Before she was Marylin Monroe, she was simply Norma Jean Mortensosn.
Though not many understood it or could fathom it at the time, the blonde bombshell endured many forms of abuse. She dealt with it growing up and from the industry she so wanted to be a part of so badly. The men liked to label her many things: dumb, easy, fun, sexy, beautiful.
One might wonder why she was allowed to be treated so harshly at times. Because this intelligent, sensitive, talented soul just wanted to be loved and felt perhaps for the longest of time she didn’t deserve to be.
In a recent Netflix film, Blonde, they display the abuse Marilyn had to endure. It was only perhaps within the last few decades that anyone really paid attention to the horrors that hid behind the bright, charming smile.
The film was a way to show how men within the industry and others treated her and how this pulled her down a dark rabbit hole. In one particular scene we see Marilyn audition for a film, where she displayed great understanding for the character she auditioned for, she performed it beautifully and authentically, but the director didn’t care about her acting abilities. When asked what he thought for her to play the role, he responds “look at the butt on that little girl”.
They didn’t care about what was in her soul, didn’t care that she had read a Dostoevsky novel and understood it. They saw her luminous sexual presence and that was it as though nothing else mattered. It’s dehumanising to say the least. Marilyn was simply Marilyn.
Yes, she was beautiful and sexy but to only look at the surface and having it be used to benefit those who desire her in a lustful sense have then possibly felt they had a right to enjoy what dangles in front of them. This has created fear for women especially in the industry for years to come that if one appears too sexual or pretty, they are simply asking for it.
The fear of being forced to let certain terrible acts be done to them in order to be given a chance to be in cinema regardless of talent, could make one never want to leave the house.
Women are left to feel afraid and to hide in shame because of what those with authority feel they are allowed to do. When a woman’s soul is disregarded and only looked upon at surface level, it could wreck one deep beneath.
Image Credit: Netflix