Audrey Hepburn Vs. Marilyn Monroe

Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe were both actresses in the Golden Age of Hollywood that were icons in acting, fashion, and persona. However, Audrey and Marilyn were polar opposites in style regarding all these areas, and there has been a debate in history ove which is the more preferred style.

 

 

It is interesting that both these posters have each star in red lipstick so they allow for a side-by-side comparison of each star's persona and style, which is captured perfectly. Audrey is displayed as an innocent and sweetly mischievous gamine and ingénue. Marilyn is displayed as a sexy, vulnerable, yet sweet femme fatale. Both of these actresses have also coined quotes on lipstick, which I will insert here:

“I believe  in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick.  I believe in pink. I believe the happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and… I believe in miracles.”--Audrey Hepburn

“I said pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.”--Marilyn Monroe

Both of these quotes exemplify Audrey's and Marilyn's takes on life and style. Audrey's lipstick quote illustrates that she is innocent, full of life, dreamy, and idealistic. Marilyn's quote captures her confidence, the key to her sexiness. Audrey here represents a classic, conservative approach while Marilyn here represents a bold, liberal approach.

 

I will now discuss Audrey's and Marilyn's acting styles. Although both are celebrated as stars, Audrey Hepburn is appreciated more for her acting than Marilyn Monroe, who is associated more with glamor. However, that condition lay in how they were cast. Audrey was often cast as the sweet and innocent ingénue while Marilyn was often cast as the dumb blonde and/or sexy seductress. I believe that Marilyn had a lot of potential in acting and could have harnessed it had she been cast in more demanding roles. I have seen eight movies starring Audrey Hepburn--Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Love in the Afternoon, Funny Face, My Fair Lady, A Nun's Story, and The Children's Hour--and so far, one and a half movies starring Marilyn Monroe--Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and half of The Seven Year-Itch. So far I have seen that both actresses appear as glamorous icons in their own way in these movies although Audrey also does a good job as an actor. I see that modern day actresses (such as Meryl Streep) are able to completely disappear into their roles and live and breathe and shed blood as human beings in a way that is lacking in Audrey Hepburn. Although she said herself that she wanted to be an actor and not an icon, in most of her roles, she exudes grace and glamour. She is also the icon of Hollywood as many aspiring actresses keep a poster of Audrey Hepburn in their bedrooms. I did see roles that demanded a change from her usual glamor in The Children's Hour and A Nun's Story. It was there that I could actually see Audrey as a human being, which she does a good job of portraying. However, I saw that she shed the glamor in The Children's Hour as a teacher, which she did not in The Nun's Story as a nun. I have heard that Marilyn also took on a challenging role in Bus Stop where she proved her acting ability. I will now discuss the different roles that I have seen Audrey and Marilyn play. In Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Love in the Afternoon, My Fair Lady, and Funny Face, Audrey has portrayed the sweet, innocent ingénue. In Breakfast at Tiffany's, she enacts the role of a dreamy, eccentric, full-of-life, liberal woman who survives by charming men (aka a prostitute). It is interesting to note that Marilyn Monroe was originally offered the role of Holly Golighty, but her agent advised her against portraying a prostitute for the sake of her image. So you see that although Marilyn is known as a sex symbol, she still kept a sense of pride about her body and image. I do not know why Holly Golighty is known as Audrey's signature role since it does not portray her standard ingénue persona (in both acting and real life) the way that the other movies that I mentioned do. Breakfast at Tiffany's is also not one of my favorite movies, although I love how Audrey Hepburn sings "Moon River" sitting on the window!

 

 

 

I will now discuss Marilyn's roles that I have seen. In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Marilyn is portrayed as a superficial, dumb blonde. In The Seven Year Itch, she is portrayed as a sexy, naïve fantasy of a married man (aka a sexy seductress). I will watch more of her movies to develop my opinion of her. So far, it appears that Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is her signature role as an actress and person.

 

 

I will now write about Audrey's and Marilyn's personalities. Most of what I have already said applies as their roles, that Audrey's real life personality is said to be sweet, innocent, classy, and graceful while Marilyn's real life personality is said to be bold, sexy, glamorous, and seductive. However, I have also heard that in real life, Marilyn was quite intelligent and always carried a book in her purse. Both Audrey and Marilyn have been role models in personality and style as many girls have strived to emulate either woman.

I will now discuss the styles of Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, which illustrate their individual personalities. Audrey Hepburn's style is classic, feminine, and graceful, reflective of her sweet and innocent gamine personality, while Marilyn Monroe's style is sexy, bold, and alluring, reflective of her sharp seductress persona. Audrey also worked through what God gave her, staying away from plastic surgery and heels or any other fake displays, while accentuating her strong points. Marilyn, on the other hand, challenged nature and dyed her hair blonde, attained plastic surgery, embraced heels, and wore false eyelashes. When I read WikiHow articles on how to dress like Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, most of the tips are diametrically opposed. The article on Audrey Hepburn says that Audrey knew both her strong points and weak points and emphasized her strong points while deemphasizing her weak points. While Audrey wore kitten heels to deemphasize her tall stature, Marilyn coined the quote, "I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot." I have found it very interesting that the two actresses' status as polar opposites is exemplified by how the WikiHow article on Audrey Hepburn mentions that every girl should have an LBD to showcase her as elegant female, referring to Audrey's LBD in Breakfast at Tiffany's as an example, while the WikiHow article on Marilyn Monroe states, "Forget the LBD! It's all about the LWD!" referring to Marilyn's LWD from The Seven Year Itch. The WikiHow article on Audrey advises to stay away from crop tops while the article on Marilyn advises to embrace crop tops, much like Marilyn. The article on Marilyn instructs the woman to wear a bikini while the article on Audrey instructs the woman to wear the less popular one-piece bathing suit. I love how Audrey states that "You can wear a crown even if you are not royalty" and believes that every woman should be treated as a princess. Both articles, however, advise women to wear pearls and red lipstick, which represent both Audrey's and Marilyn's styles. I believe that both styles contain femininity and glamor. I think that Audrey's style could be classified as classic while Marilyn's style could be classified as trendy. After all, the WikiHow articles mention that Audrey did not follow trends, but was rather old-fashioned for her era while Marilyn followed the trends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will now discuss the different shapes of Audrey's and Marilyn's figures. Marilyn had a classic female hourglass figure, with voluptuous curves and big breasts (very suitable to her sexy persona), while Audrey had a rail-thin boyish figure with less curves and small breasts. Both of them flaunted what they had. However, as aforementioned, Audrey emphasized her strengths (such as her diminutive waist--by cinching with a belt) and deemphasized her weaknesses (such as her small breasts and tall stature) in her dressing while Marilyn both flaunted her strengths (such as her big breasts and curves through low-cut dresses, crop tops, and bikinis) and challenged nature in her weaknesses (through plastic surgery). Both figures are very appealing in their own ways.

 

 

As I had mentioned in a previous blog entry, I am 50% Audrey Hepburn and 50% Marilyn Monroe. I am a sweet and innocent ingénue and gamine like Audrey and love to wear the classic, graceful style. I love dresses, lace, silk, and ruffles. I would also like to dress like a princess, such as with a crown, like Audrey idealized. I also wear Audrey Hepburn bangs, which are always in style. I would also rather try to work with nature rather than against it and avoid dying my hair, plastic surgery, and fake eyelashes. So I love kitten heels and prefer them to heels although a part of me also likes heels. However, I am like Marilyn in my affinity for bikinis and crop tops. People have advised me against posting bikini photos on the Web, but I will continue to do so. I like different aspects of Audrey's and Marilyn's figures. I idealize the feminine, curvy hourglass figure that Marilyn has. I also like that Audrey is tall and slim. At the moment, I am busty and curvy like Marilyn and not very slim (although I was two years ago). I am also tall like Audrey. My goal is to have a very slender, curvy hourglass figure with big busts that is of tall stature (a mix of Audrey and Marilyn).

I will end by stating that I keep many Audrey and Marilyn dolls on my window seat. This represents that I see them as iconic role models to emulate.

Japan

I have always been enamored by Japan. It is my favorite country of Mongoloid natives. There are many facets of Japan that fascinate me.

I appreciate anime culture. I have to admit that I am not yet well-versed in anime as I would like to be, but I plan to get well-versed in the next few years. Anime is a genre all on its own. My former suitemate told me that even though anime involves Japanese characters, the characters have different colored hair.

I have, however, watched a few episodes of the American version of Sailor Moon where the girl is named Serena and has a cat named Luna. However, I plan on watching the whole series in the original Japanese uncut version. I hope to get the series DVD. I appreciate the fantasy and magic of the series. I love that the heroines have sailor names and are dressed in different colored sailor outfits. I hope to own the different colored sailor costumes one day. I also love the moon! I read on Wikipedia that Sailor Moon is a very sensitive girl. I was going through an emotional period and appreciated and empathized that Sailor Moon cries a lot because I was crying a lot those days. I also like that Sailor Moon does not get the best grades because I do not think that heroines have to be perfect.

I have watched the dubbed fantasy anime movies, Princess Mononoke and Paprika 4 1/2 years ago. I remember that I really enjoyed them since they were of the fantasy genre. I like that Princess Mononoke is about animals and that Paprika is about dreams, psychology, and inner lives. I plan to watch the original Japanese versions.

I would like to familiarize myself with Japanese live action movies, particularly Japanese romances. My friend, Veronica told me that in Japanese romance movies, the conservative culture is reflected in how there is rarely kissing.

Another facet of Japanese culture that fascinates me is Lolita fashion. I love how Japan is intrigued by English Victorian culture (a culture that I am fascinated by) and strives to emulate it in Lolita culture. The Lolita subsets include Classic Lolita, Sweet Lolita, Gothic Lolita, and Fairy Lolita. I especially like Sweet Lolita since it is so girly and cutesy and most Victorian and Fairy Lolita since it is so magical. Some of Lolita fashion derives from the Victorian Alice in Wonderland. My friend, Ginny told me that Lolita fashion has the aim of a sexual fetish--that it strives for the appearance of sweetness and innocence for sexual appeal. She told me that it derives from the title character in Lolita who is sexually appealing as a child. I told her that I like to incorporate the fashion since I like to have a sweet & innocence persona & I find the style beautiful. She told me that that's fine; as long as I am doing it for myself and not to attract a sexual fetish. I like the bonnets, bows, dresses and accessory dolls and lollipops of Sweet Lolita fashion. Once while walking in the streets of NYC, I saw two grown women dressed in pretty frocks and carrying dolls in one arm. I really hope that I can buy enough Lolita outfits when I have the money. I already have two jumper dresses with Alice on them and two matching bonnets.

 

 

 

I am fascinated by Harajuku in Tokyo. I love Gwen Stefani's brand, Harajuku Lovers, which is based on her band. I own many of their purses and clothing and plan to one day get a perfume of each character, which is like a doll. I love how in her song, "Harajuku Girls," Gwen Stefani describes Harajuku as a "Ping-Pong match" between the East and the West. So I bet that Harajuku tries to incorporate both eastern and western culture. I was wearing a Harajuku Lovers Alice in Wonderland top one day, and one Japanese girl told me that Harajuku is very a popular place to visit, especially for the young crowd. If I get to go to Japan, I would love to visit Harajuku and would shop there for many items, such as Lolita outfits.

 

I also love Sanrio, better known as the Hello Kitty brand. I own Hello Kitty's signature red Chubby Bunny bow along with many of different colored bows in Hello Kitty style. Hello Kitty is so cute as is her twin sister, Mimmy. The creator of Hello, Kitty must be intrigued by twins since there are numerous pairs of twins in the Hello, Kitty, the other noteworthy pair being the boy-girl twins, Kiki and Lala. Hello, Kitty, Mimmy, and Twin Stars are my favorite characters, and I own a number of their products. I particularly love my two musical jewelry boxes in the shape of a piano with rainbow keys in the colors red and pink. Both pianos have both Hello, Kitty and Mimmy on them. I hope to learn the stories of Hello, Kitty and watch the show.

 

 

 



My friend, Michael told me about this rabbit island in Japan called Ōkunoshima (大久野島). I would love to visit this island since I love rabbits, and I love the seaside! In a perfect world, I would take home a pure white rabbit with blue eyes, but realistically, they would possibly not survive in my climate.

I will now write about Japanese literature. My friend, Kat told me that there is a beautiful melancholy and subtlety in Japanese literature, compared to American literature.

I have wanted to read The Tale of Genji since seventh grade when I first heard of it as the world's first novel and a very voluminous work. It was first written and illustrated on handscrolls. I have owned a beautiful illustrated hardcover two-volume edition for years, but have yet to finish reading it. I have read that The Tale of Genji is full of digressions and streams-of-consciousness. Whenever I hear the usage, "I digress," I wish to turn to the master of digression, The Tale of Genji. I appreciate that every theme is in The Tale of Genji, including love & the supernatural, two of my favorite themes. I also love that The Tale of Genji is referred to as a psychological novel, a field that I am currently researching. Here is an excellent encyclopedic site on The Tale of Genji: http://www.taleofgenji.org/ 

 

The Memoirs of Geisha is another book set in Japan that is a well-known masterpiece. I read it nine years ago. I remember appreciating that Sayuri said that she is like water while her sister is like wood. I also love Sayuri's sweet, innocent, poetic, imaginative, storybook way of talking. I like that Sayuri has beautiful gray eyes. I love the name, Sayuri! I need to reread Memoirs of a Geisha.

I was introduced to Haruki Murakami in a creative writing workshop. We read the short story, "The Second Bakery Attack" from the collection, The Elephant Vanishes. A classmate thought that the represented Japanese culture was very similar to American culture. I have also read Sputnik, Sweetheart. A friend recommended the voluminous work, 1Q84 to me. 1Q84 has been entitled Murakami's magnum opus.

 

My friend, Michael also said that the political system of Japan is unique and powerful. I would like to look into that.

Japan is also very famous for its beautiful cherry blossoms. I hope to visit Japan during the cherry blossom season in spring.

 

I also have to mention that one of my best friends from college, Kabir grew up in Japan. He was the one that got me fascinated with Japanese culture. Through his sweet, mature personality, I have a good impression of Japanese culture.

I hope to add more to this discourse once I have familiarized myself more with all the above mentioned and travelled to Japan.







Siblings

Every day of my life, I have been very grateful and proud to have an older brother and be a sister. I think that the sibling dimension is very special and irreplaceable. My older brother, who is just one year older than me, has always been my favorite person in the world and my biggest hero and role model and was my first playmate and best friend. So I dedicate this blog to Madhav Sukumaran.

The relationship between an older brother and younger sister is my favorite relationship, other than that between multiple births. People have written that the relationship between older brother and younger sister is the most loving, which I like. I do think that the relationship between older brother and sister is sometimes overidealized and looked at through rose-colored glasses by society. Society believes that the older brother is protective of the younger sister (especially against her male suitors) and looks after her and loves and cherishes her. My female friend who has a younger brother said that that is why she always wished she had an older brother. One woman on a forum who was expecting a baby boy after having a girl said that she was disappointed and hated the older sister-younger brother relationship since she has followed the belief of society that the boy should be older to protect the sister. I particularly love and romanticize the expectation of the older brother to be protective against guys that chase his younger sister. However, I found that in reality, it is quite different from the romanticized societal perspective.
I have observed among family members and friends that the older sister and younger brother often have a better relationship than the older brother and younger sister. That is because the female has the nature to nurture and looks after her younger brother while a male often is naughty and teases and bullies his younger sister. It is interesting because I had thought of this nurturing nature of the girl on my own, and my father also told me that the female of living species has a motherly quality in the context of discussing siblings. So since the older sister mothers the young brother while the older brother tends to tease the younger sister, the older sister and younger brother can click better and be better friends. The younger brother can also be protective of the older sister, though not overprotective.
When we were toddlers, my brother and I were the best of friends. As we grew older as kids, my brother tended to tease me, which I did not like, but we were still very close, and I thought we were exceptionally close as brother and sister. As teenagers, I lived in my brother's shadow as "Madhav's sister" as my brother always watched out for me helped me out in school socially and academically. As we became adults, however, it started to change. My brother wanted me to be perfect, and I always felt that he was finding fault with me and trying to control my life. He has definitely been protective of me against guys and has felt awkward hearing my love stories. I, on the other hand, would fawn over him and show him overflowing affection, which he, as a guy, shied away from. As I have matured, I have learned how to have a better relationship with him. I have learned to tell him less about my life, such as my love interests and mistakes, so that he cannot judge me or feel awkward. I have learned not to shower him with affection. And as a result, he has started to treat me better and show me more love. As I was having a discussion with my father today about siblings, he told me that always the older brother wants the younger sister to be perfect and tends to be domineering. So I guess that our relationship does not stand out that way.
I will now write about examples that I have experienced and seen among my friends and family. My friend who told me that she always wanted an older brother actually has a wonderful, friendly relationship with her younger brother, which may be better than mine with my brother. Her younger brother really cares for her. She hangs out with her younger brother as friends, something that I wish I could do more of with my brother. I have also analyzed a lot about the sibling relationship from one family of four brothers and four sisters who are in the particular order: girl, girl, boy, boy, girl, boy, boy girl. The 2nd boy was extremely close to his brother and often ganged up with him against the younger girl that was next in line. That 3rd girl was very close and friendly with her younger brother more than with her older brothers. The 2nd boy was very close with his older sister, the 2nd girl. Both of them loved to read and study. The 2nd girl also was like a friend to him and teased him. The 2nd girl loved the 1st boy, her younger brother the most. As they grew older, the four sisters became very close and like a unit separate from the boys in their own way.
When siblings are the same gender, they often can click as friends in a way that siblings of different genders cannot. It is hard for people of different genders to tell each other everything or enjoy the same activities. It is quite common for siblings of the same gender to hang out. 
I will now write about examples from fiction. I particularly like the Santos family, a boy and four girls, from All My Children. They are in the following order: Maria, Julia, Mateo, Anita, and Rosa.

Mateo seems to be the closest and most friends with his older sister closest to him in age, Julia. He talks about how when they were young, Julia was obsessed with Cinderella and always play-acted Cinderella with him, making him play all the male parts from Prince Charming to the dog! Mateo can confide most in Julia and ask her for advice. I liked both Mateo and Anita a lot and loved the older brother-younger sister relationship so I wanted them to be close. Indeed, when Anita is on the run from their father's strict rule, Mateo welcomes her to stay with him even though his girlfriend has just moved in. It is so sweet the way that Mateo hugs Anita, relieved after she shows up at his door. I love how Anita says, "I love you!" and how when Anita says that Mateo needs to think about himself, Mateo says that that is what he is doing, that he would be worried sick if she was out on the run in an unknown place, but at peace if she is staying with him. And it is so sweet how he says that his sisters will always be a part of him and that he feels the need to protect them. I love how he appreciates that Anita is so full of life and headstrong and has to save his father from killing her spirit. Here are the clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbenkO-UKig
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2eU64iQT7w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iq5rqD3D08
Then later Mateo still watches out for Anita and where she will end up staying when she insists on not cramming up his space with his girlfriend. I like how he distinguishes being protective over being overprotective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqkpuG7eHd4
Mateo is so sweet, the way that he always tries to save Anita from the chains of their overbearing father.
Mateo also is very protective of his youngest sister, Rosa in her teenage years. He does not like her to be revealing while dressed or run around with players. I also love Mateo's relationship with Rosa whom I love.
In the Santos family, I also see that sisters can share an exclusive type of closeness separate from their brother. The four females often hang out together without Mateo. Anita also talks about how Maria, Julia, and she used to have bonding sessions when they were younger.
I love Tom and Maggie's relationship in The Mill on the Floss.

Tom and Maggie's relationship is a lot like mine with my brother. Tom and Maggie are very close and friends. Maggie worships her big brother, and Tom chastises Maggie a lot. In the end, they are "not by death divided."
I will now discuss personality traits of siblings. The only child has grown up alone and has often been pampered with all the attention. Thus, the only child syndrome involves the subconsciousness that the world revolves around you and independence. The oldest child often takes charge and the lead. Thus, the oldest child syndrome includes domination, leadership, and maturity. The younger child has often been indulged and looks up to the  older sibling. So the younger child can be a bit selfish, yet accommodating and rarely domineering. I am still trying to figure out more traits of the younger child and the middle child. Wikipedia states that the younger child is often the charmer and entertainer. I am trying to see if that is true. Someone else told me that among two sisters, the younger sister is often more social, sociable, and sophisticated, having learned from her older sister. I know that I very much have the younger child syndrome in terms of having a bit of selfishness and not being domineering. I am very happy that I was never an only child.
I would like to explore the topic of siblings in depth as a future project. My ingenious friend, Leslie had a unique, complex dance theatre piece all on siblings in the show, Snow Globe.
I will end by wrapping up my thoughts and preferences on siblings. I have always romanticized that siblings have a very loving relationship where they tell each other that they love each other, hug and kiss each other, and confide in each other about everything and affectionately tease each other. I love being in an older brother-younger sister relationship. I have often wished to also have a younger sister to dress up and take care of. However, I am glad that I got my first choice of a brother. I have also always wanted to be a part of a multiple birth. Hence, I will be writing about multiple births in a later blog. I have always wished I could live in a madhouse full of multiple siblings. I think that one can learn a lot and develop as a person through having a sibling or multiple.

Recap...and Mathematics

In the train to NYC this afternoon, I had a very enriching conversation with this very intellectual statistician with a doctorate in statistics. I will detail this conversation in this blog, The statistician was enlightening me on mathematics, one of his fields of expertise that I am most interested in. The left side of my brain is all about mathematics and logic (which can also be classified as a branch of mathematics).
In school, English and mathematics were always my two favorite and best subjects. In middle and high school, it became English, mathematics, and Spanish. The highest level of mathematics that I have studied was Advanced Placement Calculus BC in high school. In college, I did not take any courses in calculus since my ego prevented me from repeating calculus, which many had to in college. Now I wish that I had studied till the highest level of calculus. I still hope to study the highest level of calculus and mathematics someday in my free time.
Michael, my train acquaintance, told me that there is all kinds of calculus. I had known before about Calculus III: Multivariable Calculus and Calculus IV: Differential Calculus. Michael told me that there is also, for example, Vector Calculus. He told me that for the master's degree in Mathematics, the fields are divided into Advanced Analysis (aka Calculus), Linear Algebra, and Topology. He said that in the PhD, students go into one of those three fields in depth.

 

I would love to learn Vector Calculus someday, along with Multivariable Calculus, Differential Calculus, and all the other forms of calculus. When I have free time, now that I am free of my ego, I am going to start from scratch in calculus and work upwards to the highest level of calculus. Michael recommended a book on advanced mathematics by Rubin. Now all I need to do is dig up some college calculus textbooks and start from scratch.

 

 

 

 

 

I love learning about all different subjects and majors, even if I do not major in them. Mathematics is on the list of the majors that I would have taken on if I did not take up English Literature and Theatre. I learned that people either major in pure or applied mathematics. I think that I am all for pure mathematics since I am not about practicality and more of a purist. I mentioned to Michael that I am interested in learning about mathematics applied to liberal arts, rather than science. Michael said that the liberal arts applicants usually study and apply logic and sometimes other mathematics and become lawyers. He recommended law school for someone of my background.
I also really love the topic of logic. I took logic in college to fulfill the math requirement. The logic course actually ended up being tougher than I thought it would be. I hope to one day study the relations between logic, philosophy, and mathematics.

I also discussed my career goals. My dream is to get a career in academia to make use of my doctorate in English Literature. However, it is very competitive. So if that does not work out, I hope to get a career in book publishing or copywriting. I would like to engage in copywriting for business, fashion, or pharmacy. I am working on building a portfolio right now. As you can see, I really like writing a lot! Everyone says that there is a lot of scope for an English major.