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Well, it's over. Blonde has come and gone. We've been anticipating and talking about this for an eternity in internet time. And probably will continue to talk about it. The CBS mini series was a slickly produced vehicle for the newcomer Poppy Montgomery who deserves her props for taking on the project and trying to do justice to Marilyn. Montgomery created a Marilyn character, I say character becouse it wasn't really Marilyn, it was actually a composite of a few facets of Marilyn's personality. The flashing smile, the nervous laugh, the ability to live in the moment which is critical for an actor.
The supporting cast in this film was excellent for a mini series
Blonde: A novel by Joyce Carol Oates
If you're an Oates fan, you might like this book. If you're a Marilyn Monroe fan you'll probably hate it. Oates has somehow managed to write a 700 page short story. Her writing technique evokes emotions in the reader that can make reading this book exhausting. She creates images that flash like grainy, faded color 8mm. How convenient for a TV movie deal.
It's obvious that Oates used the urban legend that is Marilyn Monroe. A story passed from generation to generation at cocktail parties, dinner parties and in films and books. Sometimes, it's too tempting to fictionalize that story.
Oates characterization of Gladys, Norma Jeane's mother, is actually more interesting. It would have been more challenging to follow Gladys into the mental asylum, than to follow little Norma Jeane into the orphanage. This is stream-of-consciousness style of story telling, but it isn't Marilyn's consciousness.