'Tis a fine portrait:

Richard Avedon, Marilyn Monroe, 1957, Gelatin silver print

Marilyn is a cultural image of what men desired. Their fantasy is of a sexual life freed from the constraints of an imprisoning and empty suburban life. It is one of impossible desire.

Then there was Marilyn the person, who performed in public for the men.

We can interpret the photo as being surrounded by layers of images. It is part of an archive of images of Marilyn (past and present) and of others that are stored in our culture; with new images being constantly generated from the archive. So we come understand our past, present and future through an (increasingly virtual) image world that surrounds and enframes us.

Our experiencing events critically in the present is made possible by our faculty of judgment that is informed by public knowledge and the image making apparatus.

To understand contemporary culture it is necessary to develop an image culture that allows us to jump historical layers of time as well as between actual and virtual.

Maddona, Don't Tell Me, video clip

We need to find the tools to enable us understand the interplay between virtual and actual.