"Reframed: Marilyn Monroe" is so wedded to its "all men are scum" take (ironic, as the last episode features the truly reptilian Lawrence Shiller!), it intentionally ignores Joe DiMaggio's reentry into her life after her divorce from Arthur Miller. Contrary to what "biographer" Sarah Churchwell states, Marilyn didn't "somehow" get herself out of the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. DiMaggio did. It was he who cared for her during her last 19 months (to the extent she allowed), claimed her body, and arranged her funeral (dismissed here as a small gathering of family and friends). He also quit his job four days before her death to return to California to ask her to remarry him. All of this is ignored! Churchwell's insistence that Monroe saw DiMaggio as a means to boost her fame by co-oping his is a load of hooey, and the Cynical Harpy/Girl Power! Bit does her no favors. While The Misandrists do note Zanuck tried to replace Monroe after she fled to the NYC, only Sheree North (who would play her mother in the TV movie "Marilyn: The Untold Story") is mentioned (Jayne Mansfield would like a word, guys!). No mention of Monroe's pivotal role in "The Asphalt Jungle" (!) or her conversion to Judaism upon marrying Miller (!!)? Seriously? The Harpies dragging then-nobody Hugh Hefner in the second episode for not giving Marilyn a heads-up about using the nude calendar photos to launch "Playboy" was the perfect metaphor for the entire series: utter bumptiousness and twice as inane. But, then again, this IS CNN.
Review of Reframed: Marilyn Monroe
