What were they after with this shoot? Does Lindsay’s fall parallel Marilyn’s? Has photographer Bert Stern forgotten that his first Last Sitting became iconic for being the Last Sitting? Did the original out-takes, which were iconic also with the Xs marking their initial rejection, elevate themselves beyond whose extinguished vitality they depicted?
Stern recreated the flat hair and unbecoming figure of a fallen goddess. He could have held a cattle call for that. I’m reminded of the Tarantino homage to seventies porn, appealing only for its familiarity. Marilyn Monroe’s last shoot was beautiful for the glimpse we caught of mankind’s fragility. Post-teen queen Lohan is just slumming. Next they can pose Robert Downey Jr in a silver ’55 Porsche Spyder.
Homage to decline
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