Should We Play God With Clones Essay, Research Paper

Marilyn Monroe

Known as the Blond Bombshell and has the

raging sex icon, Monroe was the women who

personified Hollywood glamour. Born of the name

Norma Jean Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in Los

Angeles, California. Then soon baptized to Norma

Jeane Backer. Her mothers name was Gladys and

was practically dirt poor. Gladys spent most of her

life in mental hospitals, so Norma would have to live

with foster families. Norma would have stayed with

her father Edward Mortenson, but he was not the

right one to look after her, thought her mother.

Since her mother was always in and out of hospitals,

Norma would be in and out of foster homes. Her life

wouldn t seem to be the life of an upcoming movie

star. At age eight Norma was raped. In 1935 at age

nine she stayed in an orphanage until June of 1937,

the longest she had ever stayed anywhere.

Dying to have a better life, she thought that

marriage would help that. So on June 19, 1942 at 16

she wed Jimmy Dougherty. Norma dropped out of

high school, which wasn t uncommon at this time.

She began working at a aircraft production plant.

Within that next year she tried to commit suicide.

Jim entered the military so Norma decided to bleach

out her hair and begin to model. Unfortunately the

marriage was more of holding her down from what

she thought she could be in Hollywood, so the two

divorced in June of 1946. At the same time Norma

was named to a top agency. Her pictures caught the

eyes of famous Howard Hughes, he scheduled her to a

screen test at RKO, but 20th Century-Fox beat him

there, they had already got here on the payroll, for

$125 a week. Soon after legally changing her name

to Marilyn Monroe. Monroe came from her

Grandmother s last name and Marilyn was from the

famous actress Marilyn Miller, who Monroe adored.

Hollywood wasn t treating her like a movie star,

all she would be stuck with where these throw away

parts in nothing movies. Since she had gotten nude

pictures of her in 1948, no one could take their eyes

of her unbelievable body. The pictures, which some

people thought during that time were a bit riske,

acualky helped her. She got a famous picture up on a

billboard; which costs around $500,000. The pictures

also appeared in Playboy in December of 1953.

For the teenage girls and other women near

Monroes age, she was becoming a goddess quickly.

She was what all women wanted to look like, some

would say the ultimate beauty during this time.

Monroes history wasn t really known to the public,

fearing that shame would be brought down to her.

But women say that it would give her more power to

know how she had come so far and how she had

struggled. For so many women can relate to what

happened to Monroe when she was younger.

Monroes career just seemed to start to bomb.

Appearing in three major films, one called

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes also How To Marry a

Millionaire. The year after her first major movies was

the year she married again, to the famous baseball

player Joe Dimaggio. How had meet on a blind date

two years earlier. The marriage had only lasted a

short nine months, mainly because Monroe wasn t

the baby-making hausfra that Dimaggio wished

she was. The final straw in the marriage for

Dimaggio was the famous picture of Monroe in the

movie The Seven Year Itch, with her having her skirt

blow up, while she was straddling a subway grate.

In the majority of Monroes films she was always

portrayed as the voluptuary dumb-blonde archetype.

To move away from the sexual icon she was, Monroe

moved to New York where she wanted to start her own

company, Marilyn Monroe Productions. One person

who was part of this organization was Arthur MIller,

who soon enough in 1956 was MOnroes new

husband. Marilyn soon after marriage converted to

Judaism.

In 1955 Monroe was back with Fox and

maturing as an actress. One of her most famous

comedies was Bus Stop which some say was when she

was at the top of her game. Soon after that movie

Marilyn Monroe began to have emotional

difficulties, with her mental and physical health.

She would have constant narcissistic behavior,

Monroe would rely on pills and stimulants, such as

sleeping pills. Plus going for treatment at psychiatric

clinics for her cronic depression. Which some say they

knew it had to happen at one point because her past

would come back to haunt her at some point.

Again her marriage ended in the beginning of

1961, one week before her final movie The Misfits was

released. The film was written specifically for her by

Author Miller. The film showed probably Monroes best

dramatic work, plus it showed the world how she was

one the verge of a metal breakdown. After that

monroe was released, Monroe entered a hospital for

psychiatric care for many weeks. The monroe

companies could tell that she was just going down

hill. On the set of Something s Got To Give, there was

only 32 of actually shooting of it and Monroe had

only showed up twelve times. The studio fired her

and had a $750,000 lawsuit on her for

unprofessional conduct.

A month after the lawsuit, Marilyn Monroe was

found dead in her Los Angeles home, on August 5,

1962, of an overdose of barbiturates. The medical

examinations show that Monroe had comitted

suicide there are people that did and still do feel

that there was foul play that went on. Mostly because

of the rumors that she was having an affair with

both the President, John F. Kennedy and his brother

Attorney General Robbert Kennedy; in the months

right before of death.

Women during Marilyn Monroes time were

usually fond of her. For instance my Grandmother

was around Monroes age and looked at her as an

icon and role model. My Grandmother says that all

the girls in school and in real life wanted to be just

like her. In today s society there are so many

different women that are looked up to in Hollywood,

but Monroe is one women that I think will always be

known and loved. Even though she may have had an

affair or so, people like my Grandmother know her

from her experiences on the screen and how she was

portraying herself to other women. My Grandmother

feels that she is so important to how women got to

where they are now are from women like Marilyn

Monroe. She didn t come from some wealthy high

quality family, she survived by the skin on her back.

That shows how women can actually do what they

want if they want it bad enough and work for it. My

Grandmother also feels that girls today should be

looking at women role models who are the ones that

work hard and deserve to be where they are and not

the women who are just there because they look nice.

Marilyn Monroe will always be remembered for her

beautiful blond hair and her acting , plus the name

itself just recalls the word blond for some people. The

blond bombshell will always be in the Hollywood

history books.