Women on Film: Marilyn Redux

Gabriella Apicella has contributed an insightful article for the Bitch Flicks blog, comparing recent screen portrayals of Marilyn and Margaret Thatcher, and discussing why film-makers sometimes misrepresent powerful women:

“Although devastatingly insecure about her talent and notoriously late on set Marilyn Monroe was no victim – especially at this point in her career. Known to moments of rage, and fiercely passionate about her craft, the depiction of her as a weeping child-woman too frail to articulate her emotions is to undermine the complexity of an actress who has continued to captivate audiences five decades after her passing. That she would find solace in the arms of any young man that found himself captivated by her, is to assume not only her complete disregard for the new husband for whom she converted to Judaism to wed, but serves to perpetuate myths about her sexual promiscuity.”

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