I don't get why this is surprising. This is a video game forum. Of course people are going to inherently care more about the artistic value of video games than dresses. If you go on a forum specifically for dress design or historically significant objects for American culture and start talking about the importance of archiving the ROM of a cancelled SNES game that was found on a 30 year old harddrive that was about to die, I imagine most people would not care nor understand the artistic importance of that. Both of these are relatively niche things, it's just that we happen to be posting on the very space where enthusiasts for game archival gathers.
Here's the thing, historical dress archivist, most who are fairly young in age, like gen X and Millennial, would actually find the conservation of video games interesting. While they wouldn't be "OMG! that is SOOooo awesome!" they would certainly find it very much an important artifact for cultural reasons and understanding of what people did for fun, and it ties into their own business as game clothing designs are something that they would want to preserve as a means of connecting to the time period and what people were wearing as a means of identity (who they were, what they believed in, etc.) and they certainly would consider games art as they would certainly see the art work regarding games and other aspects of it. So yes, I do think they would be interested in what others had to say in archiving and protecting video games.
This is all super interesting but to be fair, I do not think this is common knowledge at all like you make it out to be, though hey I could be wrong.
Parts of it are not, but its getting more out there now as more people are able to create videos about her, her past, and what she did for Hollywood and women in Hollywood. It's still her face and the fact that she is seen as this sexual thing for a lot of men, the same way Mae West was seen as someone that is sexy, and in more modern times, someone like Pam Anderson, or Beyoncé could be seen as a sex symbol. A LOT of women that followed after her in Hollywood were told to make their hair blonde to be like her, and, along with several other actresses of the 1930s and 1940s, lead to the idea of the Blonde Bombshell.
So yeah her more serious stuff isn't as well known, but it's becoming more common knowledge as more people try to paint a better clearer picture of Norma Jean (Her real first name). I mean hell the song Candle in the wind by Elton John is how he looked up to her and discovered a lot of himself through her movies and then later through learning about her life. It's a tribute to her the person, not the sex icon.
JFK is a historical figure, Monroe was an actress and sex figure, not a historical at all.
I can see why that moment would be memorable (Monroe and JFK) but I don't see how it's anything more than that.
I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority here too.
Monroe was more than that. While she was a sex symbol in many ways, she was also a good actress who had a keen sense of business, enough to follow in Mae West's footsteps to create her own company to make movies that could be used for herself and other actresses who were not getting strong dramatic parts. The issue with Marilyn was that she had to deal with a lot of personal shit, including a mother who was schizophrenic, and that she was worried it would be passed onto her.
For several reasons that moment is memorable: First it was a not planned moment, because no one out side of a few people knew what she was going to do on the night of JFK's birthday party.
Second, it was really the first time both Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn met face to face. Jackie had heard about the stories but this was the moment that confirmed it to her that her husband was sleeping with Monroe. So you have that factor in play her along with the scandal.
Third, it confirmed to the world that the President was having an affair with the star. Which might have been the tipping point that could have lead to her possible murder (still unknown factor if she committed suicide or not due to her connections to the Kennedy's and the damn mobs connection to them)
Fourth this was the dress she wore only a few months before her passing, it was really one of the few happy moments maybe before her death given the shit she had to deal with that came after thanks to Fox studios (fuck them for pressuring her when her doctors said she was sick and then spreading negative bullshit around because they were pissed at a director who wouldn't make a movie without her).
Look at this way. It's 2022 and if you say "Marilyn Monroe" to any person her image is in their head immediately. Just like Elvis or Mickey Mouse.
Now go out and say "Betty Grable" to any person, Grable being one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1940s into the 50s and also a pin-up and model that was arguably more successful than Monroe, most can't even picture her or name a single movie she was in other than "How to Marry a Millionaire" which is mostly famous because Monroe is in it.
People may not know details about Monroe, but they know her.
Yup! this is very true. Just went to the store the other week and they have her name on a clothing line. People know who she is. It's like people know who Madonna is or Lady Gaga.
