Many were expecting a sexy romp. And if you were in the critics screening I was in, many laughed at the various situations our dear Norma Jean found herself in.
Frankly, I found it deplorable. This is not a film celebrating the star but a dramatization of what men do to women.
The sexualization of Hollywood started with the casting couch. So, Blonde is best explained through the lens of different traumas and the experiences she had growing up that led to her stardom.
Gladys tried to drive Norma Jean up there during the fire, was turned away, and attempted to drown her daughter in the bathtub. Her mother went away to a psychiatric hospital, and the adorable child grew up in an orphanage.
The trauma of abandonment can have a strong psychological effect on a child.