ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 examines Marilyn Monroe’s career through the lens of her different networks. She grows up on the periphery of the Hollywood studios. Her looks are no guarantee of success in this mecca for beauties, but she outflanks the casting-couch system (which gives her a bad reputation as nothing but another wannabe who will do anything for access) by becoming a favorite of photographers. Affairs with Hollywood insiders as well as publicity in the world of celebrities makes her just the star that the studios realize they now need in the 1950s, when they are losing audiences to TV and countering with expensive, high-publicity spectaculars. But Marilyn is tired of being exploited by bosses who look down on her, and she finds a new network of allies, the theatre intellectuals. She remakes herself as a serious actress; but this leads to new strife, as she and her acting coaches quarrel with film directors, giving her the reputation as extremely difficult to work with. Her different networks work against each other rather than giving her emotional support; and in the end she dies of drugs, alcohol and depression. Never blatantly dominating, Marilyn nevertheless achieves a pure form of charisma, always stealing the scene, always in the center of attention.
