Some Complexities of Hollywood

There's a quote that I love and I recently heard it a few times in one week:

Hollywood is the only place where 

you can die from encouragement.

I heard it the same week I watched a documentary called, The Hollywood Complex, and the drama, My Week With Marilyn. Both are worth watching. 

Stunning.

My Week With Marilyn really attempts to dive into the complex person that Marilyn Monroe really was. With Smash and other mentions of her in pop-culture in the last few years, it's become clear that Monroe was not just the girl with the flying skirt standing over the vent. She loved literature, she was smart, she took her craft seriously, she wanted desperately to be taken seriously. And for every clever comment she had to enthrall the media, she was absent the practical steps to cope with her celebrity.

I happen to love Michelle Williams, even though I find most of her characters painfully tragic. I think she is beautiful and ambitious. I love that her best friend is Busy Phillips and I love that she seems generally respected and even adored in Hollywood. I will always appreciate her from the movie Dick, where she and Kirsten Dunst unwittingly happen upon Watergate. Hysterical. Williams nails the part of Monroe. I actually forgot that I was watching an actress at one point. It's a slow movie, and you must really enjoy drama and story to enjoy it. But it's worth a watch if you have any interest at all in who Monroe really was, and what those around her thought of her, and what Hollywood did to her. Though in this movie we only get a glimpse. It doesn't go into her demise, only gives hints as to how it destroyed her.

Please pick me!

The Hollywood Complex is much more blatant in its handling of what Hollywood does to people. The documentary follows a few families who live at a resort for hopeful child actors. These families come to L.A. during casting season and take classes and network hoping to land even an audition. My mouth hung open during the majority of the movie. I couldn't believe the sacrifice of time and money that these people put into hoping that their child might become one in thousands who are trying to get a small part in even a commercial. The movie also reveals another more substantial sacrifice. That of normalcy, that of family. Many of the kids and mothers live away from their fathers and other family members for over half the year. While it's a fun opportunity for the kids, I can't imagine how it plays into feeling as though they have failed when they are unable to land a gig that will cover the costs of being there. When they hear their parents fight about how long to stay, and when to return home. If you like documentaries, or have ever wondered how people try to get their kids noticed, watch it.