"Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered"
About this Quote
Marilyn Monroe turns the glossy title of "sex symbol" into something with bruising physicality: a "heavy load". The phrase punctures the fantasy that desirability is effortless or empowering by default. In her mouth, the metaphor lands like a backstage truth - fame as manual labor, performed under hot lights, while the body and psyche are running on fumes. "Carry" also implies obligation: she isn't simply admired; she's tasked with hauling an image other people packed for her.
The second clause does the real work. "Especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered" refuses the myth of the always-available woman. Tired is everyday exhaustion; hurt suggests private damage; bewildered is the most revealing word, capturing a kind of dissociation, the disorienting gap between Norma Jeane and "Marilyn". She isn't describing scandal; she's describing a system that demands coherence and seduction from someone who feels neither. The line quietly argues that being sexualized isn't a compliment; it's a role that keeps running even when the person inside it is falling apart.
Context sharpens the sting. Monroe's stardom was engineered by studios, photographers, gossip columns - an industrial pipeline that converted vulnerability into marketable charm. This quote reads like a moment of self-defense: not a denial of her allure, but a plea to recognize the cost. It's emotional clarity from someone often treated as a punchline, exposing how the culture confuses projection with intimacy and calls it love.
The second clause does the real work. "Especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered" refuses the myth of the always-available woman. Tired is everyday exhaustion; hurt suggests private damage; bewildered is the most revealing word, capturing a kind of dissociation, the disorienting gap between Norma Jeane and "Marilyn". She isn't describing scandal; she's describing a system that demands coherence and seduction from someone who feels neither. The line quietly argues that being sexualized isn't a compliment; it's a role that keeps running even when the person inside it is falling apart.
Context sharpens the sting. Monroe's stardom was engineered by studios, photographers, gossip columns - an industrial pipeline that converted vulnerability into marketable charm. This quote reads like a moment of self-defense: not a denial of her allure, but a plea to recognize the cost. It's emotional clarity from someone often treated as a punchline, exposing how the culture confuses projection with intimacy and calls it love.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sadness |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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