What Marilyn Monroe Reveals About Resonance
Marilyn Monroe didn’t just appear in Hollywood with the voice we recognize today. She built it.
In this episode of Read the Room, we listen closely to the evolution of Marilyn Monroe’s voice. From her early films to the persona that became one of the most recognizable and resonant signals in cinema.
Along the way, Marilyn herself offers clues about what she was doing, why she worked the way she did, and what resonance really means.
Chapters:
00:00 Marilyn Monroe: The Phenomenon
00:39 The Voice Transformation: Before | After
02:12 What Did Marilyn Do: In Her Words
03:30 On Being Late, Rushing, and Nerves
04:558 Her Philosophy on Performance & Discipline
06:05 The Reality of Resonance
07:39 Final Scene: Some Like It Hot
Interview footage:
Marilyn on Marilyn — BBC Documentary (2001) featuring archival audio interviews conducted by Life Magazine and Marie Claire (France) in 1962, less than a month before Marilyn Monroe’s death.
26 Comments
Great video. Bang on
This was really interesting, thank you! I’m gonna be mulling over what you said.
Thank you ever so ❤
Some like it Hot is so hilarious. I really enjoyed this video. I would love to see more videos like this.
Marilyn uses different voices according to the role that she was playing. If you watch Bus Stop, for instance, she sounds like the sweet hillbilly that she's supposed to be in the film. If you watch Clash By Night she sounds like the regular girl that she's supposed to be. The same thing goes for The Prince & the Showgirl, Don't Bother to Knock, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes etc.
Silly voice
great video!
Its called acting. She altered her voice to play varying parts. Marilyn was yer unique and she was so underrated. Her acting just wouldn't work today.
Such a great analysis of Marilyn! She would of loved a film about her life from you, as this is true. I watched blonde and it was so disrespectful. Marilyn had so many sides to her personality and really was a great actress
I love your break down, it goes so much deeper than surface x
Mary Faulkinstirn
People really undermined her intelligence simply because they were so distracted by their own fantasies about her
I'm going to even go out on a limb by saying that she actually mayve been the most intelligent person in the room….its such a shame that pretty much across the board people really seem to think that SOME LIKE IT HOT was her best film….yes sure at hypersexualizing her …and from reading one finds that this was truly something that pained her deeply she really had a desire a longing to get serious roles and to be received as a respected thespian rather than the cutest silliest most sexually desired gal in the room.. .They shortchanged her …
5:30 She used the word "disciplined" as a synonym for "punished." She felt she shouldn't be punished (for being late, slow, whatever) while she's at work because her work is art and cannot be hurried or forced and certainly shouldn't be punished. That's how I interpreted it.
Wonderful, insightful video.
Interesting
Boy, you are a spot on!
My favorite is Two Little Girls From Little Rock. She is as fluid as mercury.
Her main problems are her films and her parts–the same problems lots of actors have. Most if her films are junk and her parts are not challenging. For example, no one asked her to be in Three Faces of Eve, did they? Or The Miracle Worker, did they? Or The Children's Hour, did they?
She simply couldn't break out of Marilyn–not in her mind, but in the minds of those who cast films. They simply never thought of her in these types of roles. And of course, she didn't have the drive to be like Lucy–start her own company (although she did have a company), commission or buy her own scripts, make her own films and get the parts she wanted that way. For example, she wanted to be Grushenka in Brothers K. But it never occurred to her to go out there, raise the money, pay for a movie treatment, and make the damned film.
Shelley Winters always wondered what the hell Marilyn would have done if she had lived. She couldn't go on playing the breathy, bubbly ingenue forever. Would they have cast her in Virginia Woolf? Never! How about Network? Never!
See what I mean. She died at just the right time to perpetuate the Marilyn image she created. I mean, can you see her at 70? What on earth would she be doing?
She's one of those people to be seen in isolation, almost as if you blacked out the entire rest of the film and just looked at her. Jerry Lewis is another such person, although for him you should also turn the sound down. Just watch him move.
Thank you your talk is so interesting.
MY MARiLYN HAD AUTISM!!!!!!!!! Omggggg
Very snow white..
voice changes with age, in her case hardly since she died young, the roles that you show here, the speech and tone was actually accordingly to the part: efficient secretary or naive seduccion
Speaking like a baby is the thing I could never get past with Marilyn. Marilyn plays at being dumb like the snow plays at being white.
You lost me completely when you said, ‘she has so much class.’ Ludicrous – she was the antithesis of ‘class.’
Oh shut up you fools, she's dead. LET HER RIP.
Marilyn was a true artist. She BECAME her acting part without losing “Marilyn”. Sad part… she wanted people to know Norma Jean