Em Rata Blasts The Fuck Out Of The Marilyn Monroe Biopic Blonde For ‘Fetishising Female Pain’

Model Emily Ratajkowski talking in a TikTok and actress Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde

Emily Ratajkowski has slammed Netfilix’s new Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde for “fetishising female pain”.

She ate, chewed, tore, devoured and left no crumbs. I see no lies.

Ratajkowski took to TikTok on Friday to share her thoughts on the flick.

@emrataSo done with the fetishization of female pain and suffering. Bitch Era 2022♬ original sound – Emrata

“So, I’ve been hearing a lot about this Marilyn Monroe movie Blonde, which I haven’t seen yet, but I’m not surprised to hear it’s yet again another movie fetishising female pain, even in death,” she said.

“We love to fetishise female pain — look at Amy Winehouse, look at Britney Spears. Look at the way we obsess over [Princess] Diana‘s death, the way we obsess over dead girls and serial killers.

“Watch any CSI episode and it’s this crazy fetishisation of female pain and death.”

The model’s views echo those of critics around the world, who have blasted the film for its “reductive” and “cruel” take on Monroe’s life.

One particularly scathing review came from co-chief film critic of The New York Times Manohla Dargis, who lambasted the film as “the latest necrophiliac entertainment to exploit [Monroe],” and said it was a “relief” the Hollywood icon “didn’t have to suffer through the vulgarities of Blonde”.

https://twitter.com/battymamzelle/status/1575255614824947714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1575255614824947714%7Ctwgr%5E308d5040ab18f97b57904e0a2727e6ae2b151a00%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2022%2Ffilm%2Fnews%2Fblonde-viewers-slam-netflix-sexist-detestable-1235388301%2F

The film, which was helmed by Andrew Dominik, is an adaption of Joyce Carol Oates‘ 2000 novel of the same title. The book is a fictionalised account of her life, so some of the stuff in Blonde didn’t happen.

There’s no evidence that Monroe had an abortion, for example, but in the film she’s forced to have two procedures. In one disgustingly crass scene, Dominik took viewers inside her vagina (???) and in another, a squeaky-voiced foetus in utero asked Monroe: “You won’t hurt me this time, will you?”

It’s fucking gross. Any truthful flick about Monroe would have to reckon with the horrors she endured throughout her life, including her experience with mental illness, addiction, sexual assault and the cruel way in which she was commodified by Hollywood.

But Blonde dwells on Monroe’s suffering and leaves out powerful moments of her life. The audience doesn’t see her activism or the fact she formed her own production company to assert control in a male-dominated industry — in fact, Dominik told the British Film Institute these parts of Monroe’s life were “not so interesting to me”.

Hmm, so you just wanted to focus on Monroe’s tragedy and sexual exploitation instead? Well, as a wise oracle by the name of Emily Ratajkowski once said: “We love to fetishise female pain”.

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