A week ago, I had the displeasure of watching the latest film about Marilyn Monroe titled “Blonde,” directed by Andrew Dominick. A grotesque and disrespectful depiction of Marilyn’s life through the eyes of fiction and inaccuracy. When will Hollywood be satiated from squeezing the image of our Golden Girl for revenue? I guess we will never know.
Based on the bestselling novel by Joyce Carol Oates, “Blonde” examines the life of Marilyn Monroe, one of Hollywood’s main icons in the 20th century. In the book, Oates dances between the lines of fiction and facts to make up what she believes Marilyns’s life, private and public, might have been like. Basically, it is not a biography. Just a fictional work inspired by Marilyn.
My first concern with this movie is how long it took for the creators to let the audience know that “Blonde” was not a biopic. It took them 2 hours and 46 minutes to do so. I guess they thought it appropriate to put the clarification in the credits section instead of starting the film with it to not lose the curiosity of the viewers from the get-go. A lot of people I have spoken to about this movie thought that it was real. That it was an accurate representation of Marilyn Monroe’s life. And after a full week, I am tired of explaining to people that if they stayed to watch the credits section, they would realize it’s not.
My second concern is the use of inaccurate facts as the main focus of the movie. Abortions and sexual affairs. According to historian Michelle Vogel, there is no proof that Marilyn ever had an abortion, let alone multiple ones. Marilyn was desperate to be a mother and, sadly, was known for undergoing multiple miscarriages because of her issues with endometriosis. All her miscarriages are meticulously documented: miscarriage in 1956, ectopic pregnancy in 1957, and miscarriage in 1958. If I am completely honest, the way abortion was portrayed in the movie comes off as anti-abortion propaganda. Andrew Dominick, the director, probably had a field day shaming women for their right to choose.
On the other hand, we had the pornographic depiction of Marilyn’s fictional relationship with men around her. The fictional polyamorous relationship between Marilyn, Chaplin Jr., and Edwards Robinson and how they took advantage of her on top of badmouthing her with other romantic partners, was all fiction. There are no records of the throuple being together or of either man having a relationship with Marilyn other than acquaintances. Moreover, the grotesque depiction of Marilyn’s rumored affair with former president JF Kennedy was uncomfortable and distasteful to watch. I remember skipping most of that scene altogether because of how much discomfort I felt.
And lastly, and the thing that bothers me the most, is the way they portray Marilyn as nothing else other than a victim. A naive, dumb blonde, weak woman. It is infuriating the way Marilyn, as a person and an image, keeps being underestimated by men even after her death. Marilyn was known to be a woman who was not afraid to demand equal pay for women in the industry. A strong woman who overcame the fact that she became famous without her consent and made the most out of it. A capable woman who fought fair to get her roles, not using anything else but her talent. A woman that had so much to offer but was not given the opportunity to shine under her own terms in a world ruled by men.