I really appreciate this piece as it opens such an important door into how many women have had to trade being seen for being accepted. But I also think there was something deeply powerful in the way Marilyn embodied archetypes. She wasn’t just looked at — she knew how to be seen, and she wielded that skill like a spell. She wasn’t naive or passive. She studied, transformed, and created her persona. She moved through this world with the Lover and the Muse and the Trickster archetypes all alive in her. And while her life was undeniably shaped by systems of exploitation, I also believe she shaped them right back. There’s something mythic in that.
Yes — you said it so beautifully. Marilyn wasn’t just seen, she knew how to be seen, and that’s where her power lived. She worked with archetypes like an artist, not a passive figure — Lover, Muse, Trickster — all alive in her.
Even in a system built to exploit her, she reshaped it in her image. That tension between being used and using the moment — that’s what makes her legacy so mythic. Thank you for naming it so clearly.
I really appreciate this piece as it opens such an important door into how many women have had to trade being seen for being accepted. But I also think there was something deeply powerful in the way Marilyn embodied archetypes. She wasn’t just looked at — she knew how to be seen, and she wielded that skill like a spell. She wasn’t naive or passive. She studied, transformed, and created her persona. She moved through this world with the Lover and the Muse and the Trickster archetypes all alive in her. And while her life was undeniably shaped by systems of exploitation, I also believe she shaped them right back. There’s something mythic in that.
Yes — you said it so beautifully. Marilyn wasn’t just seen, she knew how to be seen, and that’s where her power lived. She worked with archetypes like an artist, not a passive figure — Lover, Muse, Trickster — all alive in her.
Even in a system built to exploit her, she reshaped it in her image. That tension between being used and using the moment — that’s what makes her legacy so mythic. Thank you for naming it so clearly.