Marilyn Chambers - Emily Symons

[Snapp]

Its great to see Marilyn back. She brings a great sense of history & depth to show but most importantly she brings much needed fun.

Lucky Miles to have been paired off with 2 of the most iconic characters in the history of Home and Away: Kirsty and Marilyn.

Kirsty...iconic...

Edited April 3, 2010 by Snapp

[summerby]

It's so good to have Marilyn back!

[Red Ranger 1]

Possibly running the risk of being stoned here...It's early days and possibly too soon to judge and maybe my opinion is coloured by the fact I was never a fan in the first place but I'm not really seeing the point of Marilyn's return.She feels forced into the show, she doesn't belong in the caravan park and it seems like everyone aside from Alf sees her as a nuisance and is just too polite to tell her to leave. There have been a few hints that she's actually got a storyline and back story rather than just being sub-Colleen comic relief but at the moment I'm just finding her irritating.

I find all the references to her as "iconic" interesting because really I think that's the problem.I recently watched a decade of Coronation Street, or at least the edited highlights of it, in the space of a week and you could see how Bet Lynch, one of that show's icons, started out as a lively, attractive and engaging character and ended up as almost a parody of herself, still fulfilling the same function on the show even though she was far too old to do so.And it feels like Marilyn's gone the same way, a woman in her 40s acting like a bubbly blonde:No offence to Emily who's still an attractive woman but Marilyn looks like mutton dressed as lamb with the severe make-up job and outfits.She's ceased to become a character and instead become an icon and icons aren't allowed to change.

[alexx]

I totally disagree with you about icons, especially about Marilyn. A solid part of the overall premise of Marilyn as a character is her flamboyant dress sense, makeup/hair and bubbly personality - that is the character no matter the age. Are you saying it would be realistic for Marilyn to have morphed into something she is/was not? Imo people like Maz dont change, they definitely evolve, but the core of them doesn't change and I think the writers and Emily have done a fantastic job at keeping the true essence of the character alive, whilst at the same time moving the character along. Like you said though, you were never a fan. She did have recurring themes, traits and storylines that gave the character the amount of depth and history shes come back with and its early days still, there's obviously something shes hiding from those around her which is in keeping with her past and she's now having dreams about death which isn't exactly the nicest of things to have on your mind whilst trying to sleep.

I get the feeling they are introducing her back into the show at a steady rate since we haven't even had any Irene/Maz scenes yet and she hasn't really made it out of the caravan park much or been introduced to anyone else on screen which Im sure/hope they will...

Edited April 5, 2010 by alexx

[Skylover]

To be honest I agree with things that both Alexx and Red Ranger have said. I have been slightly disappointed with arilyn's return so far, only for the fact that the producers seem to have isolated her character; the only new residents she's been introduced to are those living at Summer Bay House, I was looking forward to her interaction with Irene and I can't wait for her to meet Leah, but it seems like the writers want to get her involved in Miles' storyline rather than mingling with the other residents.

To a degree what Red Ranger has said about Marilyn's return is true; at the moment it does seem quite forced because she never had that strong a relationship with Alf in the first place, he's so much older than her and she only seems to be spending time with him other than occasionally exchanging dialogue with the teens such as Aden, Romeo and Nicole. I truly believe that when she's put in scenes with Marilyn a bit more, her place in the show will seem a lot more natural, I just feel as though the writers aren't using her conncetions to the best of their abilty at the moment, another good thing is there will be some great scenes when Morag no doubt comes back for a visit.

I get the impression that Red Ranger feels it would be more realistic if Marilyn had mellowed and become less of a bubbly blonde type character upon her return seeing as she's 40 now (might I add you say she's in her 40s, ut only just, she's still quite a youthful character!) and I can understand where you're coming from to an extent. I do think that she may become a parody of herself if the character remains the same, but at the same time I don't think it would be true to the character if she was no longer the bubbly blonde. In rel life, people like this who are bubbly and inject a bit of fun into our lives, they grow older and it does seem a shame that their looks go etc. and of course their bubbly personality doesn't seem to fit with their age and they become a parody of themselves too. I can't really vocalise what I'm trying to say exactly, apart from that it is going to seem strange that Marilyn is still so bubbly despite being older, but although it is odd, personalities like this in real life don't change despite their age and I don't think Marilyn should be any different.

She's pretty much the only good thing about the show at the moment.

[alexx]

I really dont get the 'parody of themselves' thing when it comes to personalities. How can someone's personalty and who they are, eventually become a parody of itself? A personalty is a personality no matter what your age..its only society that tells us that as we grow older we are supposed to 'stop being silly' become boring and serious. In reality, most people are young at heart and those that let it shine threw to the exterior remain youthful and energetic and popular as a mate or someone to have around because most adults want to be like that but feel they shouldn't be... I think it would be a tragedy if Marilyn were to lose her personalty just because she isn't 18, it doesn't make sense at all. She is the type that doesn't care what people think and just lives her life, I respect those type of people more than the sheep of the world.

Edited April 6, 2010 by alexx

[Red Ranger 1]

Whilst it's certainly true that people's basic personalities stay the same, it's also true that they are shaped by their lives and experiences and that they grow and change as a result.This is what tended to happen when Marilyn was a regular, often to the disappointment of her fans.Which may be why since she's been back they seem to have gone out of their way to right her as "classic" Marilyn, presenting the character that people remember her as being rather than the woman that she would and should have become.It's possible that there's more to it than that, it's hard to tell whether the way she literally ignores the bad experiences in her life like Byron and her cancer is a plot or character point that's going to be picked up on or simply a case of the writers going on "Forget about all that, look, Marilyn's back!"I do think it's giving Marilyn too much credit to say she doesn't care what people think of her, it's more like she doesn't know what people think of her, if someone does have a go like Miles did her usual response is floods of tears.

[Lesley Bee]

Its great to see Marilyn back, she has slipped back in so well, its like she'd never been away i love her intercation with Miles as well, i think they could be a great comedy duo

[alexx]

Whilst it's certainly true that people's basic personalities stay the same, it's also true that they are shaped by their lives and experiences and that they grow and change as a result.This is what tended to happen when Marilyn was a regular, often to the disappointment of her fans.Which may be why since she's been back they seem to have gone out of their way to right her as "classic" Marilyn, presenting the character that people remember her as being rather than the woman that she would and should have become.It's possible that there's more to it than that, it's hard to tell whether the way she literally ignores the bad experiences in her life like Byron and her cancer is a plot or character point that's going to be picked up on or simply a case of the writers going on "Forget about all that, look, Marilyn's back!"

Thing is though Marilyn went threw phases - in 1997 (before my avatar picture), she went threw a very similar stage as she did when she left in 1999, when her and Fisher miscarried Oscar (I think that was the name they gave him) - she went into a deep depression, just like she did when Byron had cancer... yet after a few months of 'getting threw it' she bounced back to being positive again and became that bubbly sole that she is. Her current stint is just the same as that as far as I can see. She hasn't got over grieving for Byron, but she seems to be moving on, she's had cancer (Which was two years ago now) ....she's moved back to the bay for positive reasons and she has been able to bounce back to her happier self again, just like she did in the 90's after she faced a tragedy.

So to me its perfectly in keeping with the character that she is able to move threw the negative areas of her life and focus on the positives becuase that is what she always did - its just the 'bouncing back' development happened sometime whilst she was off screen.

Edited April 6, 2010 by alexx

[j.laur5]

I think the reason why we havn't seen Irene and Marilyn in a scene yet is due to the fact that the producers want to take their time with her as she is a regular now.

But, by the way, when is Marilyn going to get a job? Or will she be like Pippa was in the 80s? A housewife and just run the caravan park while Alf and Miles work.