Non Photo-Blue

The Seven Year Itch was released 50 years ago: 1955, for the mathematically challenged. 50 years, and Marilyn Monroe hasn't lost a bit of her presence. Screen power. Walking out of the movie, I overhear at least five different women doing their best Marilyn impersonation, "You're married? Well, I think that's just delicate."

And there was nothing delicate about the inflection Monroe put on that word-her voice gets right inside you. It's disarming and alluring, but it doesn't have any pretense. There isn't a moment when the watcher feels Monroe's vanity. She seems above that- detached from the concept of her body, while being completely comfortable in the fact of it.

I must ashamedly admit that this was my first Marilyn Monroe movie. What I've seen and known of her to date, was all rumor, circumspect, image. Her and the Kennedys. Her and Joltin' Joe. The death. That Elton John song. To be honest, I wasn't expecting all that much. The hype around her seems to be based on image, on the American dream of voluptuous, simple women, full of female sexual energy. Not the post 80's, gen-x fem sex energy I observed in my adolescence: tattooed, pierced-tongue cursing brunettes with a masculine sex drive. Most of Marilyn's costumes in this movie where white, hugged her figure so she might as well been naked. Powdery white skin and the pulsing red lips. She took the fem image of sexuality brought it to the apex, the archetype of femininity. All this I expected too, as I expected the movie to be dull and insipid, and her to doll around being dumb.

But there was so much more. It was obvious, from the moment she appears on the screen (which is long delayed- the movie rolls a good 15-20 minutes before her entrance, as she is not the main character in the movie, but as you can tell by the poster above, she was the catalyst), that she had control. And though she was playing the bombshell, the silly girl who's naive, stupid, you are immediately aware that Marilyn is not stupid. She's totally in control of the image she is portraying. She's aware of the power it has over her audience, and how much she is idolized.

But unlike many female sex-symbol superstars of our generation, she never allowed her vanity to outstrech her humanity. She balances her sexuality and her heart- her scenes with Ewell are often touching. Even as Ewell hits on her, and practically attacks her in the apartment, she is understanding, sympathetic, and wants to heal his wounds. Yes, this is the story, and not the actor, but I'm talking about her physical connection. She is totally present in those scenes, you feel her empathy all over. Beautiful, sexually alluring dream-like, but in the end, comforting and safe. A mother.

This famous "subway" photo is from a scene in this movie. And watching it for the first time, and looking at it now, the thing that gets me about it is not its sexuality, but instead her innocence. That's the secret. Despite her experiences, her sexuality, her constantly being tracked and ogled at, Monroe has inside her the ability to drop it all, to forget who she is and be an innocent kid with her dress fluttering. Her face she seems like a seven-year-old. Pure and giggling. The part of the joy of watching her is you get the whole package, the dress, her legs, her girly voice, and you know she knows. You know she just has to be using it, playing a role. But her body, and your body, never pick up on it. It never feels that she's being false.

She's able to detach and for that moment, she's genuine. And you are left with something real, something you can put in your pocket and remember. That's what I reacted to, seeing that image. There's something to be said for that kind of self-control, that kind of detachment. As an artist,(an actor, painter, or, for myself, a writer)- the ability to take an emotion, or an emotional state and turn it into a tool: this is what I'm thinking about. As a student of writing, I'm always looking at what I can steal. In my poetry workshop as an undergrad at Queens College with Kimiko Hahn, that was often the format of the classes: we read contemporary poets and talked about what we wanted to "steal" from their writing. In other workshops, we've usually done the same type of thing, even when it's not so explicitly defined. So I've been applying that to everything- art exhibits, movies, music. Everything thing can relate, which is why I'm putting it all down here, in case you were wondering, "What does this have to do with writing?"