Blonde has become one of the most controversial films of the year. Since its premiere last Wednesday on Netflix, the nearly three-hour-long film starring Ana de Armas has been met with varying reception from audience and critics alike.
The pro-abortion organization Planned Parenthood has been one of the latest to criticize the Marilyn Monroe biopic, disapproving of the film's portrayal of abortion: "It stigmatizes the choices people make about their health," Caren Sprunch, National Director of Arts and Entertainment of the American Federation of Planned Parenthood told The Hollywood Reporter.
CGI: The cause of discomfort
It wasn't the presence of abortion in the movie that angered Planned Parenthood, rather that the film declined to show it. In Blonde, a CGI fetus asks a pregnant Monroe: "You won’t hurt me this time, will you?"
It seems like an innocent question, but Planned Parenthood considers this moment in Blonde to be a step in the wrong direction: "As film and TV shapes many people’s understanding of sexual and reproductive health, it’s critical these depictions accurately portray women’s real decisions and experiences," Sprunch said.
Sprunch also says that, in her opinion, abortion poses no risk to women: "While abortion is safe, essential health care, anti-abortion zealots have long contributed to abortion stigma by using medically inaccurate descriptions of fetuses and pregnancy," she said. "Andrew Dominik’s new film, Blonde, bolsters their message with a CGI-talking fetus, depicted to look like a fully formed baby."
Hot topic of the moment
Andrew Dominik, director of the controversial film, responded to Planned Parenthood's criticism in an article published by The Wrap: "People are obviously concerned with losses of freedoms. But, I mean, no one would have given a shit about that if I’d made the movie in 2008, and probably no one’s going to care about it in four years’ time. And the movie won’t have changed. It’s just what’s sort of going on," he said. It was not his intention that the depiction of abortion be what is remembered from Blonde, rather the portrayal of how Monroe's life was ultimately complicated by her fame and did not end up being what she had desired when she entered the world of entertainment.
