Marilyn Monroe's Vision for a New America

As our world reels with stress from fear and mismanagement, humanity must not lose her most beautiful attribute. Whether it's the open slaughter of turkeys, the horrors of war, Prop 8, or trampling a person to death for a Wal-Mart Christmas gift, Americans are losing their 250-year-old talent for empathy. Fear, greed, a population out of control and self-righteousness are throwing our penchant for compassion off-track.

Violence is everywhere. Video games, film, 24-hour news, and an administration out of control have turned horror into excitement, gunshots into victory, and torture into the American way. Today a revolver on a film poster implies must-see action. Progressive screenwriting has taken a backseat to gratuitous violence.

Americans are getting the subliminal message. Despite the slumping economy, gun sales continue to be brisk. Even Beverly Hills' most prominent merchant, Bijan, has made a killing from glamorous jewel-encrusted, mink-encased guns. No one is minding the store that sells America its culture of violence.

1961's "The Misfits" stars Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach. It tells the story of a young lost divorcee, Roslyn Tabor (Monroe), who looks for a glimmer of beauty in the stark world of the dying Wild West. She's come to Reno for quickie divorce and a reason to hope. Soon she's riding the trails with the craggy Gay Langland (Gable). Optimism sparks in her eyes, and the viewer can only feel happy that she's found her home.

Soon the sharp reality of brutality assaults her dry, Nevada world. Guido (Wallach) was a bombardier during WWII, he's haunted by the unseen "puppy dogs and mail carriers" that he has incinerated. Guido says, "Dropping a bomb is like telling a lie. It makes everything smooth and quiet, pretty soon you don't hear anything, see anything." He continues, "You care. Whatever happens to anybody it happens to you. You're really hooked into the whole thing, Roslyn. It's a blessing."

Monroe's aura inspired Arthur Miller to write this eye-opening script. Director John Huston utilizes Monroe's personal pain to its fullest. She was in and out of rehab during the films production; her emotions were never more raw. It's the end of 1950's innocence when she begs, pleads, and screams for mercy upon the misfit horses that they have come to slaughter.

In scene after scene, via innuendo or thorough wailing dialogue, Monroe is crying out for us to know what is most important to her and should be to us. In "The Misfits" Monroe literally slams the door on Marilyn Monroe's own 1950's pinup pictures that hang on the inside of Gay's locker door -- as if to say, "this silliness was something important that I've now grown to know as virtually meaningless. This here, now, is what I've come to know is important, and I want to share it with the world." Gable himself said, "This is the best picture I have made, and it's the only time I've been able to act." The man who was the face of Hollywood's golden age ended his career with this film, as did Monroe.

This hard view of America is impossible to watch without turning away. Miller's vision shows, that without the generosity of kindness, humanity will lose its better tomorrow. When Sarah Palin said "No worries" about the backdrop in her turkey interview video, she proved that whatever innocence and insight she had found in her at church or at home, was nothing more than a hypocritical lie.

As we begin to send out our annual greetings for "Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men," it's prudent to remember that God or no God, the ability to place yourself in another being's predicament is all that you need to stay one step ahead of the mass of humanity. If Hollywood would only put the guns aside, or at least get them off the posters, America might become a more gentle, peaceful, and empathetic place.

Comments

[messy]

Marilyn Monroe made one more picture. "Something's Got To Give" which was never finished,but can be found on DVD. Gable dropped within days of the end of shooting. Monty Clift died too.

[winsmith]

Nicely said Tom. One of my favorite films - although I haven't seen it for years, I will always remember the end where Marilyn asks Gable "How do you find your way home in the dark?"
A great metaphorical line about exactly what it says:
How do we get back HOME where we belong (think simplicity, or Eden)
amid all this darkness, this violence, this negativity?

I won't be the spoiler and give you Gable's answer, but you might want a tissue
when you watch it.

[howalive]

This is a riveting article about a riveting film. Those of us who were around when the film first came out remember the stunning impact it had on us. Thank you for reminding me about it. I'm on my way to Blockbusters.

[Libbydoe]

I don't know if I agree with your article intellectually, but it struck a cord emotionally. I have always adored Marilyn Monroe for her beauty and her fragility. I also dislike Sarah Palin intensely for her egomania coupled with her pageant mentality. Perhaps, you feel the same way.

[lentinelia]

Great article about Monroe.

You lost me, however, when you pick on Palin as the poster child for indifference to suffering.

Americans stuff themselves with turkeys. They don't want to know how the turkeys got into the plastic wrap and onto the shelves. People like Palin are more accustomed to the reality of slaughter of the animals we eat.
It is the rest of us who eat our chickens and turkeys and pigs and cows and put a callous on our brains so as not to be aware of the way these creatures are treated.

[NoSillyName]

Speak for yourself.

[KillBillV2]

Okay?