Thursday 3 June 2010

Birthday Girl

Am I like Schroeder, that character in Snoopy comic books who plays the piano and goes on celebrating Beethoven's birthday even if those around him consider him a bit eccentric, to say the least? Two days ago it would have been Marilyn's birthday, and I have decided to celebrate it after all. You all know by now I consider her an icon of femininity, and any time is good to celebrate femininity.
Having inquired about her to some of my straight male friends in the past days, though, I've been surprised to find out most of them didn't think she was especially pretty or charming and were even a bit tired of the whole "Marilyn" thing. That left me thinking; maybe Marilyn was a sex icon back in the days, but could she have turned into a reference for women with time? It's paradoxical, don't you think? But what do straight men know, they also think playsuits are ugly. Some media still insist on presenting her as the silly, druggy lover of an American president who became an icon simply because she died young. But you don't believe everything the media tell you, right? (if you are Spanish you probably don't by now, anyway). But there is another reality: through merely a bit more than 10 years of work, miss Monroe gave memorable performances in some of the best films in history, dominated comedy and drama, established her own production company and created a whole character, caricatural yet full of subtle nuances, which is recognisable to the day. Dumb blonde? I don't think so.








5 comments:

  1. Esta mujer era todo un bellezón.
    Un beso

    ReplyDelete
  2. hi darling. that image of marilyn in the knit sweater is so cute. thanks for sharing
    have a wonderful week!
    xx ediot
    www.ediot.org

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not a dumb blond at all. An icon for sure** very interesting article and happy birthday to Marilyn :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Argh, j'ai un retard de semaines avec tous ces beaux posts sur mes blogs préférés, j'ai honte !!
    Cet article est un autre article grandiose, plus j'y pense plus je considère Marilyn la vraie icône 'poétique' plutôt qu'Audrey Hepburn... Audrey c'est devenu la coqueluche d'un esprit 'raffiné', différent mais qui finalement est preuve d'un conformisme est d'une superficialité absolues, c'était une image construite à la perfection, presque à l'énervement...
    Marylin au contraire c'est la femme des contradictions, c'est la femme imparfaite et de ce fait mille fois plus touchante, réelle. Même en tant que beauté elle était sublime justement parce qu'elle était improbable, exagérée. J'attends impatiemment de voir les archives ouvertes quant à sa mort... mais c'est vrai que d'un 'Happy birthday mr.President' à un 'Happy birthday' honorifique, la flamme brûle toujours!!
    Et puis les hommes ont pas de goût de toute façon, ils aiment Scarlett Johansson!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Merci de ce cadeau d'anniversaire.
    J'ai toujours apprecié le talent de et l'image de Marilyn Monroe, symbole de la fraîcheur de la vie, -malgré les apparences-, de l'énergie, de la beauté, d'une incroyable naïveté cachée dans un esprit osé -presque téméraire-,et de la fragilité de la vie, qui peut être atteinte par une multitude d'infâmes déchirures fatales.
    E. Bovary

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your lovely comments.