It’s the glamorous 2022 Met Gala, where cameras are flashing, the press is asking questions and the outfits are on full display. Kim Kardashian walks on the red carpet in a sparkling, backless nude-colored dress covered in thousands of hand-sewn crystals, with a bright white fur coat hanging at her elbows. At that moment, the reality star was wearing Marilyn Monroe’s sleek and form-fitting “Happy Birthday” dress, which Monroe wore on May 19, 1962, when singing to former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, less than three months before she died. Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum had loaned the dress to Kardashian for a jaw-dropping outfit. By the end of the night, the gown had tears near the zippers and crystals missing in areas where they were sewn before. While the intention may have been to pay homage to the iconic star—the damage to both the dress and Monroe’s legacy was great. 

 It was just another example of a media personality promoting Monroe’s sensual and “dumb blonde” reputation. It’s an insult to Monroe’s legacy, portraying her as just a sex symbol and nothing more. Her struggles continue to be disregarded by public figures and the media. The decades-long disrespect to Monroe’s image shows that many people, then and now, did not know her actual personality and continue to exploit an image of her that is based on stereotypes and even lies. 

 In the 1950s, she played a series of roles as an innocent but sexy young woman, with a high-pitched lilt to her voice and a penchant for fancy things and wealthy men. This set the stage for what she is still most known for today. Her role as Lorelei Lee in “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” (1953) left a lasting impression with her iconic song “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” where Monroe is seen decked in layers of diamond necklaces and bracelets and a strapless pink satin dress with a cinched waist. Her role as Pola Debevoise in “How to Marry a Millionaire” (1953) showed the audience a striking red-clad swimmer chasing after the ideal man. Her most iconic role as “The Girl” in “The Seven Year Itch” (1955) featured her holding down the billowing fabric of a white flowing halter dress as she stood above the New York City subway grate to cool off.  

Her outfits and roles are replicated for biopics, statues and Halloween costumes. The “Forever Marilyn” statue in Palm Springs shows Monroe’s iconic pose as her character “The Girl.” Outside the Hollywood Museum, a bronze statue of Monroe in that same pose welcomes visitors. Even when artists have wanted to honor her in some way, that image of a sexy and sensual women is predominant.  

 In August 1962, shortly after Monroe’s death, Andy Warhol created the “Marilyn Diptych,” an iconic pop art rendering of Monroe’s face printed 50 times from a photograph from Monroe’s film “Niagara” (1953) in saturated neon colors—an artist admiring his muse.  

“When Marilyn Monroe happened to die that month, I got the idea to make screens of her beautiful face, the first Marilyns,” says Warhol in a Masterworks Fine Art Gallery interview.  

Then there are the renditions of her life that are outright exploitative. The infamous biopic “Blonde” (2022) was directed by Andrew Dominik who based the movie on the Joyce Carol Oates novel “Blonde” (1999). Historians say the movie was filled with inaccuracies of Monroe’s character and personal life—and IMDb is filled with negative reviews from critics and fans.
The film shows the audience a scene in which Monroe’s mother almost tries to drown her in a bathtub. In a blog post by Scott Fortner, a historian and owner of The Marilyn Monroe Collection, he says that Monroe’s mother never tried to drown her in a bathtub. Another scene refers to her having two abortions, one from a threesome with Charlie Chaplin Jr. and Edward G. Robinson Jr. and another from former U.S. President John F. Kennedy.   

“Any talk of pregnancy termination is an assumption on our part. Marilyn loved children and she was desperate to be a mother. Sadly, she never carried a baby to term,” says Michelle Vogel, author of “Marilyn Monroe: Her Films, Her Life.” 

The actress was born Norma Jean Mortenson to a single mother in California in October 1924. According to Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, her mother’s friend, Grace McKee, encouraged her to follow her dream of a career on the silver screen. Her teenage years during World War II were important for 16-year-old Monroe. She found work at the Radioplane Company, an aviation business in Burbank, where she inspected parachutes. A photographer taking pictures of the working women suggested she take up modeling. It did not take long for the Blue Book Agency to book her. By the spring of 1946, she was on the cover of 33 magazines. According to Time Magazine, studio executive Ben Lyon suggested Monroe dye her hair blonde and change her name to fit the image of an upcoming film star. She starred in minor roles and later became the woman we love to remember, criticize and exploit today.  

Lois Banner, the author of “Marilyn: The Passion and Paradox,” says in an interview in 2012 with “The Gay and Lesbian Review” that Monroe had studied singing, movement and acting with the best teachers in Hollywood. With her charm and talent, she landed her iconic roles, but the one thing that stayed the same was the angelically childish and dumb blonde image. 

The star’s legacy for her sensual personality is much different from her true personality. She was full of intelligence. Fortner says that her library was full of topics, like literature, art, drama and politics—all subjects she was incredibly passionate about. 

In Fortner’s collection, a note card written by Gloria Vanderbilt, a fashion designer and the early developer of designer blue jeans, showed another side of the star. “She was something really special, and she did try to improve herself with her books. There are photos of her carrying books with her. It was something she took very seriously,” says Fortner. He mentions that Monroe “had a yearning to be taken seriously as an actress and to perfect her craft.”  

The California State University, San Bernardino article, “The Origins of Classic Hollywood’s Male” writes, “The subsequent advent of the WWII bombshell sex symbol and then the drastic shift to the housewife as the universal woman in the 1950s, stemmed mostly from the bureaucratized male gaze.” It was no wonder she struggled to land more dramatic and serious roles instead of her typical ditsy characters. 

 In a 1954 New York Times review of “The River of No Return,” the critic writes, “It is a toss-up whether the scenery or the adornment of Marilyn Monroe is the feature of greater attraction in River of No Return.” Her talent wasn’t taken seriously; it was her image that stood out more than anything.  

Her first chance for a serious character was introduced in 1961 when “The Misfits” (1961) was being directed and made by her then husband Arthur Miller. “It was an attempt at a very serious role, but it was not well received, and the critics didn’t like it,” says Fortner.  

That ended up being her final complete film. Her costar, Clark Gable, had a heart attack shortly before the film was released and the public blamed it on Monroe. A few months later, she dealt with another divorce, gallbladder surgery and a stay at Manhattan Psychiatric Hospital, all leaving her in a fragile condition. Shortly thereafter, she was found in her home where her death was determined to be a suicide by the Los Angeles County Coroner Theodore J. Curphey.

 Monroe may have been perceived as a sex symbol, a blonde bombshell and a flirt, but she was ahead of her time. It was a persona—a character. The 2024 University of California, Los Angeles Hollywood Diversity Report shows that women are landing more roles in film, signaling a stronger push for gender equality in the industry. Despite Hollywood’s push for progress, Marilyn and her image remain frozen in the past. The public did not appreciate her then, and the public eye continues to put her in the same box now. 

The latest controversy over the Marilyn Monroe “The Seven Year Itch” statue in Palm Springs tells us just how far we still have to go. The Los Angeles Times reported on Aug. 6, 2024, that the statue will be moving somewhere else instead of its place in Downtown Park, due to outcry from the community, tourists and critics describing the statue as a sexist representation of Monroe.  

But simply moving the statue isn’t a solution. Rather than erase an uncomfortable history, why not install a new statue to honor her—a highly trained comedian, singer and performer, holding a stack of books, instead of her skirt?