The very worst moment from Netflix's Blonde is what you secretly wanted to see.

This post contains mentions of sexual assault and child loss, and may be triggering to some readers. There are also spoilers within in this post for Blonde. 

Netflix's controversial new film Blonde had an idyllic entry into the world. 

The fictionalised take on the life of Marilyn Monroe, based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates, debuted at Venice Film Festival to ravenous media coverage. With a premiere that featured the movie's leading lady Ana de Armas and producer Brad Pitt gliding down the red carpet before receiving a rapturous 14-minute standing ovation at the film's conclusion.

But when Blonde finally premiered on the streaming service last week, the tide quickly began to turn.

In the face of almost universal criticism against the movie, Blonde's writer and director Andrew Dominik, along with Joyce Carol Oates herself, have been quick to assure audiences the story blends real moments from Marilyn's life with made-up events.

At the same time, there's also a strong chance that many viewers will not be well enough acquainted with the icon's life to tell the difference between fact and fiction. 

Watch the trailer for Blonde here. Post continues after video.

Blonde is less of a narrative-based film and more a collection of (admittedly beautifully shot) scenes that depict Marilyn in either dizzying states of film star glamour or being tortured, objectified, and raped at the hands of the many men who are brought into her story. 

The movie begins with a young Norma Jeane Mortenson (years before she will take on the moniker of Marilyn) who is being raised by her mentally unstable and often violent mother Gladys. 

Norma Jean is sent to live at an orphanage after her mother is declared unfit to raise her and then we jump ahead to the 1940s, where Norma Jeane transforms into a pin-up girl under the stage name of "Marilyn Monroe", and begins her assent in Hollywood.

From this point on barely a moment passes on the screen that doesn't depict Marilyn undergoing some kind of torture, often of a sexual nature, and always with a slightly glamourous and voyeuristic lens placed over the camera.

While trying to break into the acting industry, Marilyn is raped by a film studio president.

She is forced into having an abortion, even though she screams in protest and wakes covered in blood.  

She is violently beaten by her husband, Joe DiMaggio. 

She becomes pregnant again only to have a "vision" of her unborn baby who asks her "you won't hurt me this time, will you?" before she falls and suffers a miscarriage. 

She is abducted by Secret Service agents who deliver her to a hotel to meet the president, where she is forced into sexual acts against her will. 

She is then raped by the president, after which he orders her to be dragged from the room as she vomits and begins to pass out.

All while still looking perfectly put together and glamorous...

Reviewers and audiences alike have been quick to label Blonde as exploitative, distasteful, and revelling in the pain of the ionic movie star who sadly passed away at the age of just 36.

Stars such as Emily Ratajkowski called out the movie for "fetishising female pain, even in death" while Planned Parenthood condemned the film as "anti-abortion propaganda". 

These are all valid criticisms for a film that appears to delight in not only the real-life tragedies of Marilyn Monroe's life, but even the imagined moments of her humiliation and torture.

And yet, this is not the only dark side to Blonde's existence.

Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. Image: Netflix 

All because, at the same time as the public are holding the creators of Blonde to account, it cannot be denied that this film also gives audiences what they secretly crave.

If you look toward the media coverage that is most successful, the online articles that garner the most clicks, the social media posts that attract the most comments and the videos that fill TikTok feeds, the suffering of women, particularly young and attractive women, is most often the key ingredient.

The world's fascination with Amy Winehouse's battles with substance abuse are still as much of a draw card to the public as her music – and our thirst to know more about her deepest struggles fuelled a tabloid frenzy around her right up until her death. 

The same can be said for Britney Spears, because in the early 2000s, and in the decade that followed, content around her mental health, "breakdowns" and moments of personal pain were served up to fans who seemingly had a never-ending appetite for her pain. 

The world liked Britney's music, but it was no match for the entertainment her downfall provided.

During her defamation trial against Johnny Depp this year, images and videos of Amber Heard flooded social media feeds and while the posts in her favour gathered some support, it was the content that depicted her as a villain who was now suffering for her "crimes" that really soared.

In fact, a study later found that content posted around Amber Heard at this time contributed to “one of the worst cases of cyberbullying and cyberstalking by a group of Twitter accounts” and her name trended for weeks as people revelled in her downfall.

The same can be said for Meghan Markle, whose name coupled with any sort of wrongdoing or personal pain is an instant recipe for clicks and comments.

Listen to the hosts of The Spill discuss Blonde on Netflix. Story continues.

Media outlets, tabloids, and online content creators across all platforms are driven by audience numbers and interactions, and the reason this type of content is filling our feeds more than ever is because this is what users will always click on. 

Even if their public-facing accounts say otherwise.

It's the same reason why the problematic “beautiful dead girl” trope is still a major fixture across TV shows and films, and why true crime stories with a young woman at the centre will always find a willing audience ready to devour her story.

The creators of Blonde might not be willing to say it out loud, but the scenes woven together within this movie are delivering on what audiences are proven to enjoy.

Whether they are ready to admit it or not.

So instead of just criticising Blonde, or being angered when it inevitably receives a slew of Oscar nominations, we should instead look at the numbers that are fueling storylines like this.

And examine why tales of female suffering are the one piece of content we cannot turn away from.

Laura Brodnik is Mamamia's Head of Entertainment and host of The Spill podcast. You can follow her on Instagram here.

Image: Netflix