Billy Wilder’s “Sunset Boulevard” and Judy Grahn’s “I Have Come to Claim Marilyn Monroe’s Body” both detail how the intense Hollywood cult of celebrity can lead to dizzying heights of fame, transforming ordinary people into worldwide stars with legions of adoring fans and admirers. Such fame and notoriety, however, does not come without a cost. Both Norma and Marilyn, Hollywood stars of these respective narratives, came to see the fame that once dominated their lives devolve into a destructive force. Both women were transformed into stars due to objectification of their feminine sexuality and beauty, only to see this obsession with physical appearances limit their careers or belittle their contributions to the profession.
Wilder and Grahn …show more content…
Just as the media’s coverage and portrayal of Monroe’s death was intrusive and theatrical, so Grahn creates a sardonic and ghastly ode of Marilyn’s bones: “look at those luscious / long brown bones, that wide and crusty / pelvis. ha HA, oh she wanted so much to be serious / but she never stops smiling now” (lines 7-10). Marilyn Monroe’s figure was long admired for her supple, slender limbs with an exaggerated hourglass figure. Grahn carries this dynamic even further with a description of her skeletal bones as “luscious” and her pelvis bone as sexually appealing, illustrating how even the somber and morbid depiction of Monroe’s skeletal remains cannot overtake the pervasive discourse on her corporeal, sensual appeal in life. With such an obsession concerning Monroe’s sexuality and physical appearance, her potential interest in “writing poetry” (line 34) or her desire to be taken seriously by Hollywood as an artist or as a poet is overshadowed and patronizingly dismissed. She will never be viewed as more than a sex kitten, flittering her long eyelashes on the silver screen and cooing her lines to the
Wilder and Grahn …show more content…
Just as the media’s coverage and portrayal of Monroe’s death was intrusive and theatrical, so Grahn creates a sardonic and ghastly ode of Marilyn’s bones: “look at those luscious / long brown bones, that wide and crusty / pelvis. ha HA, oh she wanted so much to be serious / but she never stops smiling now” (lines 7-10). Marilyn Monroe’s figure was long admired for her supple, slender limbs with an exaggerated hourglass figure. Grahn carries this dynamic even further with a description of her skeletal bones as “luscious” and her pelvis bone as sexually appealing, illustrating how even the somber and morbid depiction of Monroe’s skeletal remains cannot overtake the pervasive discourse on her corporeal, sensual appeal in life. With such an obsession concerning Monroe’s sexuality and physical appearance, her potential interest in “writing poetry” (line 34) or her desire to be taken seriously by Hollywood as an artist or as a poet is overshadowed and patronizingly dismissed. She will never be viewed as more than a sex kitten, flittering her long eyelashes on the silver screen and cooing her lines to the