'Blonde' author defends Netflix's 'feminist' adaptation of Marilyn Monroe novel
- "Blonde" author Joyce Carol Oates tweeted in defense of the Netflix adaptation.
- The film has received backlash from fans and critics who say it exploits Marilyn Monroe's legacy.
The author of "Blonde" defended Andrew Dominik's adaptation of her novel for Netflix, calling the screenplay "feminist."
Last week, the movie, based on Joyce Carol Oates' semi-fictional biography of Marilyn Monroe, premiered on the streaming platform. Fans and critics have been divided on the movie, with many claiming the film is exploitative of the legacy of the 20th-century Hollywood star.
After the movie's release, Oates defended Dominik and his adaptation on Twitter.
"I think it was/is a brilliant work of cinematic art obviously not for everyone. surprising that in a post#MeToo era the stark exposure of sexual predation in Hollywood has been interpreted as 'exploitation,'" the author wrote. "Surely Andrew Dominik meant to tell Norma Jeane's story sincerely."
In a later tweet, she replied to a screenwriter who said that Dominik was being attacked for his film because he is a man.
"I haven't seen these attacks but it is unfortunate since Andrew Dominik's screenplay (which I'd seen years ago) had struck me as remarkably 'feminist' in intention...here was a male perspective near-identical with the primary aims of #MeToo: telling women's stories long censored," Oates tweeted.
In further tweets, Oates advised viewers who may find the explicit scenes "difficult" to not watch the film and said that the sexual exploitation of Monroe, depicted in the film, is based on fact "well known to biographers."
The author added: "'Blonde' (film) turns out to be something of a Rorschach test: some see the exposure of sexual mistreatment of Marilyn Monroe as 'exploitation' & others see it as a revelation of how a gifted young woman was treated in Hollywood & elsewhere, pre#MeToo."
Some celebrities have also come forward to criticize the movie. On Friday, Emily Ratajkowski said in a TikTok video that she has heard that the movie "fetishizes female pain" and she is going to be "pissed off" when she watches it.
"We love to fetishize female pain. Look at Amy Winehouse, look at Britney Spears, look at the way we obsess over Diana's death," the model said. "But I want that change. And I was thinking about it, you know what's kind of hard to fetishize? Anger. Anger is hard to fetishize. So I have a proposal. I think we all need to be a little more pissed off."
Reality star Courtney Stodden also told Page Six last week that they were not going to see the film.
"As somebody who understands what it feels like to be exploited in a sexual way and then have people turn you into a joke when you are not a joke," they said. "I think diving into that is a little disrespectful."