SCÈNE 04. Juan Barquin, Writer, Cultural Programmer & Filmmaker
Sparkling diamonds and pink satin become more resplendent when worn by a true star: Marilyn Monroe.
Hi! Thank you ever so for joining us. You’re now reading the fourth edition of Mise-En-Scène, and I might as well be dripping in jewels at the moment, just glittering. That’s how lit up I am to introduce you to this edition’s featured guest and their pick for indelible mise-en-scène.
Juan Barquin (@woahitsjuanito on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky) is a Miami, Florida-based writer with bylines in Autostraddle, Reverse Shot, Little White Lies, Hyperallergic, Miami New Times, and Them. They are also the co-creator of and programmer for the (frequently sold-out) queer film series Flaming Classics. (Their 2022 screening of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet at Coral Gables Art Cinema, which I attended, was an opulent scream! A lovingly crafted production. Mercutio would have gagged.)
Juan is also a filmmaker who aspires to be Bridget Jones. I love their kinetic work as a critic and cultural commentator, imbued by a true eat-sleep-and-breathe love for the art. And while we disagree on Andrew Dominik’s widely maligned Blonde (2022)—I appreciated it, especially for its bracing adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’s book; they didn’t care for it (to put it very lightly, ha!)—we are united in one thing, and that’s our full-blooded admiration for the singular Blonde Actress at its center: Marilyn Monroe.
I’m a life-long lover of Mariah Carey, famously the current owner of Marilyn’s white Baby Grand piano, and I’ve rewatched the ill-fated SMASH, a 2012 NBC series plotted around mounting a Broadway bio-musical about Norma Jean and Marilyn, more times than I should disclose. But I have to admit that Marilyn Monroe’s work as an actor had mostly missed me until well into my adult years. Her mythology is so dense, it seemed like work to watch her stuff. I’m glad I finally corrected that through a TMC marathon a few years ago (and if you haven’t, watch her unsung performance in The Misfits, 1961). Although I will always prefer the steely earthiness of Natalie Wood and the silken saltiness of Carole Lombard over the irrepressible siren call of Marilyn and the blonde bombshells who came before and after, she really was so unique as an entertainer. Thankfully, we have Juan here to help us unpack why.
Read ahead for Juan Barquin1 on Marilyn’s legendary performance in one of the most joyful musical comedies in our canon, featuring one of the best double-victory endings: Howard Hawks’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).
“I CAN BE SMART WHEN IT'S IMPORTANT. BUT MOST MEN DON’T LIKE IT”: WRITER, CULTURAL PROGRAMMER & FILMMAKER JUAN BARQUIN ON GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, 1953
JUAN ON FIRST ENCOUNTERING, AND THEN RE-EXPERIENCING, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES:
There were plenty of times that I watched this film when I was younger, as my family had a vague obsession with Marilyn Monroe despite probably not actually having seen all that many of her works, but this one was a staple. I can honestly say I never truly re-experienced it properly until adulthood when I programmed it for Flaming Classics’ first series, specifically on camp.
JUAN ON CAMP, AND WHY GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES QUALIFIES:
The word may be indefinable (even Susan Sontag’s excellent essay “Notes on Camp” can’t quite cover every possible use of it).
[Camp] was the basis of our first series—which also included What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962); But I’m a Cheerleader (1999); Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965); Psycho Beach Party (2000); and Serial Mom (1994)—and Blondes fit in neatly. It’s a pitch-perfect comedy with some of the most inspired musical numbers of its era, be it “Ain’t There Anyone Here For Love?” or the oft-imitated, never duplicated “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” and Hawks using his aesthetic sensibilities (and that sweet, sweet Technicolor) to great effect with a number of visual gags.
JUAN ON *THE* PERFECT SHOT: MARILYN MONROE AND HER “DIAMONDS”:
This shot has always stuck out to me as such a distinct moment in a song that is entirely made up of distinct moments. It strips down the background, it removes the color and light, and fixates on the true star: It's Marilyn. Everything else, every body, is just set decor when they're around her, because nothing else matters. Unless they're distinctly on her level (like Jane Russell is), they serve as nothing more than background noise, however gorgeous and unique.
JUAN ON THE PERFECT HARMONY BETWEEN STARS JANE RUSSELL AND MARILYN MONROE:
It’s really the script and the performances that have elevated [Blondes] for me. Jane Russell is the perfect straight man, comfortable with the subtle delivery of a punchline or a one-liner that might fly over a character’s head (or the viewer’s own). And Marilyn… it continues to be baffling to me that anyone could dismiss what a brilliant performer Monroe is, and I firmly believe it’s, in great part, because of what a flawless performance as a ditsy diamond-loving woman (dare I say “bimbo”) she gives here. It takes astounding self-awareness to not only nail this kind of “dumb” persona, but to embed it with such an unforgettable personality.
They’re both irresistible, whether you’re watching the duo together or apart, and the film even takes great care to end on the both of them getting married—their respective partners an afterthought, because we’re well aware that the true coupling is that of Lorelei Lee (Monroe’s character) and Dorothy Shaw (Russell’s character). (Nat’s note: Indeed, the double wedding, and in particular when both showgirls glance sideways at each other, and then down at their respective big rocks, seals the movie for me with a red-velvet kiss. The most satisfying girls-make-good ending right next to Velma and Roxie doing the Hot Honey Rag in Chicago.)
[The girls’] love for each other is protective, charming, and truly unconditional, and Alexander Doty’s Flaming Classics, the academic text on which we based our film series, has only served to highlight its queerness in unique ways that I never would have caught in my youth (and, no, I’m not just talking about those beige nude bathing suits).
JUAN ON HOW BLONDES PRESENTS ITSELF IN THEIR BEING:
I’ve spent plenty of years joking that Lorelei Lee, Marilyn’s character, has been a defining influence on my personality: smart, calculated, goal-oriented, but all hidden beneath the façade of an idiot. Clumsiness and playfulness can be as powerful a weapon as any other, and every damn time I revisit this picture, I can’t help but fall further in love with it, wondering what piece of it I might accidentally end up imitating in my life.
What if I were to tell you Juan has wide-ranging, on-the-edge-of-your-seat tastes? Shocking, right?
Other than loving some Blondes, here are their picks for some au courant cultural favorites. (As a reminder: No affiliate links used here!)
JUAN BARQUIN RECOMMENDS
The Curse on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME®.
Juan says: A perfect miniseries that continues to build on Nathan Fielder's pet fixations and engagement with televisual works and contemporary politics and self-analysis.Company, the North American tour.
Juan says: Easily the best production of the show I've ever seen outside of the John Doyle one.Alison Rumfitt, author.
Juan says: Tell Me I'm Worthless was a masterpiece of haunted house literature, Brainwyrms is as close to Clive Barker as anyone has gotten in years, and she's the only person working in trans horror lit that truly matters, IMO.NYMPHOWARS podcast.
Juan says: [I’m] always going to love trans women just talking shit, but re-listening to the specific episodes "Kill Drag Race" and "Murder On The Stupid Bitch Express" really emphasized how much I love their sense of humor and how great Theda [Hammel] and Macy [Rodman] are at both scripted and unscripted radio plays. (Nat’s note: Theda’s new feature film Stress Positions, starring alt-comedy genius John Early, sits high on my watchlist.)Our Home Out West (2023), directed by Cole Escola.
Juan says: Cole Escola is one of the greatest actors of our time and their passion for performance, for camp, and for melodrama are all so beautifully on display in this short that it really is one of my favorite films of last year. (Nat’s note: Getting tickets to their stageplay Oh, Mary!, currently running at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, will be how I spend my Spring Break.)
Even though the two pictures share no relation narratively, I’m now off to watch Jane Russell’s spiritual sequel to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955, directed by Richard Sale). This is the only multiverse I care about, other than J.Lo’s.
Thank you, as always, for reading! You can follow Juan Barquin’s musings, critiques, love letters, and inspirations here and here, where they often share their new writing.
In the words of Juan, “Now, before I keep going on and on, I have one last thing to say: Bye Bye Baby.”
See you real soon!
Lightly edited for clarity.