III - Marilyn Monroe

• “The camera loved her,” (Marilyn Monroe)

  • First line = most important aspect of her life
  • No romantic lover
• “She breathed the script out in her little voice.“ (Marilyn Monroe)

  • Beauty as a ”front” / synthetic
• “They filmed her harder, harder, till her hair was platinum, her teeth gems, her eyes sapphires pressed by a banker’s thumb.” (Marilyn Monroe)

  • Society has painted beauty on her as if she is an inanimate doll
  • Very unnatural and forced
• “gushed at the greased-up lens,” (Marilyn Monroe)

  • Dirty, unromantic, pornographic idea to the love and admiration for her
• “her skin investors’ gold, her fingernails mother-of-pearl,“ (Marilyn Monroe)

  • Unattainable beauty, incredibly rare
• “She married him. The whole world swooned.” (Marilyn Monroe)

  • Detached from emotion, purely transactional
  • End of each stanza is about the reaction of society, she’s made up for the public’s appeal
• “She slept in an eye-mask, naked, drugged, till the maid came, sponged at her puffy face, painted the beauty on in beige, pinks, blues.” (Marilyn Monroe)

  • Agency on her, not done by her
• “Then it was coffee, pills, booze..” (Marilyn Monroe)

  • Sudden contrast, volta of pain and illness
• “filmed more, quiet please, action, cut, quiet please, action, cut, quiet please, action cut, till she couldn’t die when she died, couldn’t get older, ill, couldn’t stop saying the lines of singing the tunes.” (Marilyn Monroe)

  • Intensity, perverse and lucrative
  • She’s not a person but an image
• “The smoking cop who watched as they zipped her into the body-bag noticed her strong resemblance to herself, the dark roots of her pubic hair.” (Marilyn Monroe)

  • Vulgar idea of death and sex
  • Her physical truth
  • Final line she is sexualised, this is her legacy