The song Madonna made, inspired by Marilyn Monroe

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Marilyn Monroe was an icon who drove everybody’s attention to herself. Many people loved her; someone hated her for the image she presented through her movies. She was a Hollywood actress, and for most of her life, she followed what the studios wanted by her public character: the image of a blonde girl, proud of her body, offering her appearance freely to the audience. The Netflix movie Blonde revealed her private point of view, and after its release, people started delving into the influence that Marilyn had on the media. In particular, one curiosity came up: the song Madonna wrote, inspired by Marilyn Monroe. Let’s discover more about it.

You can find the official trailer of the movie Blonde here on Youtube.

What’s the song Madonna wrote, inspired by Marilyn Monroe?

There are many examples of how Marilyn Monroe inspired Madonna as she rose as a music icon. A particular song contains a direct reference to Marilyn: we are talking about Material Girl, released by Madonna in 1984. You can find the official video below.

Madonna - Material Girl (Official Video) [HD]

In Material Girl, Madonna interprets an actress going to a studio and playing the part of a girl who praises gifts, money, and jewels as the things she’s most interested in. The scene with Madonna surrounded by wealthy gentlemen giving her gifts is directly inspired by one of the most iconic movie scenes ever interpreted by Marilyn Monroe: the one where she sings Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend in the movie Gentlemen Prefers Blondes. You can find it here.

Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend was also chosen as the trailer song of the movie Blonde, although in a darker version. The song is about women’s preference for diamonds, luxury objects that never age and will always be part of their life, differently than men, who can always leave. It represents an easy, materialistic view, as many movies with Marilyn showed in those years. And Material Girl reinterprets the message from Madonna’s point of view: the official video shows Madonna in a similar dress, dancing on a similar stage as Marilyn’s famous scene.

Material Girl‘s official video also has a side aspect, though: the humble man who wants to impress the actress and succeeds in gathering her attention differently, without expensive gifts. A sign that women also have different values.