Marilyn Monroe at 100: The Economics of Immortality in an Age of Disposable Fame
One hundred years after the birth of Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood is once again confronting a question larger than celebrity itself: why do certain individuals remain culturally alive long after death while others vanish despite greater contemporary visibility? At a centennial celebration hosted by The Hollywood Museum, a collection of personal artefacts, rare photographs, and historical memorabilia was assembled not merely to commemorate a film star, but to preserve one of the most enduring symbols of twentieth-century identity. The exhibition reveals a deeper system at work—how institutions curate collective memory, how icons become economic assets, and how culture itself functions as a form of infrastructure that shapes human aspiration across generations.
