

Some have had set agendas - like biographers claiming she was murdered by the FBI or had an affair with Robert F. The film joins countless other creative efforts to understand and anatomize the movie star born Norma Jeane Mortensen, including biopics, TV series, biographies, photo books, essays, and even plays. Now a new Netflix film, Blonde, adapts the 2000 Joyce Carol Oates novelization of Monroe’s life story to give us an unvarnished depiction of the perils of her celebrity.

Andy Warhol’s iconic silkscreens of Monroe perhaps best captured this: visual reminders of her marketable face, femininity, and eternal fame. Even today, she represents a visual shorthand for our idea of the ultimate celebrity. In life and in death, Marilyn Monroe merchandized sex, sensuality, and stardom.
