“In The Seven Year Itch, Monroe plays a character significantly named “The Girl,” and this film thus embodied much of what defined Monroe as an abstract sex symbol. The object of a married man’s fantasies and desires, The Girl represents an honest and delighted sexuality—which she revels in as she stands over a subway grate and the cool air billows her white skirt around her thighs.
“This vision of Monroe created a lasting impression on the American psyche, but it remained wedded to the type of role she increasingly disdained.”
– Margot A. Henriksen, “Marilyn Monroe,” American National Biography
In 2021, it seems people are getting their panties in a wad over an enormous, 26-foot-tall painted statue of “The Girl” planted in the middle of a downtown street in Palm Springs, California.
The statue, titled “Forever Marilyn” but now colloquially re-christened #MeTooMarilyn was the handiwork of the late New Jersey artist J. Seward Johnson II, scion of the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical family. (He died last year at 89.) The thing was created in 2011 and was displayed in Palm Springs from 2012 to 2014 before moving to other cities.
It now beckons viewers in Palm Springs to saunter between a woman’s spread legs, look up her billowing dress and snicker at her panty-clad crotch – or, better yet, snap a photo for posting on social media.
This sculptural crotch shot is presented as a welcome draw for desert resort tourism, battered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 34,000-pound sculpture was purchased for $1 million by PS Resorts, a city tourism organization funded partly by transient occupancy taxes.
Councilman Geoff Kors, who is also a legislative strategist for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in an interview with Palm Springs TV KESQ …
“This is a great free attraction, and I think it will be great for our businesses, and it’s great to have free attractions for our residents. She’s been a great free attraction before, and she will be again.”
(Jeffrey Cawood. “Feminists Condemn Installation Of Marilyn Monroe Statue As ‘Misogynistic,’ Claim It Was Designed ‘To Look At Her Crotch.” Daily Wire. June 24, 2021.)
However, protesters – including those from the Women's March LA Foundation – view this artwork as a colossal monument to misogyny. And, they see its celebratory unveiling during LGBTQ Pride Month as especially repugnant. Misogyny’s contempt for women is the root of homophobia and transphobia.
(Christopher Knight. “Commentary: Marilyn Monroe statue in Palm Springs is an offense to Pride Month.” Los Angleles Times. June 21, 2021.)
“The statue is designed to look at her crotch and look at her buttocks and take photos. And that is no longer acceptable,” said Emiliana Guereca, executive director of the Women’s March Foundation. “It may have been acceptable in the 1950s, but we are in 2021 fighting the same thing and women are saying enough is enough.”
(Jeffrey Cawood. “Feminists Condemn Installation Of Marilyn Monroe Statue As ‘Misogynistic,’ Claim It Was Designed ‘To Look At Her Crotch.” Daily Wire. June 24, 2021.)
“We would never celebrate a powerful man [with a] 26-foot tall sculpture with his pants pulled down,” Elizabeth Armstrong, former director of the Palm Springs Art Museum, told KESQ News.
Famous Depiction
The "Forever Marilyn" statue depicts the late actress Marilyn Monroe in one of her most famous on-screen moments. The statue shows Monroe with her dress blowing up in a scene from the 1955 film, The Seven Year Itch.
In 1954, director Billy Wilder was filming a scene of the film on Lexington Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Street in New York City. In the script, Monroe and co-star Tom Ewell exit a movie theater and a breeze from the subway passing below lifts Monroe’s dress. Instead of rushing to cover her legs, as any decent woman of that era would have, Monroe exclaims, “Isn't it delicious?”
Most people don't know there were two separate shoots. One was a publicity event in New York where a large crowd of bystanders and the press were invited to create hype. The noise of the crowd rendered the film footage unusable and Billy Wilder reshot the scene on a closed soundstage in Los Angeles. Sam Shaw was the photographer. It was his idea to use a picture from the movie theater scene as the logo to promote the film, and it was his job to create the images.
(Melissa Stevens.“Behind-the-Scenes of Marilyn Monroe's Iconic Flying Skirt.” biography.com.September 10, 2020.)
Note: William Travilla created the costume for the star (he also designed Marilyn's outfits in several other films, including the pink dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). Even though William didn't think much of the white dress (he once called it "that silly little dress"), the gown has been celebrated for generations. Following William's death in 1990, his costume sketch for the gown sold for $50,000.
(Marlisse Cepeda. “Whatever Happened to Marilyn Monroe's Famous White Dress?” Woman's Day. April 21, 2016.)
At the publicity stunt in New York, a large crowd of bystanders and press were invited to create hype around the filming.
The dress also reportedly took part in Monroe’s divorce with her second husband, Joe DiMaggio. He “hated” the dress and argued with the actress backstage for the drama she caused during the shooting of the scene.
According to DiMaggio, the whole incident was an ‘embarrassment.” According to director Billy Wilder, Joe seethed with jealousy and had ‘the look of death’ when he saw his wife’s skirts fly skyward. As most vicious abusers do, he held his tongue until Marilyn was done shooting.
(Ian Harvey. “The iconic flying skirt – The trouble Marilyn Monroe's little white dress had caused.” The Vintage News. January 09, 2017.)
Reports say when Monroe got back to the hotel, DiMaggio “gave her a beat down that put her out of work for a week. He almost killed her.”
History of Yesterday writes …
“Despite the many dumb blonde clichés surrounding Marilyn, she was far from playing the fool in real life. She might have let a breeze take her skirts, but she would not let an abuser take her dignity. Marilyn filed for divorce shortly after Joe’s beating.
“Today, we remember Marilyn’s iconic dress and her skirt-flying moment as a symbol of breaking sexual norms. But that sexual freedom came at a price. When Marilyn stopped giggling for the camera, she had to face a jealous husband. A husband who demanded she give up acting and her coquettish publicity stunts.
“Joe wanted Marilyn to playact the demur housewife. And when he didn’t get his way, he beat the crap out of her. In the long run, her white “subway dress” may have saved her life.”
(Carlyn Beccia. “The Dark Truth Behind Marilyn Monroe's White Dress.” History of Yesterday. January 19, 2021.)
Note: Debbie Reynolds purchased the original dress for $200. In a June 2011 auction, it sold for 5.52M (minus the 1 million commission). Not bad for a silly little dress.
What To Think?
Whether you view “Forever Marilyn” as a trashy tourist come-on, a horrible slight of misogyny, or a symbol of feminine equality, the statue depicts a cultural icon who deserves to be remembered for her complexities just as much as her bubbly blonde-bombshell persona.
Monroe died on August 5, 1962. Nearly sixty years later, she's still in style – and making more money than ever. Her come-hither expression is emblazoned on posters, T-shirts and refrigerator magnets. She's become a multimillion-dollar brand, but that may never have happened if not for the will she left behind, a document that reveals a much quieter – and more complicated – side to her legacy. She is known to be a gracious, loving soul to her legions of undying fans.
So …
Is it Monroe herself, her revealing dress, her modest panties, the temptation to peek from beneath, or what the imagination can't see that draws so much controversy? After all, when you break down the working parts of all the contention, the whole affair seems only mildly distracting. By today's standards, any actual sexual titillation posed by the components seems hardly worth the fuss.
And …
Should perceived transgressions be blamed on the artist Johnson II, the city fathers of Palm Springs, or the voyeuristic tourists? If a fair wind has once again exposed the curvaceous movie star, who is the nastiest patron of the opportunistic breeze?
Is this art in Palm Springs suitable for public consumption? A sexually explicit image generally relates to or describes sexual conduct. “Sexually explicit” means any reference to sexual intercourse, sexual abuse, the genitals, or pubic area of a person.
While the statue may have some “reference” to that certain “area of a person,” it does not expose the naked body. I'm sure most kids today – used to seeing thongs and other skimpy attire – would laugh and say, “Look at that lady's funny-looking underwear. That's so goofy.”
Censorship of explicit images is often motivated by conservative and religious values and fears of moral corruption. And, of course, feminists who challenge objectifying sexual imagery want equal rights for women and fear the spread of objectifying images is detrimental to that cause.
I guess the eye of the beholder judges any real artistic content like technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. I understand that the principles of art include movement, unity, harmony, variety, balance, contrast, proportion and pattern while the elements include texture, form, space, shape, color, value and line. It's all complicated and pretty subjective to me. However, the controversy over the Monroe statue shows how fine the line between popular art and objectification is and how tricky it is to negotiate a consensus of opinion. Perhaps “the answer, my friend is still out there blowin' in the wind.”
Goodbye Norma
Jeane
From the young man in the twenty-second row
Who sees you
as something as more than sexual
More than just our Marilyn Monroe
And it seems to me you
lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to
cling to
When the rain set in
And I would've liked to known
you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long
before
Your legend ever did
– From “Candle in the Wind” by Elton John
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