It’s 2022, but Hollywood still exploits troubled women for entertainment.
By Julia Tramontin
From the glamour to her perfectly coiffed blonde hair, Marilyn Monroe is easily the most recognizable figure of Old Hollywood. The new Netflix film Blonde explores a fictionalized version of Monroe’s life beyond the allure, the dark underbelly of fame that left Monroe in turmoil behind the camera. This is a noble goal, but the film’s execution actually degrades Monroe and her legacy.
Based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde follows Marilyn Monroe (played by Ana de Armas), and her tumultuous rise to fame during the ‘40s and ‘50s, leading to her untimely death. The film portrays real-life characters, including her second and third husbands, Joe DiMaggio (played by Bobby Cannavale) and Arthur Miller (played by Adrien Brody).
The film aesthetically recalls Old Hollywood, using black and white footage and combining vintage sets with striking costumes, including Monroe’s iconic Seven Year Itch dress. De Armas expertly channels Monroe’s persona and signature sultry voice. But besides that, the film itself falls short.
The scenes are disjointed, leaving time gaps and introducing characters with no context. Without prior knowledge of Monroe’s life, it is difficult for viewers to keep up.
The camera angles are campy, taking on distinctive shots, like shakily following Monroe as she runs down a hallway. Filters are used to blur faces or focus on specific areas, namely her body. This seemed like an artsy effort to distract from where the movie fails — its narrative about Monroe.
The movie is meant to be viewed as fiction, not a biopic. However, the events portrayed that stray from reality are frankly offensive.
The film has garnered recent attention for being the first Netflix movie rated NC-17 due to its sexual content. Monroe is repeatedly shown being abused or completely nude, which seems gratuitous, emphasizing Monroe’s status as a sex symbol.
Blonde attempts to condemn the exploitation of women in the public eye, namely Monroe. Instead, it rehashes the abuse for viewers to consume, with most of it not even rooted in fact. It doesn’t vilify the behaviour. It’s a continuation of the abuse she faced when she was alive.
Viewers are needlessly subjected to violence, including a horrifying scene with President John F. Kennedy, which is never addressed again.
The film also irresponsibly portrays abortion, which Planned Parenthood criticized in a statement. The film is obsessed with fetuses, with one asking Monroe if she would get another forced abortion. This never happened in reality and is careless in the current Roe v. Wade climate.
Blonde feels like an addition to the recent uptick of movies capitalizing on famous women’s trauma, like 2013’s Diana about Princess Diana and the 2019 Judy Garland biopic Judy, which parade the mistreatment of those no longer around to respond.
Marilyn Monroe was an icon. She was an intelligent actress with a legendary canon of work. But she was also a vulnerable woman who faced years of societal abuse. This film shows how Hollywood continues to profit off tragedies rather than find solutions. 60 years after her death, Monroe is still a victim.