Marilyn Monroe

The 50s were known for many things: post-war affluence with increased choice of leisure time activities, conformity, the Korean War, middle-class values, the rise of modern jazz, the rise of 'fast food' restaurants and drive-ins, a baby boom, the ideal all-electric home, the advent of television and TV dinners, and the rise of drive-in theaters. These drive-in theaters rose to a peak number in the late 50s with over 4,000 outdoor screens, where young teen-aged couples could find privacy in their hot-rods, and a youth reaction to middle-aged cinema. Older viewers were prone to stay at home and watch television (about 10.5 million US homes had a TV set in 1950). 

This should give you a good idea of the atmosphere that was present during this time. I could have called this post 'the 50s, but I thought I'd try something different, and tie the themes of the decade back to Marilyn Monroe, an icon of the time period. 

In the period following WWII when most of the films were idealized with conventional portrayals of men and women, young people wanted new and exciting symbols of rebellion. Hollywood responded to audience demands - the late 1940s and the 1950s saw the rise of the anti-hero - with stars like newcomers James Dean, Paul Newman  and Marlon Brando, replacing more proper actors like Tyrone Power, Van Johnson, and Robert Taylor. In later decades, this new generation of method actors would be followed by Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino. Sexy anti-heroines included Ava Gardner, Kim Novak, and an exciting vibrant sexy star :Marilyn Monroe.

The fifties gave rise to a new youth-oriented, teenage film industry. Marilyn Monroe was a symbol of this. She began as a model for a professional photographer in 1945. In 1946, she signed her first movie as an actress with 20th Century-Fox: The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, in which she played a small role as a telephone operator. The next year, her contract with Fox allowed her to appear in two more films: Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay!, and Dangerous Years. After that, her contract was not renewed, so she resorted back to work in the modeling business. Although she starred in other movies before the fifties, her anonymous nude photo-shoot in the first issue of playboy magazine in 1949 is one of the first things that jump-started her popularity in Hollywood. It was something that was widely looked down upon at the time, but she insisted that the only reason she did it was that she was desperate to pay her rent. Her personal life began to be closely followed by many people the same as our modern-day celebrities. A photograph of the baseball player, Joe DiMaggio, visiting Monroe at the 20th Century Fox studio was printed in newspapers throughout the United States, and reports of a developing romance between them generated further interest in Monroe.

She would go on to become what we now know her as within the following years. The year before she signed her first contract with Fox, Emelline Snively told her, "You're very girl-next-doorish." Her face and figure were thought of as pleasing, even provocative, but not yet compelling perfect female shapes on screen. She learned, from being in films, very specific things to do with her face and body to make her appearance on screen just as Hollywood and her viewers wanted it to be. An example of this is that she had to learn to smile with her upper lip drawn down in order to minimize the length of her nose. 

Part of the reason that a sex icon was valued in Hollywood at the time, was Hollywood's war on television. With access to free viewing of films and shows from home, the number of people going out to view movies was decreasing rapidly. Among other strategies to encourage viewers to come to the theater, using sexy and attractive stars in films, such as Marilyn Monroe, was one of the most commonly used. A good example of this is the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Monroe plays the role of a money-thirsty showgirl who is required to sing, and dance in addition to acting in the film. 

As you can see from this clip from the film, there were a lot of bright colors and extravagant filming techniques used to catch the attention of the viewer. Such was one of the most common themes in Hollywood during this decade, and Marilyn Monroe was a very good example of this.

sources:

http://www.filmsite.org/50sintro.html

Heavenly Bodies: film stars and studies by Richard Dyer

Legend: The Life and Death of Marilyn Monroe by Fred Lawrence Guiles

Marilyn Monroe: a life of the actress by Carl Edmund Rollyson