Success of Blonde shows public obsession with unfortunate celebrity lives

Blonde, by filmmaker Andrew Dominik, is the latest film on the troubled life of Marilyn Monroe. It has done very well with audiences in India and worldwide. While some of this could be credited to the hyper-sexualised portrayal of Monroe, almost traumatic to view, its success shows the obsessive popularity of celebrity biopics with viewers.

And almost all these stories follow a pattern- of early fame, disproportionate success and then abysmal personal failures, be it loneliness, illness, addictions or even, death. Celebrity culture is toxic. That these films work so well with audiences prove that a big part of this toxicity comes from the audience itself; it’s obsession with savouring every little detail of a celebrity’s life’s for entertainment. Even if this obsession can cost some celebrities trauma.

In Blonde, Marilyn Monroe grapples with an uneven identity crisis throughout her lifetime. She is always Norma Jean, and always in denial of her being a global sex symbol that is not expected to perform or act. While the film veers away from reported reality, in showing her as a victim of sexual abuse by a Hollywood tycoon and then landing her first role, Monroe’s life is one of inadequate relationships with men. Joe Di Maggio was physically abusive and short-tempered. Arthur Miller and she drifted apart when she suffered from failed pregnancies. And her relationship with a former unnamed US president in the film is nauseating, as she is treated like a sex toy. Suffering humiliation from this man Norma Jean wonders how she got here, how did Marilyn bring her to this space. After this ugly scene, the film shows her life sliding downhill. She dies with a drug overdose. As expected a shining star meets a tragic end, even as disturbing scenes of countless men salivating over her make for frequent interludes in this film.

Monroe’s life has inspired other films too, including My Week with Marilyn (2011) starring Michelle Williams. The actor won a Golden Globe for her performance and she was nominated for an Oscar for this part. It’s a kinder take on Monroe’s ambitions to go beyond her dumb blonde image; and it is a humanized take. There is also Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996) starring Ashley Judd as Norma Jean and Mira Sorvino as Marilyn. The common thread in these stories remain the same- Marilyn suffered alone and unloved even as she shot to fame in an unmatched career as a movie star and glamour icon.

It is also a common strand- that of a woman’s celebrityhood swallowing her identity- and actually leading to a sad death; in Judy (2019). Renee Zellweger stepped out of a hiatus to act as the child star turned singing actor and movie icon who died lonely and financially bankrupt at just 47. Judy Garland was catapulted to iconic status as a child star for Wizard of OZ after which, studio executives took over her life. She wasn’t allowed to sleep, eat what she liked and was even forced to swallow amphetamines to stay on track with a very demanding shooting schedule. She wouldn’t be allowed to date or live a normal life. Only when she turned older could she choose to date men of her choice; but her exhaustion and overwork led to addictions and triggered uneven responses in romantic relationships. Finally, before her death, Garland had to leave her children with her third ex-husband while she sang to make a living in England, dying a lonely, ill death. Directed by Rupert Goold, Judy won Renee Zellweger an Oscar award for Best Actress, and the film did fairly well. There is no redemption in Garland’s life, but the crash and burn definitely got the attention of audiences.

This pattern- of a celebrity diminishing and finally meeting with a tragic end extends to stores of men as well. In Bohemian Rhapsody, the dramatic and powerful retelling of the life of Freddie Mercury, factual inaccuracies and creative liberties got called out. But director Bryan Singer captured the doomed nature of Mercury’s choice- that of being a music icon who hides his homosexuality- as an undercurrent throughout the film. Mercury died of AIDS at 45, but before that his band Queen stunned the world with an energetic, winning performance at Live Aid, the global charity mega concert. Mercury had contracted AIDS by then but this wasn’t public knowledge. Queen is a legendary music band across genres and generations, and Mercury was the beating heart of it. Bohemian Rhapsody closes on a high note but it captures the tragedy of his lonesome life and misguided personal choices effectively. It is the most successful biopic ever in terms of box office business and it won Mercury an Oscar for Best Actor.

Closer to home, we saw a tragic, unsung story in Mahanati (2018), the biopic on the life of legendary actor Savitri. Directed by Nag Ashwin, it pits the stardom of a wife against a husband, showing how her star status interfered with everything in her life. Mahanati won National Film Awards and won applause. It had very little scope for happiness for it’s lead character, reflecting a near fatalistic nature to her trajectory as a movie star. It was never going to end well, seemed to be the underlining belief of this film.

Celebrity lives are hounded and mercilessly judged. Irrespective of birth, death, mishaps or personal crisis, a star or music icon is subjected to endless scrutiny all the time. When their lives go downhill it makes for entertainment. Sometimes these failures are exaggerated and in some cases, celebrities reverse the course of self-destruction and damage. Yet the fact that these successful, critically applauded films have almost the same story underlying them, highlights the public’s voyeuristic obsession with celebrities. Otherwise, Marilyn Monroe would have been forgotten history a long time ago.

Archita Kashyap is an experienced journalist and writer on film, music, and pop culture. She has handled entertainment content for broadcast news and digital platforms over 15 years. 

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