The Sexuality of Female Stars

Today’s cinematic hero reach the attention of the public through motion pictures, radio, or television and it is more clearly understood through the reinforcement of other media. A star’s potential is not only determined by their acting ability but also through fan magazines, national magazines, radio, television, newspapers, and their general presence in the media outside of their films. The goal of stars in the public and the countless amounts of press they go through is to make their personality known to the public. Therefore, letting the audience form a connection with the star and it makes a person more likely to see their film in the theatre. Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe were two stars simultaneously working in Hollywood in the 1950s that made a connection and lasting impression with their fans but with different popular images. A star is accepted by the public bu the set of stereotypes the industry gave them. Hollywood wants stars to be consistent with the roles and they play and the appearances they give the public. The Building of Popular Images article stresses that two women in the same profession at the same time can be stereotypes in two opposite manners and that is exactly what happened with Kelly and Monroe. Kelly’s Hollywood image was built-up around the idea of being a family woman with a family background and was more or less a textbook example of a proper “lady.” She was a spitting image of wealth, refined breeding, and a close knit family. She quickly became the ideal woman that men desired. She was desired in an emotional way with her maternal skills and housewife material. Male audiences viewed her as a respectable woman and that is why many women’s magazines featured her in with those images. The media emphasized Kelly’s response to public family drama and how she remained calm and poised and the positive lady-like quality comments her co-stars on and off screen made about her. On the other end of the spectrum was Monroe. A blonde bombshell who also dominated Hollywood in the 1950s. Monroe was desired by men sexually and magazines portrayed her in a sexual manor thus referring to her infamous nude Playboy photoshoot. She was the provocative sex symbol for Hollywood. She had no family ties to tame her image unlike Kelly. The media focused on her breathy/sexual voice, horizontal walk, revealing clothing, and her half closed eyes and half-opened mouth face she always made. Monroe was always seen in her films undressing, showering, and saying and singing suggestive things. Film directors took the stereotypes the public had of her and made sure to reinforce it in her movies. The studios Monroe and Kelly worked with made it a point to correlate their public image with their acting stereotypes. Once the public has a set idea and standard of who a star is, it is difficult for the star to break the norm they are given. In her career, Monroe was type-cast in order to uphold the public’s expectations of her and it became problematic if she attempted to change her status or image. Monroe embodied the ideas of sexuality and was the sex symbol of her time. The goal of her characters was to be seen from the male point-of-view and please the male audience. Monroe gained this status of “it girl” and sex with her roles and pin-ups. Her pin-ups were determined by her public appearances and other promotional events for the film. When she was out of character she was still in sexy clothes and talking in a raspy voice. She continued the character stereotypes with the public to maintain and uphold her image and status with the world. She never wanted to be seen as lesser then or average. When Monroe worked on movies everything was done in a specific way to make her appear a certain way to the viewers. The camera angle framed her body in such a way that it would perfectly extenuate her silhouetted side-boob and butt. Everything done for Monroe was done with a purpose and end goal. She did a photoshoot for Twentieth Century Fox and all other women in the shoot were not nearly as planned and particularly placed as Monroe was. She clearly had more attention focused on her with the crew to make her the focal point of the picture, the other women featured in the photoshoot were simply props for Monroe. Marilyn Monroe a natural sexuality connected to her. She didn’t’t have to try too hard to appear sexy or work hard to have a sexual aura. Monroe was also the beginning of the ongoing dumb blonde punchline, however for her it was a compliment and not an insult like in today’s world. She is pure, innocent, unharmed by the horrors of the world and her innocence is translated to sexual innocence which is ironic because sexually I think she wasn’t innocent at all. She knew exactly what she was doing but played the innocent card so well it fooled all her prospective lovers.