Why does Marilyn Monroe remain immortal?

“Compare Marilyn with some of today’s stars such as Lady Gaga and Madonna," states Prof Amanda du Preez, lecturer in visual culture studies at the University of Pretoria. “They are both brands, but if Lady Gaga had to die today, what is the one image of her that you will remember? Not one. She has too many looks.”

“The era of icons connected to one image is over because contemporary stars are under pressure to remain constantly interesting in a world that changes rapidly. Marilyn is however captured in one quintessential image, a brand to which people connect their own meaning,” states du Preez.

“It is almost as if Marilyn has become a one dimensional flattened image. She can be associated or loaded with any meaning. For the younger generation she has a different meaning than that of the sex symbol of the past. Young people are over exposed to sex. Marilyn has become a symbol of coolness instead.”

And because her image changed with the times, she is immortal.

The full article is available in SARIE, March 2012.