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I think Marylin Monroe is VERY overrated. I'm not saying she was not pretty/sexy at all and was not a decent actress, but I don't think she is the epitome of female beauty or a prime example of talented Classic Hollywood actresses.
I think her body is overrated. Yeah, she was curvy. YAWN. That was it. The girdles certainly helped with that also. IMO, her butt was awful - just flat & wide. It especially annoys me when people cite her as some kind of healthy image for young woman; she may not have been bone thin or obese, but she did not have a healthy lifestyle. Her body was really the luck of the draw, not any achievement.
Her face needed a lot of makeup and a little tweaking with plastic surgery to get the iconic look. The blond hair & beauty mark were phony. She was a calculated image more than a great beauty.
And she was not even original. Her sex kitten, blond bombshell look had been done many times before and was nothing innovative or fresh. If you look at many (mostly b-rate) actresses of her era & before, her look & image was more typical than distinct. Many had the short blond hair, girdled curves, and breathy, naive persona.
Her acting was not stellar. I've seen many of her movies and was not wowed or moved by her performances. She had a presence, true, but that in itself does not set her apart from many others who had presence and are not celebrated icons.
People call her fascinating and vulnerable, but her life story seems no different than any other eye-roll inducing, drama-magnet, bimbo actress nowadays. It has just been mythicized because she died young in a semi-mysterious manner. That, to me, is where her over-hyped legacy originates.
totally agree with you. I think she was a self-centered,ego maniac with a love for pills,booze and married men. And I get weary of reading about how she was the victim. No-she was crazy like a fox.
Quote:
Originally Posted by orangeapple
I think Marylin Monroe is VERY overrated. I'm not saying she was not pretty/sexy at all and was not a decent actress, but I don't think she is the epitome of female beauty or a prime example of talented Classic Hollywood actresses.
I think her body is overrated. Yeah, she was curvy. YAWN. That was it. The girdles certainly helped with that also. IMO, her butt was awful - just flat & wide. It especially annoys me when people cite her as some kind of healthy image for young woman; she may not have been bone thin or obese, but she did not have a healthy lifestyle. Her body was really the luck of the draw, not any achievement.
Her face needed a lot of makeup and a little tweaking with plastic surgery to get the iconic look. The blond hair & beauty mark were phony. She was a calculated image more than a great beauty.
And she was not even original. Her sex kitten, blond bombshell look had been done many times before and was nothing innovative or fresh. If you look at many (mostly b-rate) actresses of her era & before, her look & image was more typical than distinct. Many had the short blond hair, girdled curves, and breathy, naive persona.
Her acting was not stellar. I've seen many of her movies and was not wowed or moved by her performances. She had a presence, true, but that in itself does not set her apart from many others who had presence and are not celebrated icons.
People call her fascinating and vulnerable, but her life story seems no different than any other eye-roll inducing, drama-magnet, bimbo actress nowadays. It has just been mythicized because she died young in a semi-mysterious manner. That, to me, is where her over-hyped legacy originates.
Sexy has a tendancy to change and evolve from one generation to another. What was sexy in the 50s certainly doesn't pass mustard in the 21st century. For my money, Marilyn Monroe trascends time and is the epitome of sexy.. i have not watched enough of her movies to get a feel for her acting ability.. but sexy, she was.. IMO.
I too thinks she was under-rated as an actress. I suspect had she been given better roles which challenged her a little more she would have emerged as really quite a decent actress. I already think she was quite a good comic actress but would have liked to see her in less stereotypical roles.
I also think she was very beautiful and very sexy but usually not when she was tarted up but when she looked natural and happy. And she did ooze sexuality. She exuded a certain vulnerability which touched many people.
I have always felt sorry for her actually as I think she was deeply unhappy, deeply insecure and very damaged. I know nothing about her life but she always striked me as someone who was chronically depressive and would almost certainly end up committing suicide or committed. She seemed like a little child in a woman's body to me. Not at ease with herself and with little self esteem.
Someone who desperately needed to be loved and reassured all the time but also prone to tantrums and an eratic lifestyle. But charming and beguiling with it.
I think the studios and everyone else treated her like an object and a commodity and she became the image which had been created for her but she did not have the tools to deal with that image and crashed and burnt.
I think a good deal of the Marilyn legacy is the time she represents-the "innocent"50's, the Kennedy Era, the golden age of Hollywood and glamour- and the neverending supply of iconic photos of her. She was extraordinarily photo-genic. Few actors take as a good a picture as Monroe, each capturing her sexuality, or her genuine childlike vulnerability, or both. I think it is her image that is iconic, more than her movie career. Her image is not over rated, its culturally iconic and has become part of the tapestry of the 20th Century.
I think MM's appeal is very generational. She perfectly fit the early 50s ideal of feminine pulchritude, and so she was the ideal sex symbol of the period. She was indeed a better actress than people give her credit for.
Then again, if you ask me. Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelley smoke Marilyn Monroe. For that matter, just based on one scene in North by Northwest, so does Eva Marie Saint.
I think a good deal of the Marilyn legacy is the time she represents-the "innocent"50's, the Kennedy Era, the golden age of Hollywood and glamour- and the neverending supply of iconic photos of her. She was extraordinarily photo-genic. Few actors take as a good a picture as Monroe, each capturing her sexuality, or her genuine childlike vulnerability, or both. I think it is her image that is iconic, more than her movie career. Her image is not over rated, its culturally iconic and has become part of the tapestry of the 20th Century.
There was nothing "innocent" about hoping between beds in the White House like the prostitute she was.
Who actually watches a Marilyn Monroe movie for her acting?
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