My Week with Marilyn is based on Colin Clark's diaries, 'The Prince, The Showgirl and Me' and 'My Week with Marilyn'. These diaries document Colin's account on what happened on the set of 'The Prince and the Showgirl' and his week of intimacy spent with Marilyn Monroe. My Week with Marilyn (the book) was published after Colin Clark's death, as he wanted to keep the contents of the diary to himself in respect for Marilyn. However, after he passed away his family released the diary.
Representation of Sexuality
In the film, sexuality is presented through the actor's portrayal of the characters as well as the public attitudes conveyed in the film towards it.
Marilyn and Sexuality
Marilyn Monroe is the most renowned sex icon to date, however, within the film, it is revealed that her 'blonde bombshell' persona is just a facade. The Marilyn the public knew was a typical 'dumb blonde' and exhibited the traits associated with this stereotype: naivety, dumbness and sexual behaviour and mannerisms. Whereas, the film depicts that Marilyn was, in fact, anxious and not confident; almost the opposite of how she is portrayed in the media. She played on her appearance to create a whole new persona for herself, which in turn sky-rocketed her success as she gained a lot of attention for her 'dumb blonde' personality and erotic appearance. This shows that she would not have been valued for her own person, but in fact had to create a sex-oriented character in order to gain public recognition.
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| Marilyn Monroe depicted in the film, appearing seductive |
In her next scene, at the press conference, she seems much more relaxed. She responds to interviewers in a flirtatious manner, appearing extremely confident. The questions directed at her were sex oriented as opposed to acting oriented, font-family: inherit;">'Marilyn, is it true you wear nothing in bed but perfume?', this shows that the public and media didn't care for her career and didn't take her seriously as an actress, she was seen as merely a sex icon as opposed to a 'serious' actress. On the contrary, she didn't seem taken aback by this question, which suggests that she understood and accepted that this is all the public values her for. This made me wonder if she embraced the fact that the public only valued her for her sex symbol persona and if she used it to her advantage to gain such success.
When the production begins, Marilyn was late to the initial read-through, angering the director, Laurence Olivier. This suggests that perhaps even Marilyn didn't take her career seriously, which possibly correlates with how the media sees her; the fact she only embraced her sexuality and prioritised this over her acting career is why she was seen as nothing but a sex symbol in the public eye. However, I dismissed this concept when the read-through began and Marilyn took her time to develop her character's personality upon reading the script, despite Olivier asking her to just read it plainly. This shows she did take her job seriously, as she wanted to create an in-depth character rather than portray it as the director intended: an overly sexualised, female 'plot device'. The fact that she was cast in a role intended to be another 'dumb blonde' role of Marilyn's shows how not only the public saw her as nothing but a sex icon, but even professionals within the film industry. This is also shown as throughout the production the director constantly disrespected Marilyn, and shrugged away any moments Marilyn tried to contribute to her character. The director clearly didn't take her seriously, despite him casting her in his production. You wouldn't think a director would cast someone he couldn't take seriously as an actress in his production if he wanted a role portrayed 'well'. This clearly indicates that he didn't want her for her acting but merely to add sex appeal to the role, again showing how Marilyn was viewed as nothing but a sex symbol. This idea is further reinforced when Laurence Olivier grows very frustrated when Marilyn doesn't play the character 'right', he asked her to just do what she 'does best' and be 'sexy'. He didn't want an in-depth character but just a character with sex appeal, lacking personality.
Later in the film, when Marilyn and the lead character, Colin, begin their week of 'intimacy', Marilyn says that 'All people see is Marilyn Monroe. As soon as they realise that I'm not her, they run.' This line is significant because it shows that Marilyn recognises the fact that she is only seen for her sex appeal and not for herself. 'Marilyn Monroe' is a sex icon and she knows that she knows that this is just a persona she created and is in fact not her. The fact that people realise she is not this sex icon and 'run' shows that she is most definitely only valued for her sex appeal.
During the film, when Colin goes to retrieve Marilyn and she is not ready, she says, 'Forgive my horrible face'. The fact she has to apologise for looking remotely messy, despite her still looking very attractive, shows just how important her appearance was, as it was all the public valued her for.
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| Marilyn Monroe depicted in the film, dressed provocatively |
When Marilyn and Colin go on a date, Marilyn says 'I want this to be the perfect date, I haven't been on a real date since I was thirteen.' Given the historical context, men were expected to be chivalrous and respectful of women, especially during courtship. The fact Marilyn hadn't been on a real date shows how she was valued, nobody respected her as a woman because of the negative connotations that surround being a 'sex symbol'. The purpose of a date is to get to know someone, nobody wanted to 'get to know' Marilyn because they liked her face and not her person. She wasn't taken seriously as a woman, let alone an actress, people just saw sex appeal and nothing else. During the date, Marilyn goes on to say 'Shall I be her?' when approaching a crowd of fans and paparazzi. She then proceeds to act sexily and pose for the public. She was embracing her sexuality and gaining publicity by acting how they wanted her to act: sexy. She knew that's all people wanted.
Colin and Marilyn discuss running away together and ending her career, however, she refuses, despite her blatant unhappiness because of it. This indicates that perhaps she's been valued for being one thing for so long, that even she knows that that's all she is, she cannot be valued for anything else. She finds acceptance in being seen as nothing but a sex symbol.
On the other hand, the film depicts Marilyn embracing her sexuality to the public by dressing provocatively and flaunting her features. She's flirty and confident and allows the public to see her just for that, despite aspiring to be a 'serious actress'. She engaged in an affair with a man despite being married, upholding the promiscuous nature associated with being a sex symbol. It is suggested that she has engaged in other affairs when her assistant warns Colin that the same thing happened to him, and she 'breaks hearts' all the time.
Vivien Leigh and Sexuality
Vivien Leigh was Laurence Olivier's wife, and a very successful stage actress during her heydey. She was intended to be cast as the role that Marilyn was cast as, however, is said to have been too old for the role, because the role had to have sex appeal. This shows that as a woman ages, she is deemed as less sexually attractive and therefore loses value. The fact that Vivien Leigh could not be in a role (that she apparently could play far better) because of her age and sex appeal goes to show how appearance is deemed more important than any other factor, including talent.
Colin Clark and Sexuality
Colin Clark, the leading character, is conveyed to be very naive. When he first laid his eyes on Marilyn Monroe, he was obviously very enticed by her. Despite his blatant attraction to Marilyn, he pursued a more 'obtainable' romantic interest: Lucy, the wardrobe assistant. They went on dates together and there was seemingly a lot of chemistry between the couple, they had spent time together and gotten to know each other, so they valued each other for their personalities. However, when Marilyn Monroe shows a slight interest in Colin, Colin begins to chase her. This shows that he still valued appearance over personality, as he went for someone he did not know over someone he had gotten to know just because of appearance. Once Marilyn had ended it with Colin, he returned to Lucy. This shows how he valued women too.
Moreover, during his relationship with Lucy, he was very eager to have sexual relations with her, which shows how he viewed sex as he wanted to rush into it and not wait.
Overall
Overall, the film clearly presents how the characters and public felt towards sexuality, and how they each behaved uniquely regarding the subject. I enjoyed the film very much and reading into how the film conveyed sexuality.
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