Marilyn Monroe is a character that was created to sell a product. A lot of time that product was sex in an environment that was relatively sexless. We still use that character to sell shit like posters and candy bars. I think to look at Monroe as a role model is just another reinvention of that brand.

Norma Jean was the person behind that and whether or not she is a role model is a complicated question that doesn’t have one definitive answer. She was a woman with a lot of brilliance that managed to get ahead at times in a system designed to digest her, but at the end of the day it did in fact consume her.

Blonde is an exploration of the way we create and consume celebrities. I think rather than asking if she is a role model, we should be investigating the way in which we as an audience consume these women.