You are here:

Marilyn Times Five

Name: Marilyn Times Five
Director: Bruce Conner
Released: 1973
Duration: 14 min

Representation Score

6.7/10

Good

1973

Director

Bruce Conner

Runtime

14 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Bruce Conner’s experimental short uses rhythmic looping and found footage to critique the consumption of female identity. By layering a Marilyn Monroe look-alike's undressing with melancholic music, the film shifts from simple voyeurism to a profound commentary on the exhaustion of the female subject. The film excels in its gendered critique, effectively using repetition to turn eroticism into a sense of systemic fatigue. This challenges the male gaze and provides significant progressive value despite the narrow demographic scope of the footage. However, the work is limited by its source material, resulting in low scores for racial and LGBTQ+ representation. It functions more as a thematic deconstruction of power dynamics than a diverse demographic showcase.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Marilyn Times Five have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film does not include explicit LGBTQ+ characters or narratives. However, it critiques the assumption that everyone is straight or cisgender by deconstructing the male gaze through repetitive, mechanical sexualized consumption.

How does Marilyn Times Five portray gender?

Excellent

Conner subverts gender hierarchies by transforming undressing into a cycle of depletion. The subject's final lifeless posture serves as a powerful indictment of destructive societal expectations.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Marilyn Times Five?

Minimal

The film lacks significant racial or ethnic diversity. It focuses on a singular white archetype, reflecting the limited demographic scope of the original 1948 source material.

How does Marilyn Times Five represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The work challenges cultural boundaries by repurposing transgressive stag films into high-art commentary. It questions the distinction between respectable culture and deviant media through its anti-establishment approach.

Does Marilyn Times Five include disability representation?

Fair

There is no explicit depiction of disability. The subject's physical exhaustion and collapsed posture act as a somatic metaphor for systemic burnout and societal pressure.

Present on Screen

Challenges traditional gender hierarchies and the male gaze.
Uses repetition to critique the consumption of female identity.
Elevates transgressive media into high-art commentary.

Limited or Absent

Limited racial and ethnic diversity within the selected footage.
No explicit LGBTQ+ characters or narratives.
Minimal representation of neurodivergence or physical disability.

Official Synopsis

A commentary on the destructive expectations of females in a male dominated society, Marilyn Times Five was made from an old stag film called "The Apple-Knockers, and the Coke"(1948) these sections of the film were set to Marilyn Monroe's song "I'm Through With Love". The film depicts a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like slowly taking her clothes off for the camera (the viewer). The woman's actions are looped several times which gives the audience a sensation of exhaustion. That exhaustion keeps building until the very end where the woman is shown crumpled on the floor in an awkward position, which makes it appear as if she is lifeless.

How are these scores produced? →