Is Netflix’s ‘Blonde’ anti-abortion? Marilyn Monroe historians, the film’s director weigh in
Spoiler alert! This post contains plot details about Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe movie “Blonde” (streaming now).
Everyone’s talking about the talking fetus.
Since premiering last month at Venice Film Festival, “Blonde” has drummed up controversy for its mortifying depiction of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe (Ana de Armas), who is forced to have two abortions and suffers a miscarriage. Planned Parenthood slammed the movie as “anti-abortion propaganda” in a statement to Variety, while IndieWire called it an “anti-choice statement” in post-Roe v. Wade America.
Here’s what historians and “Blonde” director Andrew Dominik have to say about the film’s depiction of abortion and what actually happened to Monroe:
Why does Marilyn Monroe talk to a fetus in Netflix’s ‘Blonde?’
Early in the movie, which is based on Joyce Carol Oates’ historical fiction novel, Marilyn decides to get an abortion so she can star in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” When she gets to the appointment, she tells the doctors that she’s changed her mind and begs them not to proceed, but they go forward with the procedure anyway.
Later, when Marilyn is pregnant by her third husband Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody), she has a conversation with a computer-generated fetus inside her. “You won’t hurt me this time, will you?” the unborn baby says to her. “Not what you did the last time?” Marilyn insists she’ll keep the child, but soon winds up suffering a miscarriage.
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Did Monroe have a baby? Did she ever have an abortion or miscarriage?
There’s no evidence that Monroe ever had an abortion, let alone multiple or forced abortions, says historian Michelle Vogel, author of “Marilyn Monroe: Her Films, Her Life.”
“Any talk of pregnancy termination is an assumption on our part,” Vogel says. “Marilyn loved children and she was desperate to be a mother. Sadly, she never carried a baby to term.”
“Her miscarriages are incredibly well-documented,” Dominik says. According to Vogel, Monroe was pregnant three times during her marriage to Miller: She miscarried in 1956, lost an ectopic pregnancy in 1957, then miscarried again in 1958.
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Did Monroe ever talk about motherhood?
Monroe confided in a few close friends about wanting to be a mom, says Greg Schreiner, a collector and president of the fan club Marilyn Remembered.
According to Schreiner, “She did share with her friend, (poet) Norman Rosten, after her second pregnancy, ‘Should I do my next picture or stay at home and try to have a baby again? That’s what I want most of all, the baby, I guess. But maybe God is trying to tell me something, I mean with all the pregnancy problems.’ ”
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How has ‘Blonde’ director Dominik responded to the backlash?
By showing her abortions as deeply traumatic, “Blonde” suggests that Monroe would have been better off had she become a mother. The movie has been labeled “irresponsible” and “dangerous” by Twitter users in light of Roe v. Wade being overturned this summer, with 17 states now banning or restricting abortion.
“Marilyn Monroe’s life needs no fictional embellishment,” Vogel says. “It was rags to riches, triumph and tragedy. … She was exploited in life, and far more so in death.”
Adds Schreiner: “It is fiction and unfortunately does not reveal the incredible spirit and drive that made Marilyn into one of the most memorable women of the 20th century. She was so far ahead of her time in so many ways, and her support of racial justice and women’s rights should be recognized.”
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