Trigger warning: This article contains references to sexual violence. Two weeks ago, Blonde, the newest biopic on Marilyn Monroe, was released on Netflix. Not with a whisper but with a bang, the negative reviews poured in to pan its extremely graphic depiction of the sexual violence the main character experiences.
Directed by Andrew Dominik and based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates, the 2022 film is a fictionalized take on Marilyn Monroe’s life, though there are moments of truth woven throughout. Many criticized its insensitive portrayal of multiple sexual assaults, forced abortion, and its overall lack of empathy towards a real person who has already been repeatedly exploited by the entertainment industry. Others found issues with the fact that the character of Monroe was painfully one-dimensional—defined by her victimhood when we know Monroe was so much more than that.
Emily Ratajkowski called the film “yet another movie fetishizing female pain.” The New York Times titled its take on the movie: “Exploiting Marilyn Monroe for Old Times’ Sake.” Twitter users outraged about the movie called for an end to “letting misogynistic men try to make groundbreaking films about women” that are “so anti-abortion, so sexist, so exploitative.” Chase Cassine, a psychotherapist who specializes in trauma and trauma-informed therapy, agrees with the sentiment of reviewers. “Blonde felt very dark, very vile and lacked empathy and compassion for survivors of trauma. Marilyn Monroe was a victim of childhood sexual abuse and was in and out of foster care. Her mother had severe mental illness. She escaped foster care by marrying her first husband at 17. These things happened in real life,” he tells StyleCaster. “It’s important to think about how we display these experiences because as viewers we’re being taken into this person’s world.”
Image: Courtesy of Netflix.
Cassine is particularly harsh on the movie’s effects on viewers who have survived sexual trauma. “People can have their own trauma. They could be negatively impacted by watching this,” he says. As an example, he cites the scene where Monroe is sexually assaulted by a casting director and the act is depicted in graphic detail. He explains how a survivor of sexual assault might be negatively affected by being confronted by this moment on-screen. “There’s no processing of what just happened. You literally see her auditioning, then this man puts his hand on his shoulder to get down and she’s raped. She then walks out and then on to the next thing! A person who has experienced trauma is going to be triggered by that,” he explains. He thinks that is it very inadvisable to dump so much trauma on survivors of sexual violence without taking the time to unpack it. “It takes time to process these things. As a practitioner, I have always been about understanding, compassion and empathy. But there was no empathy, no compassion being displayed throughout the movie,” he says.
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Rape is about power and control. It’s not about sex. I was saddened to see how this movie portrayed sexual violence with such a sexual spin.
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The psychotherapist believes that the movie could have been more trauma-informed by putting a disclaimer at the beginning to warn viewers of the presence of graphic sexual violence and by having consultations with experts who work directly with survivors of sexual violence. “I believe in finding some type of line between being sensational and bringing awareness. We don’t want to avoid talking about these issues because these are things that actually happen. But let’s make sure that we find a balance,” he says. He thinks that the abortion scene—which was criticized by Planned Parenthood as “anti-abortion propaganda”—could have been improved if they didn’t display graphic images of her legs being forced into stirrups and if the narrative centered on Monroe’s feelings about the procedure. “The filmmakers could have shown how she felt afterwards. Even if she was pressured, they could have shown her processing these different experiences, as we never really got to hear her point of view. They’re showing a point of view, but it’s not hers,” he explains, adding that the movie’s perspective is male and heterosexual, despite featuring a woman as its protagonist. “Monroe had severe endometriosis, and she didn’t want to have her reproductive organs removed to manage her condition because she desired to have a child. Just hearing about those different things from her perspective as this person is more trauma-informed by bringing a layer of empathy, understanding and compassion.”
Lindsay Lieberman, Esq., an attorney who works with survivors of sexual violence in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island at her own law firm, also believes in not sensationalizing sexual violence in media. According to her, doing so might glamorize it. “Rape is about power and control. It’s not about sex. I was saddened to see how this movie portrayed sexual violence with such a sexual spin. It was as if the movie was trying to objectify and sexualize the violations of Monroe’s body and her objectification,” says Lieberman. “These things aren’t sexy or interesting – they’re devastating. Sexual assault and rape has devastating effects on survivors. And it felt to me like the movie was trying to use these things as tools to make the movie more interesting or sexy to appeal to viewers.”
Image: Courtesy of Netflix.
The lawyer is worried about the effects of the movie’s glamorization of sexual violence on young audience members who are just learning about consent. “This can be really harmful and could actually put other people at risk of becoming victims of rape and sexual assault,” Lieberman says, adding that it could also retraumatize survivors of sexual violence. As the founder of a legal services and risk management consulting firm specializing in sexual violence, she argues that by focusing exclusively on all the violations Monroe experienced, the film dehumanizes her. “She’s a whole person and her victimization is just one small thing that defines her. Monroe was smart and talented and ambitious and funny, and all the movie did was highlight and focus on abuse, abuse, abuse,” she criticizes. “I think that’d be really hard for a survivor to see. It would be difficult for them to distance themselves from their sexual assault if they choose to do so and to focus on other parts of their person and their story.”
If she had been asked to be a consultant for the movie, Lieberman would have changed many decisions, camera angles, positioning of bodies and clothing (or lack thereof). She found the fictionalized scene where Monroe was forced into having oral sex with President Kennedy particularly troublesome. “The camera angle is from the President’s body facing Marilyn Monroe’s face, and it’s so close up to her face, that the only possible explanation for why they chose to put the camera there is to actually give the viewer the feeling as if they’re receiving that oral sex,” she explains. “That would mean that the viewer is supposed to experience pleasure by receiving this forced oral sex. That can be very offensive and harmful for survivors! Had a trauma-informed expert come in and worked with them, it would have been portrayed quite differently.”
Blonde is available to stream on Netflix.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, please contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) on 800-656-HOPE (4673) or chat online for 24/7 confidential support.
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