usually a trailer gives the audience teasers of the “best bits” of a film as an enticement.. when I saw the trailer for Blonde it felt like a teaser for torture porn. I love your videos, and I respect, and admire your efforts. I’m always in agreement with your take on things, so thank you for sparing me the displeasure of watching that film. After viewing your assessment I’m really confident I made the right call to give Blonde a hard pass
Marilyn has joined the pantheon of legendary women already occupied by figures like Helen of Troy, Cleopatra VII, and Nefertiti. We have images of them--at least paintings--and so we still adore them. Even though the images of Cleo shows that she was not beautiful, but the image of her that dwells in our collective mind's eye has made her stunning.
👍best comment. Marilyn has stopped being a person and has been elevated to the Olympus of heroes, superheroes and gods.
Like Spiderman and batman, at every new remake the director gives his/her own rendition of the character, with varying results. Not even much point arguing about it. Bad movies won’t tarnish her myth.