Marilyn Monroe: ihre Filme - ihr Leben

Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies

by Joan Mellen

1973 hardcover. Tight straight spine. Pages and boards in overall excellent condition. Dustjacket in very good condition with some surface marks, rubbing in spots, corner, edge wear in spots, some chipping to the top/bottom spine area. Jacket protected in brand new clear plastic brodart protective cover!

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

223 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Joan Mellen is the bestselling author of twenty books, including A Farewell to Justice, her biographical study of Jim Garrison s New Orleans investigation of the Kennedy assassination. She has written for a variety of publications, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Baltimore Sun. Mellen is a professor of English and creative writing at Temple University in Philadelphia.

(from http://www.booksandbooks.com/book/978...)

Reviews

[MKF · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author of this book is an armchair psychologist who analyses Marilyn, her films as well as her life and her death. I think everyone knows that Marilyn's childhood trauma robbed her of a happy future and a fulfilling life. It's also obvious and well known that her career in Hollywood was also extremely traumatic for her. At least this book looks at the real Marilyn and discusses her intelligence and love of reading. If you want a psychological look at her life you may enjoy it but if you want an in-depth look about her life I would look for other biographies.

[vampcherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

beautiful pictures of Marilyn, but that’s about it. writing style was boring and repetitive.

[Neha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. Some interesting information, and amazing pictures, but a there’s lot of stuff in here like “The pattern is clear. To punish these men for not loving her enough, while simultaneously appealing for care, Marilyn threatened to end her life.” What? No source is cited for this, and there are so many other statements like that in this book!!

[J Jewell · Rating 3 out of 5]

As others have said, the black and white pictures in this book have aged like wine and are absolutely striking to look at. But although the images are surreal and allow you to empathize with Marilyn in the written text and how truly taken advantage of she was in this industry the book itself in the way it’s presented going on each and every of her films…is a complete drag.

The repetitive nature of how she was characterized in her various acting roles is easily summarized as, she never was casted or able to be casted into actually and compelling, divisive and morally complex roles, and instead- due to hollywoods overt sexualization of Marilyn’s femininity and seductive character that she, as much played into as the producers and directors, was left in cardboard stock cutout representation of lustful, unintelligent woman who relied on men to feel fulfilled and happy.

And frankly in those days, unfortunately that was the general consensus and since then, the world has changed drastically with woman’s rights and their own need for expression and independence.

I agree overall and I quite pity her and the pain that she lived with over the course of her short life, but I disagree that ever man, director and cast had those exact motives, and I wish this book shed more light on those individuals who didn’t have such negative intentions, but the information on even that, is few and far between.

I truly believe she suffered from BPD, knowing someone quite personally with that mental health disorder she exhibits all the symptoms, insecurity of one’s self, feeling unloveable, self destructive behaviours, lack of trust in the world, depersonalization and of course her suicidal tendencies.

My favourite part of the this book was both the chapter on her life and the men in her life. Both gave more insight into her actual character and the true struggles and traumas that she experienced.

Overall, for the length I don’t regret my time with this, but I did get quite exhausted over the course of the mundane explanations and repeating facts on each and every of her films. Considering this was written only ten years after her death though, it’s a very raw and progressive book for the time period and the book itself is gorgeous in the picture and worn out aesthetic it has.

3.0/5.0

[Murat Başaran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Monroe'nun son biyografisini izleyip beğenmediyseniz bu kitaba hiç bulaşmayın. Rahipten ve üvey babadan sonra, bir gün takside uğradığı tecavüzün hemen sonrasında bir de taksicinin kenara çekip eylemi tekrarlaması gibi detaylarla bezeli, sinema adına pek az şey bulabileceğiniz bir kitaptı, dumur yaşamak istiyorsanız edinebilirsiniz.

[Julian Rebelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall good book, features beautiful photographs and good indexed information of Marilyn Monroe throughout her career. However, the book does have a heavy feminist overtone, which can be overwhelming at times, and takes the focus away from Marilyns life as a whole.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not technically biography, but analysis of her overall image and summation of her films. A good warm-up if you want to know a little bit more about her, but don’t want to delve into a full-fledged biography. I have a bunch of these volumes, which are good when I’m in between longer books.

[Tim Pieraccini · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a very strong feminist slant, of which I would normally approve, but in this case it did feel as though it affected Joan Mellen's views of the films somewhat (she dismisses Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, for example, and has little good to say about Some Like It Hot) - it is a fascinating and penetrating analysis of Monroe's roles, nevertheless. The biographical material is obviously covered in far greater depth elsewhere, but the critical exploration of the films is the heart of the book, and well worth reading.

[Eryss Opal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up at a used book store because I realized that I actually know very little about this icon. It was a pretty good read and I learned quite a bit but the writing style was a little boring (the pictures added a lot). It was like reading a scholarly journal or something which isn't bad but it wasn't much of a pleasure read because of this.

[Martine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special about the writing, but very interesting read for sure. Never knew much about Marilyn Monroe and I feel for her now and how she was treated. So sad when you look at Hollywood now and how little has actually changed.