Lindsay Lohan: The Lost Sitting

One of these playthings does not belong here...

Bert Stern's "The Last Sitting" portfolio of Marilyn Monroe—a series of three iconic shoots six weeks before she died—are among my favorite Marilyn images, and among my favorite images, period. I was fascinated by Marilyn Monroe as a teenager, partly for the usual reasons, and maybe partly because gay men sometimes embrace the more interesting icons from their mothers' generation in an effort to feel like we belong. Or in an effort to get closer to our mothers so when we come out, there'll be too much in common for rejection to be an appealing option.

Low or high, always a part of the culture.

I particularly love those "Last Sitting" images that were reproduced later, the ones that bear scratches and orange nail polish to indicate Marilyn did not approve of them. Stern was mortified when she returned his originals marred in this way, especially since she was rejecting them for trivial reasons (too much facial hair, her surgical scar, lop-sided eyeliner). Luckily, the images are still visible, and having the marks on them makes them all the more alluring, at least to me. I cherish my copy of Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting, given to me by my friend Denis.

Eros like cotton candy.

That shoot has been widely copied over the years by too many subjects and photographers to mention them all. One example close to my heart is Madonna. Bert Stern shot her in 1985, and one of the images made the cover of Picture Week, a short-lived Time Warner magazine, though I'm not sure if the shoot was for that magazine or was a spec shoot. (Images embedded at right.) These were not dramatically influenced by "The Last Sitting," but Stern's proximity to Marilyn probably dramatically influenced Madonna's decision to work with him.

Stern told Salon.com in 2001:

"Madonna is gorgeous, the most beautiful eyes you ever saw. A little rough around the edges. She's a tough chick. She spits it out. She has her own agenda. It manifests in the pictures."

Madonna, not content to obliquely reference Marilyn in her own Stern shoot, somewhat callously enlisted one of her then photographers of record (the other being Herb Ritts), Steven Meisel, to copy "The Last Sitting" for a 1991 Vanity Fair spread meant to plug Truth Or Dare, €”the movie poster of which also co-opted the session. (Although Marilyn had been shot in bed many times, and the poster image could be considered a take on any of those as well.) Kind of an unnecessary move since Stern was still alive and had already shot her, but the resulting pictures were stunning and had true depth, shedding insight on who Madonna was at that moment in time.

Marilyn begat Madonna...

...Madonna begat Lindsay?

Now, the 77-year-old photographer has, in my opinion, tarnished his legacy a bit by recreating his own "Last Sitting" shoot with Lindsay Lohan for New York Magazine. I think Lindsay is a fine actress even if she's personally a mess. But to legitimize any delusions she may have that she could ever be in a league with Marilyn Monroe (or Madonna, while we're at it), is embarrassing for her and for Stern. It's also morbid. When other stars have aped these shots, they were focusing on their ethereal beauty. For Lohan, the statement could not be more clear: "I, too, might end up this way...are you for me or against me?"

Even forgiving the bad quality of the scan at left, there's no forgiving the bad copy on the right.

I'm not against her in that regard, but I'm against this shoot. In a couple of the images, Lindsay looks (almost accidentally) lovely, and she certainly has a great body. In others, she looks repulsive. In none does she capture the spirit of the originals, nor does she make them her own as Madonna did by re-inventing Marilyn as an edgier survivor.

Stern also told Salon, about Monroe's disrobing for what would be her last shoot:

"Women like to take their clothes off. I noticed that. Especially in front of a camera. Or a mirror. Women are connected to their bodies and to the effect it has on other people."

This is an interesting observation, and it certainly applied to Monroe and applies to Madonna. With Lindsay, it also applies, but while the former two women seemed to have mastered that power early on, Lindsay knows her body and her nudity have sensational power, but seems to wield that power with increasing frequency and with a blind incompetence.

I expected more of Stern not to take advantage of little girl lost Lohan's cluelessness. But then again, Stern once said he was most excited to shoot Marilyn for the chance to get her sloshed and ball her. Hopefully, Lindsay's still on the wagon.

The full (so far) Lindsay shoot after the jump...

Rough around the edges with a gooey candy filling.

"I wanna be loved like you..."

An over-the-hill stripper most men would still do.

Harsh, hideous...an abomination.

Pretty enough, but flat.

Ineptly posed and her breast looks adolescent here.

Lovely, and yet unconfident, unrelaxed.

Unintentionally funny.

Pretty, but somehow too literal.

A bad caricature of Marilyn...and of Lindsay.

Comments

[kenneth]

I saw Marilyn Monroe movies. I was a fan of hers. Lindsay -- you're no Marilyn Monroe.

[Matthew Rettenmund]

It's true. Lindsay can act—she was great in just about all of her movies until she made a fine "meth" of her life (and even then, she was great in Georgia Rule). But though she has talent, she doesn't have anything really transcendent. There's no magic in her. She had a lot of charm when she was younger and she has a lot of sex appeal. But she definitely got the fuzzy end of the lollipop when it came to enduring appeal.

[Alexandar]

Is this lindsay's come back to the world of entertainment? I agree with kenneth, its all fuzzy to me!

[Jack]

Is that Lindsay or her mother? Yikes!

[Matthew Rettenmund]

That's funny, she does look like her mother; except not her actual mother, just an older version of herself. Dina's quite cute for early 40s.

[JP]

Great idea. Not so great execution.

[Eleni]

I think that some of the pics are ok but she really has no business aping Marilyn. I really wish Lindsay would go back to being a redhead. The only women in Hollywood that have red hair are older and for once it was nice to see a younger woman not jumping on the bleach blonde bandwagon. it helps make her look old and cheap and tawdry.