The article states Marilyn Monroe had an IQ of 163. This is an extremely high score. Most people's IQ's are no where near this. This makes me wonder why she hid her intelligence. I think she hid her intelligence because it helped her keep her famous image, which was a just a beautiful, dumb blonde who everyone loved. Hiding her intelligence made it easier for her to pretend to be how everyone saw her.
Another reason I think she hid her intelligence is so more people would like her. Back then, men were thought to be the smarter gender. Hiding her intelligence allowed her to blend into society's norms. When Marilyn Monroe lived, it was still normal to be just a stay at home mom. Women were not thought of as being the ones capable of holding an intelligent conversation.
I do not know of any celebrities that are hiding their intelligence as Marilyn Monroe did. However, I do know that Natalie Portman graduated from Harvard. When I originally found this out, it surprised me. I never thought of her a someone who could be so smart. It was wrong of me to think like that, but in every movie she is in, she is praised for her looks. Off the big screen she might be super smart, but no news report on her has ever talked about that. Emma Watson is one of the few female celebrities that I have ever noticed get praised for her intelligence. She attended and graduated from Brown University. Many news sources reported how smart and talented she was. She was able to balance movie roles and Brown's insanely hard curriculum.
The role she plays in her acting is definitely confused with her actual intelligence. I agree with you that people may not like her acting or characters as well if they found out she wasn't that intelligent. Its tough to say that actors/actresses put on an act outside of Hollywood to ensure their iconic dominance. However we see this with other celebrities who are intelligent because its what fans and viewers want to see.
ReplyDeleteHi Zach,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that Monroe probably hid her intelligence due to the time period she lived in. It , however, goes deeper than Men were viewed as smarter than women. It was the different gender roles that existed during the time period. Women were the homemakers and were basically expected to be a pretty face who could clean. Monroe already made herself different from this by working. Using her intelligence to her full potential may have made her out to be an outcast.