Disney starlet Miley Cyrus, stung by anonymous online comments saying she'd gained weight, responded by posting a picture of Marilyn Monroe on her Twitter account with the caption: 'Proof that you can be adored by thousands of men even when your thighs touch.'
Putting aside doubts that 19-year-old Miley's thighs are approaching anything like Monroe's proportions (plus the pointlessness of responding to vile Twitter trolls wanting a public rise out of a celebrity, and the possible suggestion that male admiration is the only goal) it's not hard to see why she chose the image.
Watching My Week With Marilyn a few days ago, I tried to call up my prior knowledge of the subject. I took part in a production of Some Like It Hot at university, but I didn't play Monroe's part. I played Generic Bimbo No 3, and frolicked round the stage in a nightie with my boobs hoiked up to my chin. Not very insightful, or warm.
The sum of what I know is a caricatured image, a blonde poster icon with red lips and a clinging swimsuit, singing breathily. A Warhol picture. An idea held up far and wide, all waist and breasts and pout and leg, plus some sort of tragic ending involving pills and possibly a Kennedy.
