I've enjoyed the work of both Rachel and Marilyn at different times, so was curious to see what the doco had to offer. As the old saying goes, 'there's he said, she said and what really happened'. This is definitely from the 'she said' perspective.
Marilyn was all about testing boundaries and his music and visuals would not be given a pass in today's hypersensitive times. I'd pretty much forgotten his video clips and they really are pretty full-on. I remember there were a lot of conservatives and concerned parents rallying against him agt the time and it turns out their concerns were valid, if Rachel's story is to be believed - her accusations remain just that at this point.
She claims to have suffered multiple forms of abuse and I think she probably did. He was one pretty weird dude. What is not explored in greater depth is how her family, particularly her brother, felt about all this and why she stayed for so long. Surely she told her friends what was going on. What did they say? Did anyone offer her a safe haven for escape? Did she have any therapy during this time? What was the result if she did? I don't ask these questions from a victim-blaming perspective, but one of genuine curiosity.
What could be interesting is a 'he said' companion piece, but that's not going to happen. I guess the one thing to take away from this doco is that exposing a child to showbusiness at an early age is not a good idea, no matter how exciting it may seem.
Marilyn was all about testing boundaries and his music and visuals would not be given a pass in today's hypersensitive times. I'd pretty much forgotten his video clips and they really are pretty full-on. I remember there were a lot of conservatives and concerned parents rallying against him agt the time and it turns out their concerns were valid, if Rachel's story is to be believed - her accusations remain just that at this point.
She claims to have suffered multiple forms of abuse and I think she probably did. He was one pretty weird dude. What is not explored in greater depth is how her family, particularly her brother, felt about all this and why she stayed for so long. Surely she told her friends what was going on. What did they say? Did anyone offer her a safe haven for escape? Did she have any therapy during this time? What was the result if she did? I don't ask these questions from a victim-blaming perspective, but one of genuine curiosity.
What could be interesting is a 'he said' companion piece, but that's not going to happen. I guess the one thing to take away from this doco is that exposing a child to showbusiness at an early age is not a good idea, no matter how exciting it may seem.