Marilyn Monroe: 100 years after her birth, still a cultural phenomenon

Marilyn Monroe would have turned 100 on June 1st – and the cultural world is taking notice. Augsburger Allgemeine reports how the artist was sewn into her dress, marketed by Hugh Hefner, and turned into an iconic art figure by Andy Warhol. Yet behind this marketing lies a person who continues to raise questions to this day: who was Norma Jeane Baker really?

ORF documents that the fascination remains unbroken more than 60 years after Monroe's early death in 1962. This is due to the multilayered nature of the Monroe phenomenon itself – she was not only the blonde sex symbol, but also an artist who took her craft seriously. Télérama honours her as witty, intellectual and perfectionist – qualities that were often overshadowed in public perception.

Icon beyond marketing

Monroe died at just 36 years old, yet she lives on as an icon, relic and projection surface for generations of people who see themselves reflected in the woman behind the blonde hair. Berlingske explains how people continue to try to own Marilyn – through films, artworks, merchandise and speculation about her life.

The paradox: the more pop culture appropriates and markets Marilyn Monroe, the more enigmatic she becomes. The retrospectives marking the anniversary suggest that we may never fully understand who this woman was – and that this very elusiveness is what gives her power. She remains a 20th-century icon because she sustains all projections: glamour and rebellion, victim and artist, sex symbol and human being.